Keeping fish can be expensive, but do you know that you can make money from there? Start your first money making journey with only your aquarium.

Supedium has come out with 12 useful ideas which you can refer to for starting money making the journey with your aquarium.

(1) Photography

A logical next step is to write. Many people currently have high-quality cameras, and many people know how to use them too.

Turn that camera tankard and build an archive if you have mastered landscapes, portraits and everything else. Please make a note to take pictures of those rare fish as you see them. In the UK for the first time? Get it photographed, stick it and insert it into the collection. Magazines, books and websites will pay good money for fish images that they won’t find anywhere else.

Anybody can take a picture of Betta or some slow-moving cichlid. Get the quick movers and rareties cracking. It doesn’t cost you to store it once you have it …

(2) Equipment Installation

It is a viable way to make money in the aquarium hobby to help people instal their aquarium. You will make a small version of the popular “Tanked” discovery show.

I saw people who experienced African cichlid guards helping all sorts of people to establish their cichlid tank. The good thing is, they loved to do that too!

You can continue to build aquariums without having to pay for all of them. Even if you do this for free, you can still work with aquariums to support your community.

(3) Review the product

If you can get this off, product reviews can be a good way to get equipment free of charge. You might have a personal website or a Youtube channel with certain subscribers. You can use this to write a review of the various products, try them out and tell the audience what you think.

This can be difficult to do if you don’t already have anything for you. Just keep it behind your head and know that many brands want people to test their product.

If you choose to test a certain item (e.g. a new LED aquarium light), the lamp will be sent to you free of charge, as the review will be done.

(4) Purchase and sell

eBay, clubs, Facebook pages – there’s never a huge arena to sell your products. Moreover, in these times of recession, people are keener to fix and take second place than to splash out new ones.

If you’re at the boot fair and see anything based on fish, don’t wonder if you use it yourself. Ask if you can get more than it costs from someone in the hobby. The simplest business fundamentals. Get it and stick it out to see for everyone.

Neither do you throw out old gear when it dies? The strength gave up? Cool, pull the impeller out and sell it. Clean up the suckers and advertise them. Waste nothing. Waste nothing. Scavenge your electric carcass until you have nothing left. You can guarantee that somebody in the world is looking for what you are about to skip.

(5) Provide personal advice

If you know very well (specific topic) fishing, some people want to personally learn from you. So many people start fishing because it fascinates them, but they realise that they made several mistakes later on.

I remember a friend of mine guiding me in many areas of aquarium construction and I could not be more grateful. While he was not an expert, he kept fish for about a year and knew what mistakes I would have to avoid and how.

Try to find and get involved with a Facebook group or other community. People will begin to notice you over time, particularly if you helped them in the past. Once you have a little deserved confidence, you can put yourself there. Create a post and a photograph of your aquarium(s) and explain what you want to do. Mention also how much you’d charge.

If you are hesitant, try to help as many people as possible before you start charging. This helps to get your name out but also gives you confidence as a mentor/consultant in your skills.

(6) Offer to watch aquariums on vacation

Now, dog sitting is something, and for a long time, it was a thing. While most people take their dog on holiday with them, many aquariums stay behind surprisingly. I’ve still got to figure out why.

Like others, aquarium owners go on holiday and I will make sure they feel a bit uncomfortable leaving their beloved aquarium behind.

Now what you can do is take care of your aquarium as long as it is away. This includes the feeding of fish, the measurement of water parameters, the addition of plant fertiliser and even water change and cleaning of the philtre for a longer period.

Make sure you make proper agreements with the owner at once, because an aquarium breaks down overnight (I know right, nightmare stuff). Other things that can happen are things like power failure, etc. Just make sure you are not accountable, as this is not under your control.

(7) Do maintenance for others

If you have gained experience in maintaining your tank, you will feel confident that you will also maintain the aquarium of other people. Especially when you are good at it, many people will appreciate your services.

Your services can include regular maintenance, such as water changes or even feeding, but here I am aiming more at aqua scaping or plant trimming. Many people who maintain tanks think that they cannot do this themselves.

I saw many people, like elderly people, hire someone to help them get some maintenance. You don’t have to ask big bucks, of course, but it certainly can be a way to express your passion for fish while helping somebody else.

If you want to use this way of making money, you should start slowly. If you work quality over time, the word will spread over time and more people will ask you to help them with their aquariums over time.

(8) Come Out with New Design Ideas

Have you improvised anything you keep to yourself? Some kind of ultra-easy syphon primer or around-the-house device, which makes the perfect algae remover with a few tweaks?

Go there and try to sell the idea to someone, big or small. Some of the giants have large research budgets and if you can get your new cat’s eyes without splashing out the tens of thousands, they will be thankful and will pay you for that.

If you have something really good, consider making a patent yourself. We have seen several unique designs in recent years, such as the Seneye monitor, which came after an innovative idea to its logical conclusion.

(9) Write for others

I’ve often been asked why I didn’t write an X, Y or Z article? Well, perhaps I haven’t had the time, or maybe it’s outside my comfort zone.

Why don’t you write it? Magazines pay for good words and over the years many fishers have added a little freelance to their wages. Before I went full time, I know I did that, and it paid better than I thought, considering the time it took me.

Don’t wait until magazines reach you, you’re going to have to go there. And go with a pitch or an idea. If you just phone and say “I want to know if you have any articles you want to write,” then you never expect to be called back.

Tantalise us, give us a topic we haven’t been thinking about. If it’s good, we will run it, any mag will look for different content, and you’ll be paid to the deal.

(10) Sell Aquarium Plants

You know how often you need to trim those plants and how many seeds you have left behind if you have a thriving aquarium with live plants. Imagine how many small plants all these cuttings can start with.

These trims are perfect for sale! Imagine how glad you can make other aquarium owners who want to start living plants. You can offer them your cuttings over the internet or in a Facebook group, for example.

A popular plant to grow next to plant cuttings is the java mouse. Java moss is a plant kept in its aquarium by many beginners (and experienced) since it is perfect for so many different things.

This is why it sells quickly in fish shops. I sold a lot of java moss to my local fish store myself. In exchange, I have a shop loan I spent on fish food.

(11) Fish breeding

What should I breed? A question that many people have? Although there are many options, I want to give you these two specific tips. Raise what sells in the shops and breed a fish species you like.
Breed what is sold in the shops

You need to ask yourself before you begin breeding like crazy: to whom are you going to sell? Someone needs to buy the fish from you, or you’ll be stuck in no time with a hundred angelfish.

You will sell your fish most of the time to your local fish shop. It is unlikely that you will be given cash for it, most of the time it will give you credit in return. That means you can spend the money you have to sell your fish in this particular shop.

If you buy it already, it’s perfect. In future, it can finance your fish food, your plant fertiliser and perhaps other fish and plants.

(12) Create a YouTube Channel

As you know, starting up a YouTube channel is quite easy, you can just record down your aquarium scene and compile it to a video. Not all people is good in keeping an aquarium, and most of us like to watch small animals that is swimming around.

So, by creating a daily update about your aquarium and publish it to YouTube can actually attract someone to watch it!

Why not give it a try, maybe you can become famous by posting it ?