A little different - tropical fish

We actually had done the research, and could have just flown our Betta from the USA to Scotland (had a letter from the Scottish Govmt office in charge  and had an airline that was going to allow his "traveling pickle-jar" (the transport bin looks like one) in the cabin, and even pre-cleared with TSA). But the dear old thing was very old, and he's now gone to that great fishtank in the sky. 

Which leads me to... I had cleaned out his tank and was going to sell it and all of the supplies (heater, filter, etc.) rather than take it with us to the UK when we moved. I thought  it would be cheaper to replace it there, but when I did a search on 5.5 gallon tanks on Amazon.uk I almost had a heart attack at the price!   Then I thought, ok, maybe 5.5 gallons is an imported one, and checked for standard UK sizes and looked those up. Not appreciably better.  I am really at a loss as to understanding why five pieces of glass glued into a box shape would cost so much there (50 pounds?).  Here they typically run a dollar per gallon (when on sale), so a 10 gallon tank with nothing else would be about 7 pounds.   

Am I just looking in the wrong places?  It would be cheaper to bring our old 5.5 and buy a converter to handle the power, than to replace it and all the necessities, it appears.  Anybody know what the prices for fishkeeping supplies are in Scotland, since everything I'm finding on the Internet cannot possibly be true (can it!!?)?

Can't help much - but this is a local fish supply place near me (Southeast England).  May give an indication of prices.

https://fishkeeper.co.uk/

For me, I found that replacing electrical items was the way to go.  But many years on and my parents LOVE my Kitchen Aid that I left behind and I don't have so much as an electric mixer!  Oh well, I wouldn't have anywhere to put it anyways!

Shipping an aquarium from the US to Scotland sounds a bit nuts to me, unless you've got a massive shipping container already paid for.  It seems almost garunteed to break, and using a transformer for the heater and filter doesn't sound like a good idea although I'm no expert. 

We do keep fish though, and Pets at Home should be a good example of high street prices.  Here's something similar to what I think you are talking about:

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/marina-7l-betta-tank-white

£35

That's London prices, I'm guessing Scotland will be cheaper although Im sure my Scottish friend will be along shortly to give me a bollocking for misrepresenting Scotland.

I wouldn't bring it, if money is a problem buy on eBay once you get here.

Hi Jim/KF -

Thanks for answering my post.  I have been looking online at various websites there in the UK. The little tank from Pets at Home is just over a gallon, costs about $45, and is really too small to properly house a Betta. I know that people do it all the time, I'm just one of those who think the little fish would need more space -  I'd like to provide them an apartment, at least, rather than a jail cell.    Our last guy did well in the 5 gallon tank, but a 10 gallon would have been better - more space for him to toodle around in.

I'm finding tanks on UK websites similar in size to what we have here now on promotional sale for about $75 (at today's exchange rate, for just the tank). Our current 5 gallon tank came with a topper with LED lighting, the filter, thermometer, and some other supplies, for $25, which was good even for here. (Typically a few times a year here the stores put the tanks on sale for $1 per gallon size, so a 5 gallon tank goes for $5, etc. They more than make it up in all the supplies you have to buy from them for the rest of the year.) I actually spent more on the heater (via Amazon) than the rest of the tank setup cost.   

The heater we have is a good German one, so we'll bring it and if we can't find the same brand there when we are setting the tank up we'll run it on a transformer. (If we do find a UK plug version we'll just hold our current one back for an emergency backup in case the UK one ever fails.) It looks like filters are not terribly expensive there.

Yes, we're going to have a container, though not a "massive" one. (I hope!) So I can spare one box for the "fish stuff" since replacing it there seems expensive -if it breaks, then I'll have to buy a replacement. If it makes it, I won't. I'll wrap the heater in bubble-wrap and put it in the tank, and then put the tank in with the linens for padding in a trunk that's going.

I'm still very curious why the tanks are proportionally so much higher there. I guess it could be that they are mostly imported and have high import taxes or something like that? The prices for the other supplies don't seem to be so proportionally out of line with what we pay here. Just curious...

Thanks for the advice just the same. If your Scottish friend shows up and knows where we can get tanks cheaper, I'd love to hear from them!!!

You'll find 99% of things are more expensive here.     Wait until you have the sticker shock of clothes shopping!  Buy lots of clothes before you move!

I feel your pain about how expensive everything is over here.  It's common for most things to cost the same in dollars and pounds, e.g. An iPhone will cost $100 in the states and £100 here.  A massive rip off!

Good luck for your future fishy

Yeah, I'd notice the same numbers, just the different currency sign, when I was over there last year for so many things. That's why I was surprised to see aquariums disproportionately higher.  Maybe it's got to do either with efficiency of numbers (the market there must not be as large?) or import tariffs, I guess?

Clothes. Yep, I've been warned.  The daughter says to shop at Primark, and she also shopped at the charity shops and got some nice stuff. But I'm wincing at what the cost of a pair of Levi's in some place like John Lewis is.... I can get them via Amazon here for $40 or less. Could be I'll be doing some serious shopping when I come back to visit, periodically. 

Needless to say, I'll own a lot of jeans before we move.

Hope you folks have a Happy Christmas!

That's London prices, I'm guessing Scotland will be cheaper although Im sure my Scottish friend will be along shortly to give me a bollocking for misrepresenting Scotland.

LOL!  Sorry Jimbo, but you do bring it on yourself!   

You should hear him when he gets started on the midlands....

I love Scotland even more after eating my first deep fried Mars bar.  Yum!

It was actually served to me last night in our local Chinese takeaway, but I closed my eyes and thought of Scotland.