Fishkeeping As A Hobby - What Are The Time And Costs Involved

Years of fishkeeping - about 20 (maybe 19, the memory is going at my age)
Numbers of tanks - 3
Number of fish - about 60 fish; around half a dozen snails that I've bought, there are tons of 'pest' snails as well; and goodness knows how many shrimps.
Freshwater

Maintenance.
I spend an hour to an hour and a half once a week cleaning my main tank. A large proportion of this is standing waiting for the kettle to boil!
I clean the two smaller tanks twice a week, this takes an hour a time - a huge chunk of this is spent going through the bucket of water I've just removed with a cheesecake pot rescuing shrimps I've just sucked up.

Cost
I don't really know.

I can work out how much electricity the lights use - number of hours lights on per week x watts of light = units of electricity, then multiply that by the cost of 1 unit gives the cost of lighting per week.
Filters are on 24/7 so watts of filter x 24 x 7 x cost of 1 unit = money spent running filters per week.
Heaters are more difficult as they turn on and off, and they're on less in summer than winter. Unless someone can think of how to work out how much electricity heaters use, this can only be a wild guess.

Then there is the cost of fish food and dechlorinator. A £5 bottle of dechlorinator last me months. Fish food tubs last ages as well. Maybe average £1 a month, if that.


The real cost is the equipment to start with. And fish range from as little as £1 per fish to hundreds of £ per fish (yes really! Think of the rare L-number plecs).

Years of fishkeeping: 16 years freshwater [14 years' goldfish, followed by 16 months' tropicals]
Number of tanks: currently 1 [had some concurrent tanks in the past]
Number of fish: currently 12 [would love to have more but very limited space]
Marine or fresh: freshwater

Maintenance: 1hr per week on water changes including water testing.

Costs (many of these are "start-up" costs and so last for ages; not sure of the cost of many of these but these do show how costs add up):

* tank/filter/heater/lighting plus cabinet/furniture for it to sit on [£225ish];
* substrate (gravel or sand) and decor/plants;
* foam mat for aquarium to sit on;
* condensation tray [not a necessity];
* auto-feeder for feeding if away;
* extension lead with extra plug sockets;
* thermometer;
* water testing kits for ammonia/nitrates/nitrites/PH/GH/KH and all-in-one kits which additionally include chlorine;
* medications in event of emergency/illness;
* for water changes - siphon, net, plastic bucket, plastic jug, algae-removing magnet, aquarium sponge, toothbrush [all bought specifically for fishkeeping to avoid 'contamination'], dechlorinator;
* Tetra Safestart (to encourage healthy bacteria growth if adding any new media to filter [not a necessity but gave me peace of mind);
* spare/quarantine tank with extra filter and heater;
* food for varied diet (flakes, pellets, micro-pellets);
* catappa leaves [not a necessity];
* limestone rock (to increase water hardness);
* electricity for heater, filters and light;
[* also ammonia - for fishless cycle].

Hope this helps.

I bet loads of us have one of these as part of our kit, I certainly do:



 

Although I have nine tanks I don't spend that much time on maintenance, no more than 4 or 5 hours  a month, mainly because I don't believe water changes are as necessary as commonly suggested. I use a big syphon tube which sucks out a bucket full in double quick time. I never heat water to add to the tank, when I put in the cold water the fish seem to love it and it only lowers the tank temp by 2 - 3 degrees and it rises quickly.

Cost : I buy bulk food from EBay, much cheaper than from the LFS. Difficult to say costs as I buy very rarely, but pretty negligible.

I don't buy anything else apart from water conditioner also from EBay. I don't use any measuring things, just a few drops of the conditioner each water change.

My fish seem to live as long and healthy lives as other people's.

The main extra cost for me is electricity. With 9 tanks, 4 of which are in unheated rooms, I reckon it increases my bill by about £200/year. Would probably be more if I didn't insulate the tanks in unheated rooms by covering them with blankets in cold weather. I'm thinking of changing the lights to LED which would save money in the long run. I have lights on for 10 - 12 hours a day, which multiplied by 9 is quite a lot of power used.