Ways a 12 year old can earn money

[Tristan]

I'm only 12 years old and as you know there aren't really any jobs that 12 year old kids can get. So I was wondering what could I do to earn money for my tanks.

I have a 25 gallon heavily planted freshwater tank, a 6.5 fw nano that I'm restarting, and a 10 gallon reef. The reef tank has saltwater mollies, a lot of different zoa morphs, clove polyps, Colt coral, mushrooms, ricordia, GSP, every Euphyllia except the bubble coral, pulsing Xenia, favia, acans, donut coral, Duncan's, and candy canes. As you can tell not many 12 year olds do this. I'm only using 2 10w CFL's on the tank right now and using Reef Crystals.

My mom wants to upgrade to a larger tank next year which will probably be like a 75 or 90 and then I'll have a really large sump maybe 55 or a 40 breeder. Then my dad is going to help me build a stand out of 2x4's and a canopy for the tank.

 

[Aussie paul]

Lawn mowing dog walking yard cleaning there's a start for you. Or since you love tanks ao much (wish my 4 kids did) ask your LFS if you can help out cleaning the tanks

 

[reefwiser]

I cut grass at your age and washed cars. You could also concentrate on growing zoa's and other corals to sell back to the LFS for credit.

 

[neupane00]

dog walking can be most bang for buck. you need to be fairly matured for people to trust you with dog walking tho. Age is just a number, and depends on how you carry yourself out in the job market

 

[Arcsenic]

Somebody give this kid an award..I mean that is awesome he's 12 years old and wanting a job..I wasn't even remotely thinking about a job when i was 12. Good luck with everything man hope you find you something to make a little money

 

[Platehead]

I started this hobby at 14 years old. When i first started i had the same issue as you do now. Besides the jobs you could do on the outside of this hobby, have you thought about cutting up xenia, wrap a rubber band around it to a piece of rubble and once its healed sell it to a fish store or have the fish store sell it. Xenia IMHO grows very fast and beginners love it. Quick market if they don't know the troubles it can cause in the future. Softies in general are an easy coral to cut and sell, but avoid zoanthids and palys for now. Some people love softies, thats the market you are providing for. Another idea is trading up. Trade X amount of coral fragments for parts to a larger fish tank in the future. I don't know what kind of fish stores are around you, or even people. My first year i had a xenia outbreak and made $3k just selling xenia. You have plenty of time to figure this out and i wish you luck.
FYI Im still pretty young for this kind of hobby; 18 years old.

 

[Harry_Y]

Lots of things

Offer to clean up Dog Waste
If winter time offer to shovel off peoples steps etc.

 

[totion]

When I was 12 I delivered newspapers on my bicycle. I asked each customer where they preferred to have their paper. When they paid their bill, if there was no tip, I stopped putting the paper where they wanted it lol. I also put an envelope with a message and their bill amount in the paper when it was time to collect, so I didn't have to go to every house on my route after school to collect.

 

[Jlobes]

lots of great idea, going along with totion and others, check this out:

http://www.kare11.com/story/news/lo...dsen-ad-cycle-bike-dyspraxia-duluth/31015671/

 

[afamousjohnson]

Are you part of a local club?......(which is a job in its self lol)
Just an idea. I bet that could help you get to your goal quicker mixed with odd jobs here and there and money saved.
We love the younger generation taking an interest into the hobby and most hobbiests understand how it is in the hobby and can relate the difficulties of taking this on at a younger age.
It is just an awesome thing to see and there are a lot of great folks out there that would like to see you progress. I use this example because myself and others in our club have many tanks just sitting in our garages...... That being said - my 2 dogs need picked up after often and would make a great labor trade and would be done for you in a heartbeat.
Definitely an option to explore.

 

[Tristan]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I live in Los Angeles so I can't shovel snow out of people's driveways.

As for not fragging the Zoas I have already done that to help my zoa garden grow faster. Don't worry I took all the necessary precautions to not get the play toxin in my bloodstream.

As for the Xenia fragging like I said I'm only using 2 10w CFL's on a 10 gallon tank so the only thing that is growing are my Zoas and my clove polyps. I asked my dad if he could get me the Hobbie Bug 16" Euphotica Dimmable LED as an early Christmas gift. So maybe.

I got half of my corals from reefapalooza at the OC fair and got a lot of cool, free stuff.

 

[Jeff.:P:.]

Kickstarter fund

 

[joshkirkland83]

How about offer to do water changes for people with no time to do it themselves.

 

[Platehead]

You don't have any idea how much money you could make with that idea. As a student in college, taking the very little extra time not in class to do a water change is not easy.
Why not invest into some more rarer zoas and palys? Sell them to local reefers and slowly make your money back. I love my zoas and i bet a lot of others love them to.

 

[Tristan]

You don't have any idea how much money you could make with that idea. As a student in college, taking the very little extra time not in class to do a water change is not easy.
Why not invest into some more rarer zoas and palys? Sell them to local reefers and slowly make your money back. I love my zoas and i bet a lot of others love them to.

In my area there is only 1 saltwater shop that sells corals and most of they usually sell acans, montipora, and a bunch of other SPS and LPS. The only type of Zoas that they sell are either sunny d palys for $25 per polyp or ones in the $5 frag box.

I have radioactive Zoas, fruit loop Zoas and a bunch of others. I'll show you guys a picture of my tank in like a day or two cause I fragged most of my Zoas like a week ago and some are still closed and plus I just did a water change so the tank is cloudy.