Hi, I'm in a situation where I need to figure out a way to make money from home. I am an attentative, nuturing, responsible person who enjoys animals, and I know I would enjoy making a living raising and breeding fish. My question is, how does one go about selling the fish? I was thinking of breeding betta fish, but I'm sure all the fish stores have wholesale fish suppliers and I would probably be unable to offer competative prices.
Breeding Biz
- Thread starter Prizm
- Start date
Dorkhedeos
Boss Major
sorry to burst your bubble, but its impossible to make a living off breeding fish if you live in the US, unless you crank out 1k fish everyday, have very high quality aquarium fish, or farm food fish. if you are lucky, you might make 15k a year from breeding at home if you have above average fish, which isnt alot for the amount of time you spend. if you really want breed fish to sell, i would suggest you do it when you have spare time. if you sell betta to shops, the most you will probably get is 30-40c a fish max if the fish you breed are just average.
Dragonscales
Fishaholic
Your best bet would be to invest in fish which are hard to get in your area (sometimes driving interstate will be necessary) and breeding these. If the supply is non-existant in your area then the demand will exponentially increase and until others start breeding the fish you sell you own the entire market (and still can own a good chunk if your fish are of a higher quality than everyone else's).
As far as making enough to live week to week, well, that depends on how much room, time and start up money you have as well as what you are selling and how much people want it (not to mention if you can get the fish to actually breed, breed regularly and then successfully raise the fry to a sellable size in decent numbers). In general though I would suggest having an extra income on the side as you may very well only make enough to cover costs and perhaps a little extra now and then if you are selling just fish. Perhaps looking into owning an lfs may be the way to go? Then you would have income from tanks and products too.
As far as making enough to live week to week, well, that depends on how much room, time and start up money you have as well as what you are selling and how much people want it (not to mention if you can get the fish to actually breed, breed regularly and then successfully raise the fry to a sellable size in decent numbers). In general though I would suggest having an extra income on the side as you may very well only make enough to cover costs and perhaps a little extra now and then if you are selling just fish. Perhaps looking into owning an lfs may be the way to go? Then you would have income from tanks and products too.
You'll be lucky to break even breeding fish. If you are in a situation where you are stuck at home, you may make a few extra dollars, but nothing to live off of, unless you plan on investing a ton of money to start up. I know breeders with 80+ tanks, I was hanging out bs'ing with a couple today. They have yet to quit their day job.
Buy used tanks, build your own racks, invest in a serious air pump & run sponge filters. Dedicate one room for the fish, & heat it seperately. Research what sells in your area, start small, & plan ahead. The market fluctuates for no reason I can find, it's nearly impossible predict.
Smaller privately owned shops are usually more willing to deal with local breeders than the corporate owned shops. The only way they remain competitive is to offer a superior product. This means you can only offer the best. Many times it's tough to even get a foot in the door.
Start with plenty of research. Know your prices, buy used equipment. Build as much as you can yourself, similar to sweat equity with a house. Anything you can't build or find used, buy online, the prices are way cheaper. Work on sales technique, you have to cover everything from building to breeding to selling to delivery.
Buy used tanks, build your own racks, invest in a serious air pump & run sponge filters. Dedicate one room for the fish, & heat it seperately. Research what sells in your area, start small, & plan ahead. The market fluctuates for no reason I can find, it's nearly impossible predict.
Smaller privately owned shops are usually more willing to deal with local breeders than the corporate owned shops. The only way they remain competitive is to offer a superior product. This means you can only offer the best. Many times it's tough to even get a foot in the door.
Start with plenty of research. Know your prices, buy used equipment. Build as much as you can yourself, similar to sweat equity with a house. Anything you can't build or find used, buy online, the prices are way cheaper. Work on sales technique, you have to cover everything from building to breeding to selling to delivery.
Synirr
"No one is a failure unless you try"
Breed fish that are expensive and rare in the hobby. You'd probably never be able to produce enough to make a living off of it, but you could make a decent profit on the side over time once the original startup supplies are paid for. I've got Betta albimarginata that are a breeze to breed, only get about 2" so it doesn't take a lot of space to raise them to adulthood, and they sell for $40 a pop. Betta macrostoma go for about $200 a pair, but I hear they're a bit trickier to breed. As for regular ol' splendens, you can't make much of a profit off of them really, but it's possible to break even if you start with good stock. You can get $15-$20 for a good fish on Aquabid, or more for a great fish, but you gotta remember that a really good fish might only be 1 in 10 or more from each spawn.
What about less than show-quallity fish? Are there breeders who'd be happy to get rid of their non-salable fish? I know I could sell them along with a 2 gallon betta tank. I could use "rescuing unwanted 'ugly' fish" as a selling point
Already, I know people locally who buy sick looking bettas for the sake of rescuing, and after doing a bit more research, I feel it would be more within my scope of possibillity to sell non-show quallity fish locally to the people who aren't interested in breeding. Do you think I could obtain less attractive fish at a price that's less than what's offered at the pet stores? Maybe there are breeders who need to get rid of excess stock?If your in the UK you'll need a pets traders licence. I think the only way to make money out of breeding fish is to get good qualitiy stock to start off with, and you will need alot of tanks to make a living out of it. Try breeding fish that arn't very common in my area googeids are hard to get hold of aswell as other not so common livebearers
Best bet for that is aquabid. Pick up some smaller fish, grow them out & sell for a profit
I breed angels, a year ago the market was swamped. I was getting small angels at an auction for 70 cents each, which means mine sold for the same. Got some different varieties that I was not breeding at the time, grew most out, sold them at dollar body size for 5 to 8 bucks each. Kept the best for breeders, made a few bucks, and am in the process of setting up tanks for a lot of new pairs.
As far as culls, they are non-saleable fish. Any responsible breeder will not let them leave the house as anything but feeders. I used to give them to a friend with an oscar. His fish died, so I had to get my own oscar. Culling is the least enjoyable aspect of breeding, but a necessary evil. It's easier to look at it as more of a quality control issue, if you can't offer the best quality, your sales will suffer.
I breed angels, a year ago the market was swamped. I was getting small angels at an auction for 70 cents each, which means mine sold for the same. Got some different varieties that I was not breeding at the time, grew most out, sold them at dollar body size for 5 to 8 bucks each. Kept the best for breeders, made a few bucks, and am in the process of setting up tanks for a lot of new pairs.
As far as culls, they are non-saleable fish. Any responsible breeder will not let them leave the house as anything but feeders. I used to give them to a friend with an oscar. His fish died, so I had to get my own oscar. Culling is the least enjoyable aspect of breeding, but a necessary evil. It's easier to look at it as more of a quality control issue, if you can't offer the best quality, your sales will suffer.
What's wrong with owning a low quallity fish as a pet? Isn't that kind of like keeping a dog who's a mutt? (not for breeding though)
It's not so much low quality, as obvious deformities. The fish with these sort of deformities, or runts, would not survive in the wild. At best, you would be selling an ugly fish, at worst you would be selling a fish that could have unseen internal problems, a lower immune system, being prone to disease. This could lead to disease being spread to a customer's tank, in a large shop with a centralized filtration system this could snowball into a large problem for someone trying to make a living off of their stock. You can not tell if the fish just has an external deformity that is only cosmetic, or an underlying internal or immunity problem. You have to err on the side of caution.
I, as well as other breeders I know have a sort of grading system for the fish they breed. They also have a grading system for shops & customers they sell to. The best are kept for future breeders, a little lower quality goes to the better shops, local breeders, and so on. The lowest quality go to the lowest quality shops. Culls go to the oscar.
You can breed more or less "mutt" angels, by crossing different breeds. You can get some interesting variations this way, just like dogs. But just like with dogs, if you have a deformed animal with the potential for future health problems, leading to a lowered quality of life, sometimes drastically so, it is best to keep them from suffering. With fish it is even more important, as most people keep a number of fish in a group, most people have a dog or 2, not a large group. Transfer of disease, as well as the less hardy fish being the target of aggression is usually the result. I would rather see an animal have a quick, relativly painless death than a long period of suffering prior to death.
I did try keeping some runts & culls in a seperate tank a while back, just to see if being seperated from the larger, hardier fish would help with their survival. They died off here & there for no apparent reason.
I, as well as other breeders I know have a sort of grading system for the fish they breed. They also have a grading system for shops & customers they sell to. The best are kept for future breeders, a little lower quality goes to the better shops, local breeders, and so on. The lowest quality go to the lowest quality shops. Culls go to the oscar.
You can breed more or less "mutt" angels, by crossing different breeds. You can get some interesting variations this way, just like dogs. But just like with dogs, if you have a deformed animal with the potential for future health problems, leading to a lowered quality of life, sometimes drastically so, it is best to keep them from suffering. With fish it is even more important, as most people keep a number of fish in a group, most people have a dog or 2, not a large group. Transfer of disease, as well as the less hardy fish being the target of aggression is usually the result. I would rather see an animal have a quick, relativly painless death than a long period of suffering prior to death.
I did try keeping some runts & culls in a seperate tank a while back, just to see if being seperated from the larger, hardier fish would help with their survival. They died off here & there for no apparent reason.
OohFeeshy
It's only forever; not long at all...
Have a look on, perhaps, Ebay, Aquabid, and see whats going for ridiculous prices. On Ebay, for instance, I've seen 2" clumps of java moss going for up to £10, endlers up to £20 for a trio.... As Synirr said, there are some real easy to breed fish that go for a lot of money. Killies, for instance, can be slightly pricy to buy in the first place, but are generally prolific, and you can even sell just the eggs if you don't want to hatch. Even things like snails can help make money, people always want to buy MTS, or different colours of apple snail and they breed like rabbits. You won't make much money, though.
allaboutthefish
Fish Fanatic
Why not look up different kinds of fish an see which ones are hardly ever breed or have never been breed, you never know what can happen if you get some study them and just look after them, and in the mean time trying different ways of getting them to breed ie water pemp, plants, gravel. If you do mannage to breed a species that aint been breed before you could make a lot of money, and even if you don't you would still have learned something new about a species of you have never kept before, Am i making sense here?
[/quote]
Why not look up different kinds of fish an see which ones are hardly ever breed or have never been breed, you never know what can happen if you get some study them and just look after them, and in the mean time trying different ways of getting them to breed ie water pemp, plants, gravel. If you do manage to breen a species that aint been breed before you could make a lot of money, and even if you don't you would still have learned something new about a species of you have never kept before, Am i making sense here?
[/quote]
that would be a great idea. if i ever did breed fish for a living thats what i would do.
Why not look up different kinds of fish an see which ones are hardly ever breed or have never been breed, you never know what can happen if you get some study them and just look after them, and in the mean time trying different ways of getting them to breed ie water pemp, plants, gravel. If you do manage to breen a species that aint been breed before you could make a lot of money, and even if you don't you would still have learned something new about a species of you have never kept before, Am i making sense here?
[/quote]
that would be a great idea. if i ever did breed fish for a living thats what i would do.
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