Soaring energy prices & aquascaping

[Conort2]

also quite partial to the wild-type green Golden Barb

I wouldn’t fancy keeping those with shrimp, they get to a decent size, wild type are lovely fish though.

 

[NatalieHurrell]

I did think that. Maybe I should forget the shrimp and try the Golden barbs and the Paradise Fish together, as the barbs are a decent size and quick. However some people report fin nipping.

 

[Conort2]

I did think that. Maybe I should forget the shrimp and try the Golden barbs and the Paradise Fish together, as the barbs are a decent size and quick. However some people report fin nipping.

They’ll be good with paradise fish, they’re robust and can certainly handle themselves.

 

[Garuf]

Don’t go for cpds if you want shrimp, they will even collapse a cherry shrimp colony they go after the babies so throughly.

 

[Regent]

I have the plans, and plumbing in place for a 1600L tank, but to run that is looking to cost around £1000 a year now 😳 The marine tank is another large cost. When you factor it in, I have to worry about it a bit. If I explain to the lass I date, 150£ a month is on electricity for the aquariums she may not like them as much. £150 a month is still a swallowable amount though, for a hobby I enjoy etc.

Fish costs are rising, but that doesn't bother me much, always felt fish were too cheap anyway.

Regardless, almost everything will be going temperate, which suits me fine anyway. I've gotten into buckets (big ones) in the greenhouse, again.

Whilst fishkeeping is my only hobby I've had to be realistic about the rising energy costs and the fact that the majority of my costs are down to the tanks so I've cut down a fair few and now sticking to mostly temperate fish.
I think any lfs that isn't giving serious thought to expanding their temperate range is being extremely short sighted in view of the current climate.
You only have to see the massive increase in tanks for sale on FB etc to see people are beginning to panic although for the majority that one tank they have is not adding much to their bill if they took the trouble to work it out properly.
I'm with @castle on fish cost,the more expensive they become perhaps the more people will care about them...cheap fish are seen as disposable and that's something that needs to stop.
I have no problem with paying a premium price for a healthy fish that I particularly want,my zhoui were £25 each and to me worth every penny of that.

Do either of you have a list of temperate aquascape friendly fish? The last two summers the temperate in my tanks has reached 32 deg in short bursts (yes in the UK!) and the fish suffered....

 

[Garuf]

Do either of you have a list of temperate aquascape friendly fish? The last two summers the temperate in my tanks has reached 32 deg in short bursts (yes in the UK!) and the fish suffered....

There aren’t many temperate fish that also do well at that temp that’s what makes them temperate. The only one I can think of isn’t really a temperate is the green neon which has a huge 10c temperature tolerance but going from 30+ back down to low 20’s will stress them no end in my experience. Best thing would be to chill the tank either through ice packs, running a reverse photo period, chiller or fans.

 

[Paulus]

My complete setup is using 120W max during the day.
This includes:

• Lights (WRGBII at 60%)
• Filters (1 eheim 2217 & 1 Eheim professionel 4+ 600
• GHL doser
• Co2 art PRO-SE Series - Aquarium CO2 Dual Stage Regulator with Integrated Solenoid
• small ikea light in the cabinet which is only on during maintenance

When the lights are off its around 38W

But this is nothing compared to the game/simracing pc setup