I Need Your Help

[kribensis12]

I remeber recently seeing a post, that said working on a breeding project, you should be aiming for making the best quality speciemen's for your area. Which gav eme a different outlook on breeding. I thought about money, when now im starting to think about making species more avalibe/hary to my area. I wanted to do the same. Here are my option's:
breed mollies, making them more hardy to local water condition's
Guppies, i have alway's had a problem with male's, and am thinking other people do too, and would like to make male's more hardy
Convict's, basically improve color
Platy's, just for fun.

Which project should i do? Thank's in advance!

WAIT!!!!! I found the link!!!!!! Here it is: Post #2 second Paragraph.

 

[BigC]

I have been keeping, breeding and showing Killifish for the last 35 years, back in the early 90's I had 100 tanks in my fish-house, believe me if you are wishing to make money from your venture, think again. I don't mean to come across so harsh, just that the species you are adopting are readily available anywhere in the world and are very common so trying to offload a batch of convicts or guppies would be hard after a short time.
Have a word with Tolak on the forum, he sucessfully breeds Angels and see if he's made his fortune yet.
Most Aquarists run at a loss or at the very best gain enough to cover part of their foodstuffs.
Regards
BigC

 

[shroob]

If you do decide to do a breeding project, like the poster above me said, its very doubtful you will make any sort of 'proffit'.
However by all means do do the project, but do it for fun/your own experiments (seeing if you can alter hardiness), I'm sure in its own way that will be rewarding.

After saying that, I am very fortunate that my LFS offers money for 'quality guppies, mollies and angels' (plus others), but I wouldnt expect alot of money, possibly even a tub of food and I would be grateful.

 

[cane76]

I remeber recently seeing a post, that said working on a breeding project, you should be aiming for making the best quality speciemen's for your area. Which gav eme a different outlook on breeding. I thought about money, when now im starting to think about making species more avalibe/hary to my area. I wanted to do the same. Here are my option's:
breed mollies, making them more hardy to local water condition's
Guppies, i have alway's had a problem with male's, and am thinking other people do too, and would like to make male's more hardy
Convict's, basically improve color
Platy's, just for fun.

Which project should i do? Thank's in advance!

WAIT!!!!! I found the link!!!!!! Here it is: Post #2 second Paragraph.

surely all the fish you metion are already readily available in your area?
you will just struggle to get shift them especially convicts

 

[kribensis12]

A guy told me he would give me around 60 cent's for each baby convict i have, and i have around 150+. They will be sold at the end of this month. So, i could work on their color, which has no real point. I stated at the top, i decided i am not in this for money. Our angelfish are too expensive and rare here, unless you count petsmart's, which i have had nothing but problem's with! I am looking into cheaper fish. The reason i stated those fish above, is i already have those. I know that our guppy strain's are seriously weak. I have 2 male's, and i have never had male guppies do this wel, i have had a male live no longer than a week! Females always do perfectly fine. I have around 9 female's, 2 blonde female's, 1 female which is the same strain as the 2 male's, 2 black delta female's, and a female with a blue and red tail. Several of them are very pregnant. I also have 1 male black sailfin mollie with a gold dust line on the top of his sail fin, 2 dalmation mollies, 1 black mollie( who has several problem's, adn will have to be uthenised some time this week). 1 of the 2 dalmation's are very pregnant. I have 4 platy's. 1 sunset male, 1 red platy, 2 sunset femlae's. None of them are pregnant, well, atleast not that far along. Now i could do all three species, or i could specialize, or i could have another kind of fish as a option. What do you guy's think?

 

[Tolak]

Start off with the idea of quality, better hardier fish. This is the only way you will make yourself known as a quality breeder to shops and other aquarists. You will be losing money at first, in time when you have regular customers you will break even, and perhaps turn somewhat of a small profit. Making any serious money takes time to work up to, and many tanks with a dedication of your time, there is no punching out like at work. You have to take overhead into account, the equipment itself, the space you keep it in, and the electricity & water, plus other consumables such as food & dechlorinator come out of the profit. Don't forget gas money delivering to customers, this is something that is getting out of hand price wise.

