Cost of the Hobby (1 Viewer)

[bigmax]

First off, my apologies for the rant; I couldn’t help myself. I originally posted this on R2R a few minutes ago, but figured I’d get some local perspectives too. Fire away… I can take the flames.

I’ve been in this hobby for about 45 years, and for fun I even worked one day a week at a fish store in Minneapolis. I fully understand why livestock prices have gone up over the years. But just for reference: I once bought a Clarion and a Black-Banded Angelfish for under $60 each. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $206 today. Availability and other factors play a role, but that’s not the point; the point is that back then an average hobbyist could afford to enjoy the hobby.


What got me going today was seeing a couple of Ecotech MP60s for sale on TCMAS. Nothing wrong with the asking price, but the seller referenced BRS as $900 each for new ones. Nine hundred dollars for a powerhead! At some point we have to ask ourselves what’s happening. I honestly think some of this crosses into addiction territory: the spending, the chasing of the latest gadget, the “new shiny toy” syndrome. Unless someone is truly flush with cash, it’s impossible to justify.


Another example: the new Red Sea ReefControl power unit. Red Sea makes great products, but this is clearly aimed at people who want premium gear for its own sake. I’m running a Kasa power strip that monitors power, offers scheduling, has a solid app, and probably covers 80–90% of the same functionality; for $34 compared to $359. That’s a huge difference for what most hobbyists actually need.


Maybe it’s just me, but from casual observation I’m seeing more “I’m shutting down and selling everything” posts than true newcomers joining in. Are we losing two long-time hobbyists for every new hobbyist we gain? I’m 70 and getting crotchety, so maybe I just don’t get it anymore, but it sure feels like the hobby is pricing out the people who built it.

 

[zoolan70]

Livestock prices have come up because the collection rules have changed dramatically over the year, especially the last 10. These changes are often for the better of the stocks in the wild and for the hobbyist, but they still drive up prices. Where divers used to use cyanide to stun fish and harvest them, they now need to catch them humanely. Where they used to be able to take as many as they wanted to, now they are limited to much lower numbers. etc etc.

Add to that all the other costs - fuel, employees, equipment at the collection point, transport costs from there to a wholesaler, etc, etc, etc.

Finally, there is the changing dynamic of the local fish store. I'm sure you remember from when you worked at a store where the profit margin lived...it was in hard goods, frequently with margins of 300% or more. Then came online sales, and those margins disappeared overnight. Store costs didn't go down...they still need to buy and maintain all the livestock, deal with fish that die, all the money that goes into the infrastructure, etc. In fact, those prices went up far faster than inflation. Now you need to cover all those costs and still make a profit basically on just the livestock...that means high consumer prices.

Finally, there is the captive bred livestock. Don't get me wrong, this had to happen and I'm glad it did. But the prices that some of these places get, and blame it on the 'cost to develop the processes', is criminal. Once the process is worked out, and they are producing a species at scale, they should be cheaper than wild caught.

Now, for the hardware side of the equation - there are always going to be the Ferrari version of a product all the way down to the Yugo version (if you don't get the reference, look it up ). Some people want the latest and greatest ( I will admit, there are certain items where I am that way), and the manufacturers are more than happy to pluck that money from those consumers' wallets. I ran my 500 gallon reef on Chinese black-box lights and Jebao powerheads - it worked perfectly fine, but I didn't have the fancy control that AI light and Ecotech poweheads would have given me. That is an individual's perspective.

The Red Sea controller is an oddball to me...I don't see that anyone will buy it other than newbies have no clue what they are buying. The entire Red Sea ecosystem of equipment is mid-line at best as far as I'm concerned, except for their Rollermat. That is worth every penny.

I agree with you that total number of marine aquarists is dropping. I don't know if it 2 to 1 yet, but that time is approaching. I think that some of it is lack of research that people do today, and especially the lack of engaging with other live, in-person humans to help them get setup so they don't fail in that first year. When I got in the hobby 20 years ago, everyone started with a used setup from someone, then it was upgrade to another used setup, and then MAYBE you splurged and bought that brand new tank with a fancy stand. Today, I think people just go out and buy a brand new 180 gallon setup for $6000, then throw another $5000 in equipment at it because 'the Internet says so'. It is way easier to be discouraged when that investment 'fails' vs a $1000 investment.

Also, I think aquarists today spend way too much time trying to be perfect rather than letting the hobby come to them, and when it doesn't work as they expected, they get upset. Things like chasing dKh or pH or Nitrate/Phospate ratios. Changing their lighting every week because that torch coral isn't growing like they expect it to. Changing water flow because the nem doesn't look like it did in the store's system when you bought it a week ago. I've gotten to the point now where I let the system settle in where it wants to be, and have found that the hobby is much less stressful.