How many households in the USA have Marine Aquariums (no google)

[MnFish1]

My initial guess of 300,000-500,000 households was guessing how many people have REEF tanks. The OP asked about marine tanks, which would include fish only tanks..I would have guessed closer to a 750,000+ figure for that..I should have read into the question a little more. I know a couple people who can keep fish only tanks, but struggle with any type of coral. I would also guess that nearly half of people who start reef tanks get out of the hobby within 2 years of starting because of difficulty, time, money and getting burned out. I would also guess that for every person that gets out of the hobby a new hobbyist replaces them at a pretty even rate.

I would be interested to hear what % of people who have marine tanks started out with freshwater. I cannot imagine that many people dive right into marine tanks, more probably advance in the hobby and transition to marine?

Since I was the OP... I will help answer. I think that was answered in another Poll which - @revhtree a suggestion - someone else also asked - maybe it would be nice to have the polls treated like 'articles' - ie - centralized - so that people can see all of the old results....

FWIW - I kept a freshwater tank first.

FWIW 2 - I dont know where the data comes from about how many people set up a reef tank and quit. My guess is (like @ca1ore guessed) that its not that high. But - I do agree (opinion only) - that they are replaced quickly (which may support your position rather than mine)...

 

[MnFish1]

My 'gut' is that 1,000,000 is high …. but who knows.

The APPA?

 

[ca1ore]

Do they though! I work in the market research industry …….

 

[Hermie]

and there are 18+ million saltwater fish being taken care of in the US.

yeah but how many polyps are being taken care of?

 

[MnFish1]

Do they though! I work in the market research industry …….

I dont know - why would they not? I mean - there is no goal that I can see that they would inflate the numbers for Salt water vs other pets? Or are you saying their sampling techniques are incorrect? Curious as to your reasoning? Meaning - in 2012 there were an estimated 700,000 saltwater tanks in the US - from a different source - I would say - just based on population growth - and the rest of the pet industry - it has to be over 1,000,000

 

[MnFish1]

yeah but how many polyps are being taken care of?

LOL - start your own poll...

 

[ca1ore]

Not suggesting there's any misrepresentation - just that sampling errors can be significant on these things.

 

[MnFish1]

Not suggesting there's any misrepresentation - just that sampling errors can be significant on these things.

Agreed... And I didn't mean to suggest they were misrepresenting it - or that you were. Frankly - I dont know how their methods (i.e. how many people were 'sampled', etc.).

 

[ca1ore]

It is a fascinating discussion though, particularly in assessing the addressable market for things like controllers or vortech pumps. I've always wondered, for example, how many apex controllers Neptune sells, and how many more they could sell based on the addressable market (it's clearly not a million LOL). What's the price elasticity - could they sell double the number if they reduced the price by $200.

The other thing that makes me question the size of the number is how many LFS are going out of business - if there really are a million reef tank households, surely it's be easier to stay around. Perhaps there no logic to that argument, after all Sears went out of business and they have a much larger addressable market. Just thinking out loud.

 

[ccombs]

It is a fascinating discussion though, particularly in assessing the addressable market for things like controllers or vortech pumps. I've always wondered, for example, how many apex controllers Neptune sells, and how many more they could sell based on the addressable market (it's clearly not a million LOL). What's the price elasticity - could they sell double the number if they reduced the price by $200.

The other thing that makes me question the size of the number is how many LFS are going out of business - if there really are a million reef tank households, surely it's be easier to stay around. Perhaps there no logic to that argument, after all Sears went out of business and they have a much larger addressable market. Just thinking out loud.

I do not think they would double their sales because of a $200 price drop. The market defines what a price is set at and it settles out. If you are in the market for a controller, you will be in this general price range across all controller type products.

Just my opinion of course, I am certainly open to being wrong lol.

 

[MnFish1]

It is a fascinating discussion though, particularly in assessing the addressable market for things like controllers or vortech pumps. I've always wondered, for example, how many apex controllers Neptune sells, and how many more they could sell based on the addressable market (it's clearly not a million LOL). What's the price elasticity - could they sell double the number if they reduced the price by $200.

The other thing that makes me question the size of the number is how many LFS are going out of business - if there really are a million reef tank households, surely it's be easier to stay around. Perhaps there no logic to that argument, after all Sears went out of business and they have a much larger addressable market. Just thinking out loud.

