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

[MTBake]

It is actually interesting - Fyi - in case anyone is curious the total spent on pet care in the US - is >75 billion/year

Starting to wonder if I found the same source as you.

Following along.

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?

I've never kept a freshwater tank. My parents did when I was younger. All I did was feed the fish back then. Straight to saltwater for me

 

[Salty Lemon]

I'm guessing that this is an industry that ebbs and flows with the economy. The article with the lowest number provided earlier, said 700,000 -- but that was a survey taken in 2010 and not long after the infamous crash. Things have been good lately and people have jobs. They feel more secure with purchasing big ticket items. I'm certain that the number is well over a million now. If we have another crash, there are many people who would not be able to keep up this hobby due to the expense, so they would take it down and the number would significantly drop.

 

[FishyDP]

Starting to wonder if I found the same source as you.

Following along.



I've never kept a freshwater tank. My parents did when I was younger. All I did was feed the fish back then. Straight to saltwater for me

Interesting to hear that some people went straight to marine tanks. Whenever I talk to people that keep fw tanks about marine tanks, they always ask "aren't they alot of work"?..and I reply quickly "yes", but always add in that it does get easier with time. I kept fw tanks for the better part of a decade, which was a lot of fun. I am very glad I got into marine tanks, especially reefs. Amazing stuff, I had no idea what went into it.

 

[Bob Weigant]

I voted but have no idea at all

 

[MTBake]

Interesting to hear that some people went straight to marine tanks. Whenever I talk to people that keep fw tanks about marine tanks, they always ask "aren't they alot of work"?..and I reply quickly "yes", but always add in that it does get easier with time. I kept fw tanks for the better part of a decade, which was a lot of fun. I am very glad I got into marine tanks, especially reefs. Amazing stuff, I had no idea what went into it.

I have several friends and family members that keep fw tanks. What scares them away from going sw is the initial cost. They just don't want to invest that much into an aquarium. The upkeep absolutely gets easier as the system matures and really isn't that bad, imo.

I have actually been thinking of setting up a nano fw tank. My lfs has some really cool complete nano tank setups for sale that I'll probably copy when I do build it. Can I post a fw build thread on R2R?

 

[GoVols]

How many home have marine tanks in the USA?

Do you have the answer?

 

[Jon Fishman]

Interesting to hear that some people went straight to marine tanks. Whenever I talk to people that keep fw tanks about marine tanks, they always ask "aren't they alot of work"?..and I reply quickly "yes", but always add in that it does get easier with time. I kept fw tanks for the better part of a decade, which was a lot of fun. I am very glad I got into marine tanks, especially reefs. Amazing stuff, I had no idea what went into it.

I never even had a goldfish bowl...... straight to saltwater.....

 

[MnFish1]

Do you have the answer?

Yes - posted already.... 2.5 million

 

[GoVols]

Yes - posted already.... 2.5 million

Wow!!...

 

[MnFish1]

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

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

65 percent of US homes have a pet - smarty pants

 

[ScottR]

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

How do they get this data? I’ve never been formally asked about what pets I keep ever. They’d have to just make educated guesses based on how much money is spent in the industry. And even so, it’d be wayyy off.

 

[that Reef Guy]

I have heard 2 Figures over the years.

One was 100,000

The other was 400,000 (I think Marc Levenson said that in a Video)

But that is Saltwater Fish Only Tanks I Believe (Reef Tanks would be a Lower Number).

 

[Instigate]

How do they get this data? I’ve never been formally asked about what pets I keep ever. They’d have to just make educated guesses based on how much money is spent in the industry. And even so, it’d be wayyy off.

I don't know but I had that same thought.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

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?

It has been a long time since the aquarium industry addessed that question. But as an aquarium manufacturer the inside industry scoop was that the average aquarium was only maintained for a maximum of two years. So many manufacturers built and warranted accordingly. Most people dropped out of the hobby at the one year and two year mark. This was common knowledge through BetBusiness and other publications in the 1990's. I am highly skeptical of the 2.5 million number from that publication. The aquarium industry is a tough nut to crack and grow your business.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I have several friends and family members that keep fw tanks. What scares them away from going sw is the initial cost. They just don't want to invest that much into an aquarium. The upkeep absolutely gets easier as the system matures and really isn't that bad, imo.

I have actually been thinking of setting up a nano fw tank. My lfs has some really cool complete nano tank setups for sale that I'll probably copy when I do build it. Can I post a fw build thread on R2R?

Yes just post it in the Lounge area....I am following a 22 gallon build right now.

