LOL yeah I dont have the worries of a wife. I dont care about the fridge or any of that, I just dont want my fish and corals to die.
Lol.
Here's my suggestion.
Buy the biggest generator you can afford and a transfer switch. Plug the transfer switch into the fuse box and load up all the circuits that you want to keep on. Fish tank, fridge and A/C would be my choice. Just make sure you have the proper sized generator for the circuits you want to operate.
Boom. Power goes out, transfer switch cuts the main and automatically switches power to your selected circuits. You just have to hop over and start the generator. No fuss and no running a bunch of cables or scrambling to set it up. If you get a generator with electric start, then some of the switches will actually turn the generator on for you.
But the cheapest way would be to get the pull start and a simple transfer switch.
-Mount the transfer switch next to the fuse box.
-Run the transfer switch to the fuse box. The destructions will show you how.
-Get your generator and fuel it up, set it somewhere outside out of sight. (Might want to lock it up somehow, theives are everywhere.)
-run your output cable from the genny to the Tx switch.
Then when the power goes out, like I said, the transfer switch will detect the loss of line power. So when you go out and start the genny, the transfer switch will feed the circuits you have set up. When the power comes back on, the transfer switch will detect it and cut the generator power off. You'll still have to go out and turn the generator off obviously, but the Tx switch will prevent you from back feeding power to the power lines.
Transfer switch:
Reliance Controls TF151W Easy/Tran Single-Circuit 15 Amp Furnace Generator Transfer Switch For Up To 1875 Watt Generators
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HRWG8U/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_.FYiwbB4Q39WF
Generator:
WEN 56180 1800-Watt Portable Generator, CARB Compliant
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T7VT450/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_LKYiwbM1VKPTF
15A and 1800W should be plenty for what your trying to do.