List of things aquarists should have on hand

[spencerguy1]

A Lot of Spare Fish Food

if you have a dog, i mean. or cat, i guess. my dog has gotten into my fishfood and spilled it all over the floor 3 times. and every time i couldn't salvage any.

 

[homedog98]

lots of money :evil_lol:

:rofl:

 

[iheartbettas]

i changed my tanks water and in addition to what you mentioned, used a small toothbrush, a smaller container, towels, and filter floss. there's also a ton of other stuff like water conditioner, the little dropper thing to measure out the Prime for each gallon of water, Gallon water jugs, glass scrubbers, and other stuff I can't think of right now.

 

[jpierce3]

lots of money :evil_lol:

lol.

Sort of. I'm cheap so I have never once bought a new tank. Got them all, stands included, used. Had to do some repair work every now and again, but tanks are easy to fix. Built quite a few stands with a buddy of mine. Used to get peoples "broken" filters and air pumps and what not and just fixed or mixed and matched till something worked. I think I have bought a couple powerheads a filstar or two new, but that's it. Oh, I bought a pond liner new. Don't get those used.

In fact, I'm going to get my pond filter back up and running for the 500g pond. I won't spend more than $20 at Lowe's for some plumbing and I have a good pump I bought used for $20. Over the winter I'm going to start working with acrylic so I can experiment with making tanks, sumps mostly.

Join a local club. Trading and working deals with members is a great way to get fish for a lot less than lfs and usually are a lot better taken care of. Oh and of course selling fry gets you money back to buy more fishy stuff

 

[user_name]

how about a python/aqueon water changer?

 

[aussie pride]

I would say chopstick because you don't know when you need something to poke or moke something or anything like that. I use a chopstick for stuff regularly.

 

[Slappy*McFish]

Filter media
Fishy First Aid Kit/meds
Test kits
timers for lights
shop vac

 

[SubRosa]

you can also anestithiate fish with it. it takes super high doses to kill, though. its easier to put the fish to sleep, and then put the fish in a bottle of vodka while its asleep. that will kill the fish easier.

I was going to say vodka anyway, but nice to know it's got multiple uses.

 

[Lillyan]

A large net [10in+] and a small net [5in]. Breeder net box or similar for emergency dividing if you don't have a cycled tank to put him in.

 

[Kashta]

Knee high pantyhose... works nice as a media bag or place some substrate material in them in a new setup to kick start the cycle (along with filter media).

Very long BBQ tongs... I'm always fishing something out from the bottom to keep tanks tidy.

Extra unopened bottle of Prime. You're more likely to DO those water changes if you're not worried about using it up.

Welcome back, jpierce. Nice topic you started!