 

[vetteguy53081]

What was the answer?
Then comes a thought, how many have a marine tank and a successful one?
We need a list of these persons and let them know . . . They’re missing out on R2R!!

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

So let’s see I went straight to saltwater which was actually started or sparked my interest in junior high biology. Now at the time there were probably close to 35 students in my class (I’m guessing but it was a lot), but I know for a fact there was three of us that took care of that tank. It was the teacher, and another student and I, (which she was my friend). After the first year she went onto other things and I took care of the tank, even when I went into high school. They were next to each other and I would go over on my lunch time and check on it.

Now given that I live in Boise which is like a suburb compared to most places, it’s close to 300,000. Between the entire metro area there are officially only three saltwater stores. Now given on most days I go in, they are jammed packed with people.

So after reading this thread I asked co workers through like email all in my section which is 427 to be exact. (Sorry can’t post it because it’s work stuff and has all the email info etc) but just where I work alone only 7 people including myself have ever dealt with salt water tanks. That is barely .01% and four of those were other physicians who have them in their office at work. That’s just my section so who knows about others, but most of my section is nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, admins, etc. Most certainly can afford this hobby, (now if I did a poll on golfing at work I think there is like 7 of us who don’t. I’m one of them, usually when I get dragged into a golf game with co workers, I just pick the little white ball up and throw it. It goes further and straighter than if I try hitting it with that bat/club looking thing.

What’s also interesting from school is for those who do saltwater tanks, what is the male to female ratio? Now I have seen a few females here in Boise but I don’t know if it’s
Because of their spouses. I have seen quite a few on here, and I have one close friend (female) that has a tank. But it would be neat to see that stat as well. In school most of the classes I took related to this (was male dominated by quiet a bit). But again, that could also just have been my class and timing etc.

Reading the posted articles I found fascinating, and that we were less than 1% on the pie chart. Even thinking of terms of aquariums and lfs, they are always packed and people love to see reefs. One would think there would be more of an interest in it. Every time I go to my local aquarium, they are behind schedule and always ask me for help. But every time I am in there one of the number one questions is, how hard is this to do? I say personally much easier than fresh, more rewarding, but more expensive to start, but levels out.

Honestly I had to take care of my friends fresh water tank and I hated that terribly. I find fresh water (personally) much harder, dirtier, and way more time consuming. Now I know many will disagree with me, but that was my first experience and it kinda (don’t like saying this word but it sucked). I have always thought salt was easier, (more expensive at first), but fresh water goes south almost bad fast as salt does.

I’m not sure I classify this as a hobby, but more of an art or science. Playing golf is a hobby/sport, collecting legos or classic cars, or doll houses, is a hobby. I find this more of a art of science. Because it takes honestly some basic science and marine biology to even get it to work, and takes more to be successful. Secondly, it’s an art, how we construct and aquascspe and choose corals and fish etc is a work of art. No two tanks are the same, all master pieces in their own state. But there are lots of legos that look identical, or classic cars (other than colors). I mean even baseball cards (brothers fun thing), use to be something sought after until they produced 9000000 copies of the same card lol.

But I find the people who have their own ocean and reef a very special elite kind of person. I wish there was more of us out there, because if done correctly, we could be the ones who help prevent the great reefs from extinction.

 

[Seawitch]

SO - people have said many time - that the number of hobbyists the have marine tanks is trivial - and therefor (whatever the discussion was) - How many home have marine tanks in the USA?

Glad you posted this. I've been wondering about what the stats were.

 

[reefwiser]

I'm guessing that this is an industry that ebbs and flows with the economy. The article with the lowest number provided earlier, said 700,000 -- but that was a survey taken in 2010 and not long after the infamous crash. Things have been good lately and people have jobs. They feel more secure with purchasing big ticket items. I'm certain that the number is well over a million now. If we have another crash, there are many people who would not be able to keep up this hobby due to the expense, so they would take it down and the number would significantly drop.

Having talk to others about the last economic crash they saw a rise in smaller aquariums in the total of aquariums people keep. I see way more 40 and under tanks now days than in the old days. When it was 55 gallon was the smallest and 125 gallon was the average size saltwater tank. The problem with the rise of Nano tanks is the stability factor raises its ugly head. So the last economic crash caused people to down size into smaller aquariums which can be more tricky to keep. Which causes a high churn rate in new hobbyist.

 

[MnFish1]

What I find interesting is the number of people who got the question 'correct' was 11%. - and those who thought the answer was < 100,000 was 57%. It just goes to show that collective wisdom is sometimes 'incorrect'. BTW - I thought it would be 100K or so myself.