Right - as the other article I posted (from the LFS trade) - stated the aquarium hobby has decreased every year for 25 years - but the question is that just at LFS - or in general. BTW - I think the thing that will 'save' the LFS is what most of them are doing here - i.e. maintenance - which if done well - will save the hobbyist that doesn't want to do all of the 'stuff' time, money and livestock. One indicator - when there is a show (like Tanked - which I didnt care for) on national TV for years - there has to be something happening - now granted Tanked was just cancelled lol but the ratings are still high for the reruns.

 

[MnFish1]

I do not think they would double their sales because of a $200 price drop. The market defines what a price is set at and it settles out. If you are in the market for a controller, you will be in this general price range across all controller type products.

Just my opinion of course, I am certainly open to being wrong lol.

The only way it would work is if Neptune could drop the price by 200$ and still make a profit. There are really 2 markets - aren't there - the buyers market - and the sellers market. The buyer would love the 200$ price drop - the seller might not (i.e. might lose money)

PS I thought you quit lol

 

[ccombs]

The only way it would work is if Neptune could drop the price by 200$ and still make a profit. There are really 2 markets - aren't there - the buyers market - and the sellers market. The buyer would love the 200$ price drop - the seller might not (i.e. might lose money)

PS I thought you quit lol

Yes, this is also true! I was just looking at the market price, profitability is a whole other discussion haha.

 

[reefwiser]

The other question is how does a hobbyist stay in the hobby? I see people go in and out of the hobby at a good clip. What do you think is the average length of time a hobbyist stays in the saltwater hobby?

 

[ca1ore]

I do not think they would double their sales because of a $200 price drop. The market defines what a price is set at and it settles out.

Well, it was just an example (because many people don't understand the concept of price elasticity). But it is true that high end/luxury items have a smaller volume bump with price reductions because of peoples 'willingness to pay'. The market only defines price if something has clear and obvious alternatives; otherwise the manufacturer defines it (and would be vulnerable to monopoly status if large enough).

 

[ca1ore]

The only way it would work is if Neptune could drop the price by 200$ and still make a profit.

Yes, of course. Old adage that if you lose money on each unit you cannot make it up in volume LOL. My suspicion is that Nepture does make more than $200 on an apex (based on familiarity with high tech gross margins), but I clearly don't know for sure.

 

[MnFish1]

Yes, of course. Old adage that if you lose money on each unit you cannot make it up in volume LOL. My suspicion is that Nepture does make more than $200 on an apex (based on familiarity with high tech gross margins), but I clearly don't know for sure.

BTW - one way to tell how many people are involved in reefing - and whether its increasing or decreasing MIGHT be by analyzing the statistics of users here. But - only the admins would have the data. Might be interesting though. Of course - there are also people changing from one site to another - but -still..

 

[ccombs]

Yes, of course. Old adage that if you lose money on each unit you cannot make it up in volume LOL. My suspicion is that Nepture does make more than $200 on an apex (based on familiarity with high tech gross margins), but I clearly don't know for sure.

I have actually thought about this for awhile. Nothing in their lineup is groundbreaking, when it comes to controllers people are looking for reliability and an easy to use package and GUI. If they had something that was 'new tech' we wouldn't have reefpi builds. APEX is just recycled tech packaged in a way reefers like.

I think the margin of profit on the unit itself has to be pretty high so they can sustain a tech support department. Between user errors, malfunctions, and the need to get your gear working quickly for the safety of the tank, you need robust tech support or the industry will write you off. I imagine they make (with R&D included in the price per unit) the normal APEX package for about $150 (if not less), but a ton of that profit has to go and support the rest of their company.

Once again this is just me running numbers in my head based on comparables for similar tech.

 

[Reefer Reboot]

Well with that many "households" it's no wonder I can never win any online giveaways! The odds are almost as bad as the lottery.

 

[siggy]

I'm going to guess over a million. There's like 330,000,000 people in the US right? So, if even 0.5% of the population has a tank, that's nearly 2 million people. Wouldn't be hard to hit 1 mil IMO

And we're only 0.6% of the pet owners in the US as of 2014.

estimated 700,000 saltwater home aquariums in the United States,

Just stopping in and I noticed the chart of PET owners. Thats those with pets... SO smarty pants what is the percentage of homes with pets.....or....Do reef owners have other pets and are they being counted twice or more ;Bookworm

The other question is how does a hobbyist stay in the hobby? I see people go in and out of the hobby at a good clip. What do you think is the average length of time a hobbyist stays in the saltwater hobby?

2-3 years is a good run for salt, fresh 4-5Y ( My Personal experiences ) I hope to stay for a bit longer this time almost forgot how many TANKS in a home ? Not uncommon for some of you to have 3 or........Frag Tanks Matter;Wacky