Spending rules ?

this came up on another thread and thought I'd put it out there. I'm sure we all have some sort of spending rule in this hobby. I "used" to vow not to pay over $40 for a fish. I did however, break this with my flame hawk. I don't know why he was so expensive $50. In terms of coral, $45 for an individual piece tops, more for an anemone....

Interested in others' rules

 

My rule: If I can not convince the significant other that it cost less than 40, then I sneak it in, one might be shocked at the amount of 100.00 acropora that were played off as macro algae successfully. Yes it's safe to assume my spouse knows literally nothing about corals and fish and I am ok with that. 8)

My Clam addiction in the late 1990's and early 2000 might have played a role in the demise of my marriage.

Yes this might qualify as an addiction.:

 

depends on how bad we want it The most we paid for a fish was $100 (helfrichi fire fish.) The most we ever spent on a coral was $60 (two headed gold torch). I think we were more willing to pay a bit more for the fish because you are more limited in the number of fish that fit in a system.
we always talk about buying more expensive pieces, but we never do

 

i would never spend more than was saved up for. i would put $30 from each paycheck into my "fish funds" that was seperate from the thing i "needed" i.e. salt, test kits ect. so i would save 200-300 bucks before i went online to the fish store and blow it all, then have to wait another few months

 

ya I stick around the same amount (45 or under) myself per frag but that would not stop me from buying 4 different 1's at the same time ha ha. In my opinion I do not need the craziest, newest, hard to find coral out there as there are so many beautiful corals that used to be that $100 and up piece but has been around a while and prices came down.

Fish I give myself a little leeway like when I got my Picasso clown pair. I am a little more willing to pay up to $100 for the fish I want.

 

Seriously considering the $130 for the new ORA Red Sea Mimic Blenny, I guess if I want it enough I buy it lol.

 

Oh boy...out of my 20 fish I currently have, only 4 were under $40, and 2 of those I won from a raffle! 11 were over $100. I guess I don't have any rules when it comes to fish (luckily my wife loves the hobby too!). In general, I try to stick to a $200/month budget that includes fish, corals, and supply. Unfortunately, I have spent quadruple that on two different fish purchases (5 fish total between the two purchases), but I try to go easy for at least the next month or two

For corals, I have yet to spend more than $85 on one. I could see myself spending more on a crazy chalice down the road, but otherwise I stick to frags.

 

I have free reign, here. If I want something bad enough to pay the price, it's mine.

 

My spending rule is not to buy anything cheap. Now I don't want that to sound like I'm flush with cash and able to get what I want. It's just this - I'm sick of getting some nondescript green thing because it's kinda nice and it doesn't cost a lot only to end up with a big green thing and no room for the coral I really wanted later.

Plan ahead, then spend as much as it takes to get what you really want. Compared to the crazy amounts we spend keeping the tank, why not fill it with the coolest stuff you can.

I've never spent more than $100 on a coral yet and that's been very rare. I want to though... I really, really want to.

 

For some reason my post didn't post.

So you did start a thread lol.
As I stated from my thread, my spending limit that I gave myself is 35 bucks. For coral, I have not broken this rule. On fish? there has been several occasions but due to my generous friends in the industry I didn't have to break the bank to get them.