...so I spent about 3K building a larger tank for my $6.00 worth of gold fish. Now they are the size of trout and once again I am looking at building a newer and much larger tank and waterfall. I am looking at using plastic stock tanks from Tractor Supply.
Oh, yes...a familiar refrain.
Tractor Supply and similar places like Peavey Mart have decent selections and okay prices, but I found much better deals, especially seasonal sales, at smaller independent farm supply places out in the sticks. The tank I just bought was part of a "display group"...i.e. a bunch of tanks stacked up in a weedy field next to the store. I was taking a nice scenic drive home after a morning of fishing, passed by this place and spotted them; wheeled in, struck up a conversation with the guy behind the counter and was back on the road within 30 minutes with a monster stock tank strapped to the bed of my truck. Their regular price was $30 cheaper than the same tank at Peavey Mart, and they marked it down an additional $100 to move it out before winter. He offered me an even better deal if I took them all!
I can usually slither new purchases like this past my wife, and adding just one more aquarium, or one more stock tank, or one more fishing rod often goes completely unnoticed. But...adding 6 more 8-foot diameter bright blue tanks into the growing collection back in the corner of the yard is beyond my meager skills of misdirection.