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The story
A thread about aquariums as a hobby heated up on 5ch’s VIP board. Right from the start, people were complaining “it costs way too much,” followed by tales of woe — like accidentally killing pet white cloud minnows (akahire) in a 24-liter bug cage, or the agony of waiting over a day for zeolite to settle with no filter. On the other hand, some recommended a “budget aquarium” approach — just tossing medaka (Japanese rice fish) and shrimp into a bucket left outdoors — or a “biotope” setup that only requires upfront costs. Opinions split over whether you can keep costs low if you don’t get too particular, or whether keeping any living creature inevitably racks up money and effort over time. One poster even shared a story of sinking a total of 100,000 yen (about $650) into the hobby, keeping the thread buzzing.
What people said
This costs way too much
Honestly, money's not the scary part — it's when the upkeep gets tedious, you stop maintaining it, and the whole thing collapses
Low-budget is actually harder
Trust me, I'm running an aquarium out of a bug cage, so I know
You've gotta run the AC in summer
And obviously it's cold in winter
Exactly, you can't just casually quit either
It's over for us
Ah yeah, that's me
Just bought a 24-liter bug cage and I'm currently living in hell lololol
No filter, so the zeolite particles are settling way too slowly
I've been waiting a whole day already… (crying)
What are you even doing here?
You killed your white cloud minnows too?
That's rough
You're just not cut out for aquariums
Laid down zeolite, waiting for it to settle
Re: #18
It's just 2 fish in 3 liters… and yeah, I seriously might have no talent for this
Behold this paradise
Easy to maintain, the water's crystal clear
the white medaka are thriving
plenty of room to spare
this is the ideal budget aquarium
Wait, isn't it "aquariumist"…
Guess I really didn't have the resolve
I keep shrimp and they're doing totally fine without aeration
I think it's thanks to the water plants and ventilation
Once you get serious about it, even with "just" medaka you end up managing temperature and water quality for everything, even picking out the eggs one by one
By the time I'd bred a few dozen fry, I was completely burned out
How'd you get rid of them? Dumped 'em in a river? lol
I think I've spent a total of 100,000 yen (about $650) by now
I even went fishing and threw some Japanese dace (ugui) in there too
Whoa…
Damn, that's a full-on serious aquarium setup lol
Aquariums really are brutal
At this point it's just brutal
I think 3 liters is about the max you can handle
Past 10 liters it starts getting sketchy
24 liters? That's the start of hell, huh lol
Step 2: Fill it with tap water
Step 3: Leave it outside for a day somewhere that gets morning sun and afternoon shade
Step 4: Add water plants like hornwort or anacharis
Step 5: Leave it alone for a week
Step 6: Acclimate the medaka and shrimp to the water, then add them
Step 7: Top off the water when it evaporates
Step 8: Feed them occasionally
Done
What is this, an aquarium even more basic than mine?
Is this an elementary school science project or something?
If you bury that bucket in your yard, you've basically got yourself a little garden pond
Exactly lol
Aquariums are basically a rich man's hobby at this point
Just admit it
All us commoners can manage is
https://imgur.com/a/uJaqXg9
this
That's what I thought — 5 years ago
If you go the biotope route, it's just the upfront cost and basically free after that
The medaka and shrimp themselves are cheap
but everything that comes with them adds up
the tank, the food
the electricity bill too
It turns into a money-eating monster
It's because you're keeping living creatures
I can practically hear God laughing at me
That sounds pretty dangerous
Yeah, this hobby really is a minefield
But my 3-liter tank still has hope, so maybe it's too early for you guys to give up
Water changes are super easy at this size, and laying down zeolite keeps the smell down to almost nothing (so far)
Add shrimp and they'll clean up after themselves
With water plants too, you don't even need aeration
That alone is enough to enjoy it
Though I think 2 shrimp and 1 small fish is about the limit
Any more than that and you get a nasty smell and you're done for
Source: me
This is what I pictured when I opened this thread, but it turned out to be nothing like that
Honestly, that's what I want to do
I mean, if I went all in, I probably could lol
With that 100,000 yen a month, you could pull off something like Re: #109
They call it a "bottle aquarium" apparently, and I figured this kind of thing could just sit casually on my desk
Go for it, as long as you can properly change the water every single day
The less water there is, the more sensitive the water quality becomes
Line the bottom with zeolite (it absorbs ammonia and stuff)
add some anacharis-type water plants
and I think you could manage with just one fish
Personally though, I'd also want shrimp in there (they clean up droppings and such), so you'd be better off going with something a bit bigger
With this
you'd have to change the water
the temperature seems like it'd spike easily
and without aeration it seems like the fish would run out of oxygen
seems really tough
I saw it on TV a while back
apparently it's a self-contained environment like a mini Earth
and supposedly the creatures inside never die even if you do absolutely nothing to it
No way that's actually true lol
You're probably talking about a "perfect aquarium," but that photo isn't one
There are people who've actually pulled off a truly hands-off setup like that, but it ends up looking so rough it's not worth displaying
There are plenty of "fake" perfect aquariums out there though
The one in Re: #117 has fast-growing plants in it, so if you don't tend to it, within a week or two the plants will spiral out of control into a jungle, or get overrun by algae
Bottom line, keeping it looking nice takes work — or rather, rebuilding it periodically is just par for the course
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Aquariums are a hobby centered on raising fish and aquatic plants in a tank, and even at a small scale, the need to manage water temperature and quality drives up both cost and effort. The more a “simplified aquarium” setup skips filters, heaters, and aeration, the more unstable the water quality tends to become — as seen in this thread, where posters described killing their white cloud minnows or struggling to wait out the slow settling of zeolite (an ammonia-absorbing material). The “perfect aquarium” discussed in the thread refers to attempts to create a fully self-contained ecosystem inside a sealed container; posters pointed out that even when successfully achieved, it tends to look messy and isn’t really suited for display, which differs from the popular image of a “zero-maintenance” setup. Meanwhile, the “biotope” method — putting medaka and shrimp in a bucket and leaving it outdoors — is said to be low-cost thanks to using hardy native species, though here too, the smaller the volume of water, the more sensitive it becomes to changes in water quality. The divide between the low-budget camp and those who’ve experienced costs spiraling comes down to the basic fact that keeping any living creature inevitably brings cost and effort somewhere along the line.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (VIP) thread “This ‘Aquarium’ Hobby Thing lololololol.”
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