Fish for profit

[CJs Aquatics]

Just wondering what species you breed or have bred that yielded you the most coin, or store credit, or trade value for those breeders out there

[Fish Folk]

German Blue Rams / Electric Blue Rams / Golden Rams sell well if you can figure out how to successfully spawn and raise them to a decent size. I've made some good money selling them. They ship fairly well too as long as temperatures aren't extreme. Here's a look at some Golden Rams my son bred a few years ago.

I also find that Rainbow Shiners -- cool water US Natives -- sell very well once they color up. They've been in high demand for a while. These fish in this video short aren't mine -- they're wild-caught, kept by a friend of mine, from a secret southern (GA? AL?) location. But this is the appeal of Notropis chrosomus. Almost unbelievably beautiful. Easy to keep. Non aggressive. No heater. Nothing not to like...

It's harder to sell these to LFS because some state laws require stores have a bait license to sell. Other states will not allow sale. Game Law is tricky state-by-state. But online, they'll sell like hotcakes. They pull a hefty bid at Fish Club auctions too.

[TOtrees]

Shell dwellers.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

What about the Bolivian rams! 😭

I know-  not as colorful, but they have adorable personalities.

[JettsPapa]

Guppies are the only fish I've sold, but I've made more money from shrimp and plants than fish.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

My Panda Angels get me the most store credit of the fish I currently work with. 

[TOtrees]

I think of this like a venn diagram... you want to find fish (or other aquarium living things, but calling them all "fish" for simplicity) that live at the intersection of the following circles:

• fish you want to keep
• fish you are able to keep healthy, and breed (sub-bullet, will they breed in the same tank as adults, or do they need separate tanks for growing out? community tank or species only?)
• fish that you can breed enough units, and grow to a large enough size, to make them viable sellers (sub-bullet; fish size is a time factor, eg how many months do you need to keep them in your care before they're big enough to sell -- not just for you to sell to the store, but for the store to sell to customers; there's also a space factor, eg how many gallons/tanks you need). 
• fish that your lfs/buyer is motivated to buy from you (eg fish that they can't source reliably; or you can sell to them cheaper than their wholesale; or, rarely they'll appreciate healthy locally bred fish enough to pay a bit more)
• fish that will yield a high unit price; or if low unit price, fish you can produce in high enough numbers to make breeding/raising them worthwhile (I've tackled this from both ends, ie I've made $100 by selling a dozen shell-dwellers at adult size, any by selling 100 furcata rainbows that are 3/4 grown and just barely sexable). 

 

Rules of thumb for pricing:

• You shouldn't expect to get more than what the store pays elsewhere (eg wholesale). If you don't know that amount, ask the store. Most of the time they'll just tell you (they should be willing to treat you as a breeder/seller a bit different than they would if you are strictly a buyer/customer). The exception is if you have a bigger, or healthier, or better product, then maybe you can charge a bit more than wholesale. 
• Stores have to make money too, so you're unlikely to get more than 1/4 or 1/3 of their expected retail price. Maybe lower if you're pushing a large number of units (eg I recently sold 600 shrimps for 70c each, which is lower than my normal ask for $1 or $1.25, but that's what it took to get them to take all 600 - and after netting, sorting and counting them all, I had no desire to return them to the tank they breed in). 

 

Couple other tips, for the best treatment (= best $ return):

• Never show up unannounced
• Negotiate or confirm the sale beforehand (qty and unit price). If the store wants to see the fish before giving a price, that's fine but have an asking price ready. 
• Always present your fish professionally. Invest in fish bags, of the proper size, and follow proper packing practices (1/4 water + 3/4 air; not too many fish per bag; insulated carrier except in summer; and so on). 
• Follow up on past orders, to confirm that your fish sold well, remained healthy, etc
• If you want to be paid in anything other than store credit, be prepared to provide an invoice, and be aware that what you make then counts as income for tax purposes. Meaning, providing an invoice isn't as simple as printing a piece of paper that says "invoice", you need a business license (at least here in Ontario Canada) and money they as a business pay you appears on their books, so you better be prepared to have it appear on your books also). On the plus side, the license itself is free, and at least at hobby levels the income can be reported on your personal tax return, ie you don't have to file a corporate return below a certain gross income, which most hobbyists are nowhere near. 
• Monitor your buyer's stocking. Eg don't offer to sell a bag of guppies if the last batch you sold them isn't moving. 

 

[CJs Aquatics]

@TOtrees this is amazing thank you, like a step by step guide almost, really appreciate it, you also thought of quite a few things I never would have 

[Phoenixfishroom]

Shell dwellers, bristlenose pleco, blue eyed rainbow fish, and corydora. I have two lfs that buy from me so I breed blue eyed lemon, super red, and albino BN because regular people still want them you can sell them on eBay and stuff and any ones that you can’t sell. The stores will still take. I just ordered a bunch of snow whites because the stores can’t get them yet and breeding pairs still fetch a nice price. I do well with my corydora similus, because they are at the intersection of popular and difficult to source, and the Pygmys and habros. The more rare corys bring an higher price but are slower to move are harder to move than you would think. Like I have 20 duplicareus fry that I have not had takers on yet.

[JettsPapa]

@TOtrees,

That's a great post. 

[anewbie]

My bn - i don't breed fishes per sey - but my bn won't stop breeding in their community aquarium; so every now and then i have to waste a day fishing out a bunch of young ones to take to the shop; last bucket full was a couple of hundred store credit. I don't actually take credit; he offers it but i just ask for my empty bucket back and am happy to be rid of them.

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

Cory did a video series on breeding for profit that’s really good. He stated that for him (before owning an actual store) what was the most profitable was fancy guppies, cherry shrimp, and BN plecos, which can all breed in the same tank, but his recommendation was to go to your LFS and ask them what they would like and people to consistently buy. Steemfott has also mentioned Clown Killies as an easy to breed/sell fish that he has made a lot of profit from.

[anewbie]

Yea - there is an issue if you are selling bulk; local market or mail order (which is more hassle). I will say some of the less common dwarf cichild and pleco are easy to breed and sell for a high price - but most local markets aren't really interested in these fishes. Me - i don't sell fishes - if i'm willing to go to the hassle of shipping i just give them away for free - after all this is a hobby not a job. That isn't really your question - but those are the two philosophy - one catchall - you can't simply look at the price of the fish because you have to gauge the market size and ease of breeding. For example L397 are really easy to breed but still - strangely enough - sell for a pretty decent price; zebra pleco are harder to breed and their reproduction rate is much slower so while they sell for more dollars you won't get as many off springs - as for market size - i have no basis for comment. 

[JettsPapa]

On 5/24/2023 at 10:14 AM, anewbie said:

. . . Me - i don't sell fishes - if i'm willing to go to the hassle of shipping i just give them away for free - after all this is a hobby not a job. That isn't really your question - but those are the two philosophy - one catchall - you can't simply look at the price of the fish because you have to gauge the market size and ease of breeding. For example L397 are really easy to breed but still - strangely enough - sell for a pretty decent price; zebra pleco are harder to breed and their reproduction rate is much slower so while they sell for more dollars you won't get as many off springs - as for market size - i have no basis for comment. 

It's not a job for me either, but it's nice that I sell enough stuff so the hobby doesn't cost me anything.