How I could convince parents for a bigger tank

How could I try to convince my parents to get me another tank and if I do upgrade I would like to try to pay for it.

Any ideas on how i could make some money, I thought I could sell emersed aquatic plants to my LFS and on OLX

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Tell them your hobby keeps you off the streets. that should help.

 

What do you mean by that

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If you spend your spare cash on your hobby, you won't have money for drugs and booze.

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Start with you are not like your friends an you don't do drugs and another bigger fish tank will keep you home and not roaming the streets. any parent will love to hear that.

 

Emersed plants take time to establish to the point where you make money, and making money off the hobby isn't easily achieved. Try doing extra work around the house or similar

How old are you?

 

Just to give some context, I'm also 15. I started keeping tropical fish a year ago and I had to work for it. I saved, I boosted my marks through hard work and did the research to show that I'm ready. You need to read a lot and know what you are getting into, first master it all before trying to make money.

@Deadpool told me this once and it's a good way to look at it

There's usually a reason stuff has a high price TAG...it's because it's hard to grow, or grows slowly.

Stupid example...if you had one tank, you'd make more money in a year breeding guppies than discus, even tho discus fetch a higher price on the market. People see R400 a fish...and immediately think there's money to be made...but what they forget is the high temps you have to run on a discus tank (29C plus) the amount of water changes (that cost money)...the insane amount of food the fry need after they detach from their parents, etc, etc. Plus...you do one spawning a year...

Guppies...they breed every month. Their running costs is lower and you can sell them quicker and faster (as they grow faster to selling size and there's always a market for them). So even tho you making far less per fish, your profit margin is greater.

Same goes for plants...even emersed, anubias takes forever to grow...which is why the farms literally have thousands of mother plants. As they can cultivate from the same plant every month...or every 6 months for that matter. Plus it's also a select market...

You've been jumping from one idea to the next since you started messaging me...and it's not going to work, the SA market is too small if your only intention is to make money out of this hobby. There's only a select few who makes money...and they all have other day jobs. If money is your end goal...you going to lose your passion for this hobby quick...as you'll find the amount of effort for the little bit of extra income is more of a chore than anything else.

Rather find something that you love in the hobby...and make that work for you.

Example...if you love shrimp and that's your passion. Get shrimp...but what goes hand in hand with shrimp? Moss...specially Java Moss...and it's something people cant grow emersed, so there's always a demand for it at pet stores. My point...dont stare blindly at something right in front of you...look at it from a different angle

Plants are hard...because the demand changes every so often. In 2015 the holy grail of carpets where glosso...everyone wanted it, now...almost no one does. So what does it help growing it for a profit now??
Then after glosso the next fad was ug...then Styro...then HC...then Riccia Fluitans...to where we are now with Monte Carlo, but that will pass soon as well for the next thing...

Basically, the hobby won't easily make you money. You have to put in work and effort to get where you want to be

 

As a guy who has gone through this as well, trust me when I say it's not an easy thing to do. It's not your house, so nothing is on your terms. Anything that I wanted to bring into the house I needed to pay for, and it needed to look good. Eventually I managed to move the tanks out the house and get some free reign.

The best way to make some cash is to take on some work. I'm guessing you're still studying, so part-time work on weekends is the way to go. Waitering, shopkeeping, etc. are a couple of things you could look into. I did the same, and while the income might not be great, it builds up over time (this is a hobby of patience, after all). This also shows you're willing to work for your passion, which should (hopefully) show your parents that you're serious about fishkeeping.

Also, keep an eye out for the second-hand market. There are tons of deals out there that can halve the costs of setting up a new system, if not more.

Good luck!

 

I once painted my father's gate to pay for a cheap corner filter. If I think back, R15 for a whole days work was rather a waste of time, but I really needed that filter.

 

As a kid I delivered news papers and caddied on weekends to support my MTS.

Why not try and get your parents involved in the hobby, do a tank build with your dad?

 

I also delivered newspapers.

 

I'm looking at breeding out a shrimp strain as a personal challenge and sell the excess. Find a niche and use it

Also if possible keep all tanks to your room. I'm putting up a garage shelf on the condition that I fix it up and make it look tidy

 

I sold some mollies for R140, not to get rich, but to cover some costs.

 

Breeding a new strain?

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Jip brand spanking new. LOL

 

This is about as far as most get with covering costs

Something like that. Just keeping shrimp and getting more than one variety, will see if I can either make full colour or mixed colour shrimp. Still just looking

 

Thanks guys for the help, I am 14 turning 15 this year and I already own RCS red cherry shrimp which have breed quite alot. I am thinking about breeding chocolate shrimp

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@Thomas Tim ..
There are many options.. where there is a will there is a way
Part time job... weekends at a shop.. LFS..supermarket..you name it

 

RCS can sell well. Start selling and shipping, get some insulated boxes and pack the shrimp in big bags then send with counter to counter postnet and add that to the cost of the sale. Make sure to send early in the week so that they don't get caught up in a distribution centre over the weekend