Cost of plants VS fish in tanks
- Thread starter fishy_sue
- Start date
I have definitely invested more into my planted tanks than into my larger unplanted tanks. If you end up needing more lighting for plants, it's more money. And CO2 injection set-ups are costly as well. Even my low-light 10 gallon has taken a bit of investment to get started as I can't find good plants locally.
yeah its' not so much as buying the plants themselves as the equipments needed for a planted tank.
It depends. You can do fish the expensive route or the inexpensive route. Same with plants. In general, I'd say with fish you buy cheap or expensive ones, and with plants you make diy equipment to save money.
Plants grow. After the initial investment the costs come down. You can even sell the surplus to help get something back out of it.
So far, I've invested $17 into the Fluorescent lighting "fixture" that I built myself with a Ballast kit and Fluorescent light sockets. I have spent $32 on the 3 lights for the plants and illumination of the tank. For 90watts of light, in the right spectrum for my 55gal planted tank, I think I am doing pretty well going the DIY route myself. This factor should not be overlooked when gauging what cost will be for a planted tank! Lighting can be expensive, and its a necessity. And as to whether you spend more on plants or fish when you do a planted tank. I think I have spent about $50 on plants by now, $8 on fertilizer, and $16 on fishies... 5 Neon Tetras and 1 Banjo Catfish. A friend gave me a school of 6 White Clouds, but retail for them would have been about $9 at my LFS. I'd say plants are DEFINITELY more expensive. Unless of course you like expensive fish. 
I think I should post pictures of my setup in the Members Tank Picture post. 
I think I should post pictures of my setup in the Members Tank Picture post.
But if you bought a nice school of Corydoras sterbae at $16 - $25 a fish, your fish total would go up a bit!