For me to make what I do at my full time job I would have to have at least 4 to 5 times the setup I have now, so you are looking at over 100 tanks. I pull in a typical tradesman's wage running press, decent money, but certainly not 6 figure executive type of pay. I would actually make more shutting down most of the tanks & spending the time I spend in the fishroom working an extra day at time & a half, but that would be no fun.

The best thing to do is research your area, see what the shops need and what sells well consistently. Provide a better quality product than they can have imported, get your name & face known as a quality local breeder. Buy as much as you can used, or make it yourself to save money. Think of everything you can do to cut overhead, sometimes spending a little money now can save money long term, especially when consumables are concerned.

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks Tolak! Im set for food for a long time, and i can get a good sized thing of decchlorinator for under 3 dollars. My lfs that i am going to sell to, has always had problem's with livebearer's, they are always poor quality, adn not hardy. Which is one of the reason's i want t o start with livebearer's, adn move up.

 

[kribensis12]

So, should i go for all my livebearer's at once, or just go with one kind?

 

[dthoffsett]

So, should i go for all my livebearer's at once, or just go with one kind?

I'd focus on one species to start. Once you've made yourself known as a quality breeder and can consistantly sell your fish, then branch out into other species. Having a good reputation will make selling other species easier.

 

[kribensis12]

What one would you recommned? Remebr, i am looking for a fish, that will help make end's meet, but i know with the fish i have listed, i dont even expect that much!

 

[Tolak]

Good show quality guppys are a pricy item, I've seen quality pairs & trios go for $15+ at auctions. Cons are as close to feeders as egglayers get, no money there. Mollys aren't a real big seller, though they are a little ahead of platys here.

You have to research your area, and things do change. Stick to one species at first, before you expand, let that one species pay for some breeding setup upgrades. Get in with a local club, besides ideas for breeding & marketing, they know the local situation. Save space for overstock when selling is slow, usually in the summer, as aquatics is an indoor activity. Be prepared to sell when the market is hot, after a couple of years you will have the local cycle figured out.

Leave some space, time, & money in reserve, anything can happen. Fish get sick, equipment goes down, sales are slow The flip side is another local breeder who breeds what you are selling getting out of the game, some shops are very pleased with what you offer and word gets out, and shops are ringing the phone off the wall. I've been at both ends, from selling 100 angels for $35 a couple of years back, to now with a local breeder in the next state retiring, along with his 12,000 gallon angel breeding setup. Include Aquabid in your research, this gives you an idea of what is hot, and what prices generally are. You can never do enough research & networking if you are trying to turn a profit.

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks tolak, i talked to superpet's, and i was talking to their Day/Night manager( there is 2), and she said that they have the most trouble with guppies. Then swordtail's, but they said their mollies are doing fabulous. So should i do guppies first?

 

[Tolak]

If they're looking for guppys, and you think you can pull it off, by all means go that direction. Don't be discouraged at first, it's often two steps forward, one step back. I killed several spawns of angels at first, it took a few months to get a handle on it.

I know an old timer who breeds guppys, but is mainly doing corys now. He has an attic full of trophies, used to show at the IFGA shows, got first at least once that I know of. He has plenty of tip & tricks, which I know a tiny portion of, and is a phone call away.

Check out the IFGA site as well; http/www.ifga.org/

The national show is in Chicago this year, another club is taking it, if they can handle it. If not me & this older breeder will probably get involved in some way.

 

[kribensis12]

Thank's tolak, your so lucky you knwo a experinced breeder. I have rasied guppies before, i just want to turn out the best possible one's! My last batch was okay, had several get sick and die, but that batch was like a year ago!

 

[kribensis12]

As far as show guppies go, what are you looking for exactly? I looked on the site, and it didnt really show much!