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I am buying a tank setup from a friend. This will cost $140 for a 30g tank, several fish, a heater, filters, decorations, gravel. The Fish are 3 silver dollars, a severum, a lace catfish, a striped raphael catfish and a knifefish. Here are the pictures...

Heres with the room lights on... http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i266/Gar0foli/3d3134ff.jpg

Heres with the room lights off...
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i266/Gar0foli/2e0cfebf.jpg

Do you think it is worth it? Are there any visable flaws? Thanks.

Chris

Well the first thing I see wrong, is that silver dollars get too big for a 30g. So, you'd have to find a new home for them if you got them.

At a max of about 9 inches...the Raphael cat will also get too large.

At a max of 8.5 inches...the Severum needs a bigger home also.

And a black knife (assuming thats the type he has) gets to be about 20 inches (according to the profile on here) so it gets way too large for a 30g tank.

I don't think your friend did much research before stocking his tank. All the fish get too large so you'd either have to find new homes for them or get a larger tank (which would mean spending more money).

For the tank, heater, filters, and stuff, I think $140 is too much personally. I just bought a 55g tank and stand (no accessories though) for $150...but its a larger tank. If you like all the equipment that comes with it, it may be a good deal. You just have to figure out what to do with the fish.

*Kristin*

I have to agree that all the fish in that tank will get way to large for it and will need to be moved.

The price for a used setup seems high to me also. I recently purchased a 55 gallon with stand, filters, lights, etc. for $150.00 also.

I also just got a really good deal where I purchased a 150 gallon with stand, a 45 gallon, a 20 gallon long, a 29 gallon and a 10 gallon, in addition numerous lights, parts, pumps and filters, all for $200.00. Got lucky, but if you really watch you can find a better deal than what you're getting.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Almost ALL of those fish will get too big for a 30 gal. tank, let alone all of them in one tank... I can definitely understand why someone would want to get rid of something like that, but I wouldn't pay nearly that much money for that much trouble. If you can talk them down to less than $100, and provided you have a place to send most of those fish (an LFS, other friends, or if you have other bigger tanks available), only then would I take it, and I'd never consider it a "deal."

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Well, maybe I wont buy it until a lower price... Where did you guys get that 55g for $150? Can you give me the details on that like what store, what types of filters, heater, e.g.?

Chris

Sorry, I actually paid $125 for my 55g. The price was $150 with all the equipment, but I didn't want it.

I bought mine from an individual. I saw the ad in the local newspaper. I actually wasn't looking for a bigger tank, but I saw another ad, an 85g tank and stand for $100, and that made me start checking the ads.

The 85g was already sold when I called, or I would have bought it.

I also saw another 55g for the same price ($150) in the paper this week.

Look in the ads in your newspaper. Mine has a pet section as well as a bargain section. I found the good deals listed above in the bargain section (I think its like stuff under $500).

I have found alot of "deals" recently...but couldn't afford most of them. I saw a 125g tank and stand for like $400. To me thats a deal because in a LFS a new one goes for about $800 or more.

Check the newspaper.

150 gallon with stand, a 45 gallon, a 20 gallon long, a 29 gallon and a 10 gallon, in addition numerous lights, parts, pumps and filters, all for $200.00

Now that is my kind of deal. Too bad people around here don't want to get rid of all their tanks for cheap. I would pay $200 for a 150g alone!

*Kristin*

I got my 55 gallon off of e-bay. It was a local auction and I won the bid. Only about 5 miles from my house for pickup.

The other deal started off of e-bay as I was going to bid on another tank which was about 300 miles away, but I was going to that town for another reason and asked the gentleman if he would hold it for me until I got there. He said he would, and he had a lot of other tanks he wanted to get rid of. Long story short, I didn't buy the tank he had on e-bay (it was a 40 and some odd gallon corner tank that went for $140.00), but he sold me all that I mentioned for $200.00. Now that's a deal. I've water tested all of them and no leaks, Yipee!!!

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

I look in local classified ads. I have no luck with Ebay or Aquabid for tanks because I live in the middle of nowhere, don't own a car (or a diver's lisence for that matter) and these auctions tend to be for pickup only (and the shipping would be insane if they aren't).
I've seen a lot of great deals in the towns near me, though, that beat the pants off of getting a new setup at the LFS. There have been tons of 20 gallon tanks, some 30 gallons, a 65 , and even a 125 all within a 20 minute ride for me in the past coupls of months. What makes these such great deals is that they usually come with a stand, canopy, lights, filters, and other supplies, all for maybe a quarter what a setup like that would cost brand new. I personally don't really like auctions that come with fish, for precisely the problems you'd run into if you took in the ones that come with this tank. They're incompatible with each other, the size of the tank, and what if that isn't the kind of fish you want to keep? Maybe keep what you want (that severum looks great!), and see if you can return the rest to an LFS, or friends who have large tanks, or advertise your own local sale for the fish... a classified ad in the local paper should only cost you less than $10, you can say what you have and give a number for interested parties to call for their choice of the fish--first come first served.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Aha! I got him to drop the price to $75! Thats good for what it comes with right?

Chris

That sounds a whole lot better and isn't a bad deal at that price.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain