Is There A Market For British Breeders?

[1Filmproducer]

Hi

Im asking this because Ive had plenty of different ideas on setting up a retailer but decided I think if this would work it would be great!. Im 14 and very ambitious to get started in selling fish but im not sure where to start. My idea is to use my garage to breed one type of fish. Using professional gear and aquariums with dividers id like to breed a fish to sell to British company's as I feel a lot of fish that are sold now are breed abroad and i see a market for this. But im not sure what fish to breed. What fish would company's want and pet stores want. I first though guppy's but many people said that shops don't accept them as there not rare. So i was thinking something like cichlids or even sticklebacks or bristlenose catfish, All fish that i know arent that popular to get and i think shops would be interested in. Obviously at the moment this is a dream but hopefully i could turn it into a big company.
Please help
Thank you
Mike

 

[micko]

Hey,
I think we've all had this idea at one stage or another. The problem is the time, money and effort that goes into breeding doesn't tally up to the cash you get when trying to sell them. Guppies are common, like you know, and unless you get a specific type and breed them, you need to get them to a decent size before they're wanted by a LFS so after the cash you've spent on feeding them up and electricity costs doesn't really make it a profitable business.
Some cichlids are sought after but then again, a LFS isn't going to want 100+ every few months as not everyone wants one species and a LFS won't be able to sell that ammount constantly.
I find breeding is great, and adds to then interest of the hobby, but there's no way I can see that much of a profit.

 

[1Filmproducer]

Thanks for the reply, is there no market then? , i don't want to make a huge profit, im 14 ( got the contracts covered don't worry)so i don't need much, ive contacted my 3 most local aquatic shops to see what they say, hopefully they'll get back to me, ive worked out its gunna cost me £120 min for the licences, then £23 for this 4FT tank divided into 3 sections on eBay, then obviously heater and filters and air pumps and fish and plants, im gunna say id do it for around £200 - £ 250 hopefully, then im gunna breed cichlids im hopefing, or discus, what do you think?

 

[micko]

I'm no discus expert but you'd need a bigger tank than 4ft divided into three sections for discus and for cichlids (there may be some small ones I'm unaware of)
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you could do it. A friend of mine takes around 40-50 molly fry he breeds and swaps it with one discus at a LFS. The shop owner then sells them for £1 each. If your getting the 4ft tank divided into three sections I'd try different fish in each, maybe shrimp too as you can sell them on here.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Unless your breeding harder fish at a large scale it will cost your more to set up and run using "Using professional gear and aquariums" IMO dont waste your time get your nose into some books and get a real job when you leave school/uni and the £££ will roll in

 

[Seed_Lord]

depends how wide/high the 4 footer is, i've got my pair in 15 gallons of water and they are fine spawned yesterday, so if it was equal too or greater than 45 gallons i'd personally say it would be fine, i think alot of breeders use cube tanks for discus not sure what gallon though prob not far away from 15.

Biggest task with the discus would be raising all your fry, would need a big grow out tank kept clean etc etc, and you'd prob have to sell them before they got too big unless the tank was HUGE, considering if you did it right you might get 100-200 fry per spawn, but with culling i dunno how many you'd end up with sellable this is my first spawn so i can't tell you too much about that.

 

[1Filmproducer]

Thanks for the advice, i'll look into it, shrimp sounds good , its really more of a hobby, so i don't mind making very little, as long as i don't make a huge loss , thank you
Michael

actualy thinking about it, if you want to see the aquarium i plan to use, here they are
http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tropical-fish-tank-4-ft-aquarium-glass-breeding-3-parts-/190538173621?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item2c5cf5ccb5#ht_2961wt_1163

 

[BigbruiserAl]

you said "Using professional gear and aquariums" which is expensive

If your going to bag a ebay tank and maybe a cheap filter and heater etc making a few quid to pay for your hobby is the best you can expect at a early stage