Breeding Fallout

[barbeds]

So im thinking of getting into some type of breeding program in the coming future, fish still to be determined, but the big question for me is what happens to the young, can I sell them ? Do I have to give them away ? How do I organise this side of things as I do not want to be over-run with young, this is one reason why I am unsure of the best fish I am going to get into.
So any advise would be good, thanks.

 

[Baccus]

The best bet is go around to your various local pet/ fish shops and ask them what fish species that would be willing to buy. Guppies are an easy to breed fish and so are some cichlids, and because of the ease of breeding them some shops will not take them off your hands. Other species of fish are just about impossible to breed in captivity, while others breed but are so expensive to buy the original pairs, the offspring can get priced out of range of most hobbiests. Never think that raising fish is going to be a sure fire money earner, as a backyard breeder we just can not carry the sheer numbers that dedicated fish breeding companies can.
If you don't mind people knowing where you live then you can always advertise your fish in local papers and handy traders or community notice boards. When selling directly to the public you generally need to sell cheaper than the going prices in shops and when selling to shops they will usually only pay 1/2 of their marked retail price.
If your will and able to post then there is always places like gumtree to advertise your fish.

 

[DrRob]

If you want to shift fry then you have 3 options, all dependent on what you raise.
 
You're either going for selling to locals through forums and classifieds, you'll need a good number of local people who would buy what you're producing. Needs to be desirable enough to stop people going to the LFS for them. Basically anything in fashion, apistos would fit this billing.
 
Next option is to sell to the LFS itself. You need to check 2 things for this, 1, that they want them, which they frequently won't, but there are some things that they will like to get their hands on, and 2, that they don't have a policy of not buying, some of the chains won't touch anything, quoting OATA policies at you.
 
Finally, get into shipping, opens you up to the wider audience, slightly more involved, but means that if you can breed the more exotic stuff then you can open to a wider audience.
 
Overall, start with a fish and see if people want it. Check classifieds for lots of sales of one type or another.

 

[barbeds]

Yes guppies would be fun to breed for colour and shape but I would think they would be impossible to sell the young

 

[Baccus]

If you buy a named breed of guppy e.g Black Moscow and keep them pure you maybe able to sell them more readily than a mixed bag of multi crossed guppies. There are people dedicated purely to breeding set lines of guppies and you can usually buy trio's of any colour you want.
The trouble I find with you having a pure strain of a particular breed of fish and then selling its offspring to a pet/ fish shop there is nothing stopping the shop from mixing your pure breeds with other fish of the same species/ genus and ending up with cross bred offspring which the shop blissfully sells on to unsuspecting customers as a pure breed. I am not saying all shops do this, or even do it intentionally but it can happen, and something to keep in mind when purchasing any fish.