Fish: Re: [tropical fish club] Buying Basic Tanks in the UK

Christine,
I will surely ask my husband tonight when he gets home from work, but considering the $1/gallon price tag for retail price on tanks up to 75 gallons, it can't be very expensive or the stores wouldn't be making any profit at all selling them for that price. I will also ask him about glass thickness, but it may take until next week to get those answers since he may need to look that info up when he goes to work on Monday. Something just doesn't make a whole lot of sense with the prices being charged on those tanks in the UK. It may simply be opportunity/demand issues... knowing that there are limited places there to acquire such a tank, so they have the market mostly to themselves and can set whatever price they desire. There are industries here in the states that do such things also. It's not right, but if people are willing to pay outrageous prices for the things they want, then the companies get away with it.
You might want to try calling that place and ask them directly why those tanks are so expensive. I would be very interested in hearing what they have to say. It is possible that the expenses for the supplies they require are all more expensive, it could have something to do with regulations/legalities, and I can think of a few other reasons they might give as well... but am curious how they explain it. That is just a LOT of money for an aquarium and would make it impractical for most people to be able to buy a single basic tank without the built in equipment.

Thank you for the link to the gumtree website. I will surely write that into my book so I have it as a suggestion for future customers. :-)

Dawn

Dawn Moneyhan
Aquatics Specialist/Nutritionist
To learn more about me go to
http://www.helium.com/users/449334

--- On Thu, 6/27/13, Chris@Rott-n-kids.com <chris@rott-n-kids.com> wrote:

From: Chris@Rott-n-kids.com <chris@rott-n-kids.com>
Subject: Re: [tropical fish club] Buying Basic Tanks in the UK
To: tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, June 27, 2013, 5:40 PM

Yup, I'd like to have the answer to that one as well - one of the bigger

tanks that I was looking at cost more than I paid for a car a short

while back - and it was a pretty decent car as well. How they can

justify charging that much money for what is, effectively, an open top

glass box, would be something worth reading.

On a point of curiosity could your husband give some ballpark ideas of

the actual cost to just produce,say, a standard 2 foot or 3 foot US

tank? What sort/thickness of glass do they use?

I'll send you any links I come across but, given the prices, I'm not

realistically likely to be looking until the end of the year. One place

I do recommend, though, for anyone in the UK looking for a basic tank is

their local Gumtree ( www.gumtree.com ) - I've seen a couple on mine

and I live in the sticks (didn't have the money to go after them at the

time!)

Christine McCluskey

Scotland, UK

On 27/06/2013 20:39, Dawn Moneyhan wrote:

>

> I just wonder why they are so expensive... my husband works for a

> manufacturer so I know what it costs for them to make the tanks, and

> even if costs are a bit higher overseas... I can't see them being 5

> times the price.

>

> They are also a challenge to find, at least for someone here in the US

> trying to search them out online. So again, I do thank you for the

> links you provided. I spent so long searching for a standard tank for

> someone about a yr or so ago, we were both getting so frustrated

> because a basic tank was what she really needed. She ended up with

> one of the tanks we were able to find online with the built in filter

> and light fixture built into the cover and then I talked her through

> some modifications to fix the problems she'd had in a previous tank.

> This is the first time I have seen a standard "just tank" available

> for the UK so if you find anymore links to them, even somewhere that

> used ones are often sold, I would be very interested. That could be

> quite helpful to someone in the future.

>

> Dawn

>

> Dawn Moneyhan

> Aquatics Specialist/Nutritionist

> To learn more about me go to

> http://www.helium.com/users/449334

>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]