Endler Price

[Zac]

Does anyone know how much N class black bars or 1975 original tank bred endlers would sell for? I recently had someone tell me he usually pays $.50-$1 per fish and I guess that doesn’t seem quite right. I see them going for as high as $10 for a juvenile. So although I love endlers, I’m debating on if a community tank breeding project would be worth it or not  in terms of profit. It doesn’t seem reasonable to spend $40 on on 2-3 adults to sell a 2 month old sexually mature fish for less that $5-$6. Can someone clear the water for me on how the market for endlers operates?

[Tihshho]

All depends on supply and demand. Are you looking to sell locally? Are you looking to ship? Pricing always fluctuates so it's hard to nail down.

[Tazalanche]

Raising fish for profit takes a lot of effort & experience. Your results may vary from mine, & I hope you do better than I did.

I did it for over a decade (as a hobby, because I had a full time job) and the best I did was to get the fish to pay for their own food & upkeep (replacement/upgraded filters & other equipment). Unless you plan to sell online, the odds are pretty low that you are going to get anywhere near $5 per fish for any class of endlers. The odds are higher that an LSF will offer you $1 in store credit. Livebearers can be hard to sell, due to how easy they are to breed. Most stores know that if you don't take their offer, someone else will come along in a few weeks with more. When I supplied for multiple stores in my region, only two would take class N black bar endlers  or class K tiger endlers from me & that was only because I was established with them for providing discus, angelfish, uncommon ancistrus, assassin snails, etc.

Edited May 3, 2022 by Tazalanche

[Zac]

On 5/3/2022 at 6:26 PM, Tihshho said:

All depends on supply and demand. Are you looking to sell locally? Are you looking to ship? Pricing always fluctuates so it's hard to nail down.

I’m probably going to start local but I don't really know how to ship. I know how to pack the fish but I don’t know how the actual shipping process goes. Which one is generally more reliable?

On 5/3/2022 at 6:29 PM, Tazalanche said:

Raising fish for profit takes a lot of effort & experience. Your results may vary from mine, & I hope you do better than I did.

I did it for over a decade (as a hobby, because I had a full time job) and the best I did was to get the fish to pay for their own food & upkeep (replacement/upgraded filters & other equipment). Unless you plan to sell online, the odds are pretty low that you are going to get anywhere near $5 per fish for any class of endlers. The odds are higher that an LSF will offer you $1 in store credit. Livebearers can be hard to sell, due to how easy they are to breed. Most stores know that if you don't take their offer, someone else will come along in a few weeks with more. When I supplied for multiple stores in my region, only two would take class N Venezuelan caught F1 endlers or class K tiger endlers from me & that was only because I was established with them for providing discus, angelfish, uncommon ancistrus, assassin snails, etc.

Is there a technique to reach a market online? The last thing I want is to buy endlers and then have 100s of babies before I can have a reliable way to offload them. Maybe start locally?

[Tihshho]

Reliable depends on your area. You might find locals willing to buy, lfs or even auction at clubs. I wouldn't put your hopes up ok being profitable. If anything low scale breeding barely allows most to break even. By the time you invest in the materials to ship, label makers, bags, insulation and heat packs/cold packs, you're talking about being in the hole before you profit when it comes to shipping. 

[Tazalanche]

I did not want to get into the additional expenses of supplies and time to sell online, so I can't help much with that.

Starting fishkeeping with the intention of profit is not the best foundation for success. I started keeping fish in the early 1990's & it wasn't until the mid-2000's that I considered expanding to the point of breeding for profit. That was starting with a minimum of 6 aquariums, totaling 305 gallons, with an additional 2 dozen aquariums that were 15-20 gallons each, for quarantine and fry.

[JettsPapa]

Keep fish because you enjoy it.  If you sell extras take it as helping cover expenses, and if you generate a little above that consider it a bonus.  It's very difficult, and requires a lot of work and time, to actually make a significant amount of money at it.

As far as the prices, it depends on your market.  If you're selling retail to individuals you should be able to get close to the same price as in stores, or possibly a little above.  If you're selling wholesale don't expect much more than 10% of retail for fish and shrimp, and 25% to 30% for plants.  And even that may be store credit instead of cash.