For many owning a fish or a group of them is a relatively easy and safe venture, at least when compared to owning the likes of a dog or cat. There’s less upkeep for one thing, so activities such as feeding is only small once a day time commitment. In addition, caring for any fish is minimal as changing the water the most strenuous task to preform. What many don’t realize is the cost of having an aquarium in there home. Sure recurring costs such as food are smaller then most other pet situations but the initial start up costs can be immense. That’s why so many wish to buy inexpensive used aquariums. However, there can be problems with that and I’ll explain that here.
First off, you have the risk of buying anything used. Sure the price may be cheap but there is no guarantee of the quality of the product. In fact, often there is no warranty to even speak of. This can be a problem if your dealing with a shark of a seller, someone who knowingly tries to sell you faulty equipment. If you don’t watch out for potential scams then you could potentially lose your money.
Another risk is the quality of the aquarium. One must look for cracks, age marks on the glass, rust if it has metal, or anything else that may suggest that it will be a risk to break. This would be terrible in a home as it would leave a mess, be harmful to kids, kill the fish, and you’d be back at square one.
Lastly, some folks believe that getting a cheap aquarium is all that they need to do and leave it at that. This simply isn’t the case. There are all kinds of equipment and supplies that are needed such as filters, heaters, food, decorations for shelter, pebble rocks, special fish tank water if needed, among other things. Building a good, fully functional aquarium is what you need to look into and unfortunately the extra accessories are where the money will be spent, not the actual glass tank itself.
So there you have it, a few tips for buying an aquarium used. be sure to double check all the qualities of what and who your buying from in order to make a safe purchase.