Breeding to sell

[Dgjimbob]

Is there anything anyone would reccommend for selling? I don't expect to make a lot of money, just to pay for the hobbie. Tanks are not a problem. I have a 90, two 30s, two 10s, and two fives. I was thinking about raising some to larger sizes and selling them for more than I paid for them, but am not sure how that would work. I know pet stores don't pay much for fish and don't really have any plan for who to sell to so I'm just looking for feedback.

[cucci67]

Buy a small arowana and grow it up, in the 90. Stores sell them for a good bit of money. Not sure how easy this would be, just an idea that I came up with 30 seconds ago, haven't thought it through yet.

Otherwise, breed angels or discus. They are not said to be that hard, but ofcourse it's not like guppies. Grow the fry up in the 30, until they are about 2-3", then sell.

[Dgjimbob]

wud any ypes of tetras be a gd idea?

[violet]

You might need more space to do Angels unless you cull early & often. They are easily stunted, or worse, by crowded conditions (their opinion, not just water quality). Discus are fussy. Both carry fairly $$$ food bills

Ever store carries Corys. Some Rainbows are good. There are a few Danios worth breeding and definitely guppies. Everyone and their cousin is breeding bushynose but the cost of a trio of albino longfins is hefty.

You may want to explore outlets to sell to and see what they will BUY.

Don't count out things like cool shrimp or odd small crays.

[Dgjimbob]

I noticed that oscars sell for a hefty sum at the larger sizes. Do you think it could be advantageous to buy some small ones and raise them to larger sizes to sell?

[Osiris]

Zebra plecos is all i gotta say

[Dgjimbob]

r u saying to raise zebra plecos to lArger sizes?

[Damon]

Even making enough money to support the hobby is very hard. Any fish worth selling for money usually takes a lot of time and money. You would also have to invest in quality fish (not lfs fish). Raising fish to sell for profit is not easy. Most of us who sell aquatics have invested thousands of dollars into the hobby already. We do it for the love, not the profit but a few extra dollars doesn't hurt.

[Osiris]

Well said Simpte! I agree, i spend in average of $1,000 a month on aquatic related things, even more when i redo my stocks for what i would like to breed. Right now i'm kinda going through a pleco phase.

[emc7]

Goto ACA in july and buy the most expensive fish in the auction. Breed them and ship the fry all over.

[Osiris]

LMAO! about sums it up!

[Damon]

Originally Posted by emc7

Goto ACA in july and buy the most expensive fish in the auction. Breed them and ship the fry all over.

I only wish it were that easy. Hard enough getting them to breed let alone raising fry. And nothing worse than the death of a 75 dollar fish

[doggydad38]

I've been raising Guppies for about 5 years now. I have 12 five and a half gallon tanks used for my breeders and fry up to 6-8 weeks of age and 8 ten gallons tanks used as grow out aquariums for fry from 8 weeks to 4 months. I also have an additional 4 ten gallon tanks I use for hybrids when I need to do outcrosses. I make enough selling my 4 varieties of Guppies to pay for my hobby. I can also make more money on Aquabid when I have some exceptional fish to sell. I breed lines that I know will sell at the LFS and will compliment each other for hybridizing purposes. My initial costs were $8 for each 10 gallon, $13 for each 5 1/2 gallon, plus the metal racks for the tanks. Also factor in $10 for each submersible filter, replacement pads, high quality food, brine shrimp eggs, and $50 plus shipping for each trio of Guppy purchased from reputable breeder/judges. I've finally gotten my stock to the point where I plan to start showing next season. It's a lot of work, but I do enjoy it. In case anyone is interested, I currently breed the follow varieties of Guppies: Pastels, HB Pastels (gold and gray bodied), Y-linked HB Purples, and Green Moscows. Good luck with whatever you decide to breed. Just make sure it's something you have a passion for otherwise it will become tedious and you will quickly lose interest.
Tony

[rizkybuziness]

What do you think about breeding lyretailed guppies? That would have to be my favorite guppy. Do they sale well? New to the idea of selling fish.

[emc7]

Fish demand seems to be vary considerably from localation to location. Ask your local fish stores.

[KiltyONeal]

I'd recommend visiting your LFS and asking what they sell the most of and what they will buy from local breeders. When I first started breeding fish, I started with white clouds and danios. I contacted my LFS and they said they sold between 100 and 200 of those fish a week (Who is buying all these fish?!). They would buy them from me for 1/3 of the retail price. Sometimes they would give me cash and sometimes they would give me store credit.

Another thing that sells well for me is plants. It's easy to grow lots of pond plants like water lettuce and water hyacinth in the summer and the stores will buy them.

[Jonno]

I would differently recommended the Bristlenose catfish, they are easy to breed because the father does all the work they breed about every month mine usually have about 50 babies. Most fish shops will take them as everyone likes them, they are reasonably expensive per fish. I took about 20 2 inch babies back on Sunday and got about £45 for them.

[GumboJones]

Breed them and ship the fry all over.

Fry are worth nothing. People are paying for the risk your taking by raising them up. They don't want to go through the 4 months of waiting for them to be grown up enough not to be eaten, they're paying for a fish.

[ultasol]

I have two strategies to trying to earn back some of the money I spend on my hobby. First thing is to determine what I can breed, and find out what stores in your area are interested in.
During this run in the hobby the first fish I bred was pelvicachromis pulcher. There are two reasons for this(in order of what I think is important):
1) I liked the fish and found them interesting
2) They would do well and breed in my water
3) They are easy to breed
4) Local stores were willing to buy them from local hobbyists
5) I could stay within the genus yet move onto species with more advanced care requirements

I also found that plants are required or preferred in breeding many fish. Plants also make the conditions (of the water) better if they are growing well and they make the fish more comfortable and the environment more natural.
Once I started attending fish auctions/activities I also realized they sell well. I started growing plants: two categories
1) basic plants for auctions
2) rare plants/more difficult plants for online sales

This, inadvertedly, led to breeding and selling cherry red shrimp. Easy to breed int he right conditions and there always seems to be a demand. Both plants and shrimp are easy to ship.

To me this is a hobby, not a business. I still spend more than I sell, in part due to laziness and in part due to the rapidly expanding number of tanks.

To date I have bred:
angels
apisto aggies
blue rams
bolivian rams
pulcher
guppies
endlers
swordtails
cherry shrimp
platies
betta persephone
nannochromis transvestitus(but they ate the eggs)
what I previously thought was Blue Acaras (now I don't know what the heck they are)

I like to trade. I'm not in this hobby for the money... I think it is hard to really see a profit and be a good breeder/hobbyist at the same time. People do it, but I don't think I can.

[catluv74]

So, LFS don't usually buy fish from locals? What do you recommend for my fry if they ever come? I have a 10 gal just for them, so I can let them grow for awhile. They are just typical swordtails...

I also have some angels that will be outgrowing my tank soon?????