I can offer you a piece of advice about making money form the hobby as I managed to pay 100% of my hobby costs over the years and to make a small amount of spending money beyond that. It is difficult make a home based fish related business pay off. This is especially true when one has multiple tanks with plants and sometime pricey fish.
The first plecos which I had and which spawned in my first tank were the comm tank strains of FF bristlenose, They breed like rabbits. The problem is they are not easy to sell in quantity and back then sold for a few few dollars. In early 2006 I was offered the opportunity to buy a proven breeding group of WC zebra plecos. There were 13 fish and a few fry and the price was $3,500. I was not sure I could keep them alive, did not know if I did that they would spawn for me and it they did, if I could raise the fry to sellable size.
But after thinking on it a few days and consulting with family, I decide I had to take the leap. I had to do and early withdrawal from my IRA to pay for them. So, on April 15, 2026 I came home with them. One reason I picked them up from about an hour's drive away was that the seller did not want to ship them and want them to go to somebody who was willing to keep working with them rather than reselling them.
I got very lucky. In the first week of May the alpha male spawned. Two weeks later the #2 male spawned. A zebra dad takes about a month before the free swimming fry leave the cave or he boots them. So what happened was the first male spawned again about two weeks after the second male had done so. And they alternated spawning every 2 weeks until the #2 stopped after thanks giving, The alpha went once more in Dec. and then he stopped. The were on a hIatus for about 3.5 months and then they started up again the same way.
I had a rule that I would not sell the offspring until they were at least 6 months old and 1.5 inches TL. They sold as fast as I could ship them out. So, firs they paid me back for the cost to get the group. Then they paid me back for all the money I had spent on the hobby since day one. The paid for all y costs after that and then they paid me enough to get more tanks and more plecos species.
During this time I met and became friends with Rachel O'Leary. She had started inverts by msinxd which expanded into a decent home based business, She imported and bought fish wholesale and sold from home.So, I was able to learn a lot from her and also to get fish very cheaply, I would also send here some of my offspring to sell and we split the money form that.
What I learned from all of the above was it took a lot of effort and knowledge to make money from a home based fish operation. I determined that I could sell a box of 6 zebras (my minimum order back then) for more money that i could sell well about 125 bristlenoses. I never looked back. It is important to understand that my well water was a major a reason for my success. I have been really lucky. I met a lot of the greats when I began doing weekend fish events. Early on Hans-geor Evers was featured speaker at an NEC event.
At the time they were held a 75 minute drive from me. He was the Friday night speaker and his talk was on zebras. Back then I would commute to the event each day to avoid the hotel costs. I sat in the audience soaking up every word from Hans. And when the presentation was done I followed him around for a while like a little puppy dog asking him questions. He was amazingly tolerant of me and I learned a ton from him since he had been diving with the xebra collectors on on or more of his trips to Brazil.
My point ins relating the above is to impress on you that to make any decent money from things one might raise in their tanks, as far as I am concerned, one has to work with things that sell for more than a few dollsrs each. I had wanted to have zebras since i first saw a picture if them in the Baensch Auqarium Atlas, The firs few I fgot I managed to kill before I learned enough not to do so. Over the years I managed to have success with more of the expensive B&W plecos and a couple of other species,
What made the plecos I chose work was that they only needed smaller tanks, they usually produce a smaller number of eggs and the fish were all expensive and a bit harder to find. If there is a species or two you can work with that sell for at least $25 or more over fish, you will be able to do this and bring in meaningful dollars for you hobby needs and maybe more, You will have to ship fish and should also be able to attend some weekend events and sell either as a vendor or room seller where that is allowed.
I have never do any social media, but if you do so you can make more progress at selling than I did, I am a privacy nut and preferred doing things as I did, in person. This also allowed me to meet Ingo, Jools (Julian) of planet catfish along with Shane Linder, Barbie Fiorentino, Stephan Tanner along with other vendors. I learned a ton from that. I even manage to meet Ian Fuller for long enough to shake his hand and thank him for all the great things he has contributed to hobbyists over the years.
You clearly have the knowledge, skills and space to be able to do some form of the above, What is takes is enough money to acquire some of the more pricey fish it requires. I divided my hobby into two different directions. About 1/2 of it was the plecos breeding and the other was planted communities. Today I have one pleco species left and that involves three 33 long tanks, The i also have 9 planted communities. But I am 78 and had no choices as I could not longer do all the work needed, But you are younger and have a few more good years before you get too old to do it all.
"You know that your are over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your bady can't filll." Little feat from Old Folks Boogie.
Off our rockers, actin' crazy
With the right medication we won't be lazy
Doin' the old folks boogie
Down on the farm
Wheelchairs, they was locked arm in arm
Paired off pacemakers with matchin' alarms
Gives us jus' one more chance
To spin one more yarn
And you know that you're over the hill
When your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill
Doin' the old folks boogie
And boogie we will
'Cause to us the thought's as good as a thrill........
(edited to fix many typos)
copepodsforsale.com
