Best fish to breed for store credits

[yhbae]

Ok, just like many who ended up getting sucked into this aquarium hobby, I started with one tank, then became two, then now three - first is my community tank (25g), second is my breeding tank (10g) and third is my raising tank (33g) to raise any fries I may end up with but doesn't fit in the community tank.

Then thoughts came into my mind - what do I do with them when they grow up? I hear about others getting store credits on these fries that are large enough for them to immediately resell.

So my question is, which are good sepcies to raise for this purpose? I could add another raising tank for this purpose to fund the rest of my aquarium hobby expense, if possible. Not interested in getting cash, store credits would be great!

Some possibilities:
- Platies: Super easy, but probably worth almost nothing. Also it will take months to get them to the sellable size. Since they are live bearers, I probably won't be able to accomodate more than 20 of them or so in my 33g tank.

- Cardinals: If I can get them to breed in my local water condition, it may work out. Most LFS in my area don't carry them, and if they do, often carries $3CA price, which dies easily. I guess most don't like the wild-caught ones that dies easily, so they don't carry them at all. Strong local-bred cardinals may be easier to sell. Besides, they are thin and their bioload is small, so I could probably fit probably 100 in the 33g for raising.

- Cories: Doesn't look good in most cases since they don't command high price, and they grow real slow. I picked up some panda cories - over here, I only found one store that carries them, and costs $9CA each! Due to their unique look, I suspect it would be easy sell by the stores if the price was reasonable. Even at that price, the whole tank was sold out in few months. Since they are small, I can probably hold many, just like the cardinals. Could be an interesting option.

- Blue Ram: These go for around $7-10CA here. It's relatively rare in this region, and looks pretty. Since they are cichlids, they must command high bioload (similar to platy), so in order to get them to sellable size, it will probably take as much room as platy fries. Once grown, they will probably be worth significantly more than platies though.

- Harlequins: About $3CA around here, except for one place where they offer them at 3 for $5CA. Easy to sex them, and relatively easy to breed them. Pretty easy on water condition too (compare to some of the above). Not sure about the price of fries, since they are pretty common - I have yet to see an LFS that doesn't carry them, so probably as little as platy fries, although I can hold much more in the same tank.

- Pearl Gouramies: I thought it might be a good idea until I studied more. They cost about $5CA around here, which is a good selling price. But they are all pretty large already, at around 2 inches. To raise them to that size, it takes a while, not to mention the bioload factor. I don't expect to commodate more than 25 or so in the 33g tank. Better than platy, but worse than just about everything else.

- Discus: I have no idea what I'm talking about here... I dunno how to even take care of them, but just for the sake of it, I did some calculation. Outcome, unfortuantely, is that since Discus dies easily under 3 inches or so, it take a while to get them to the sellable size (does anyone know how long exactly?). Since I would still get the store credit, I don't expect more than 1/4 of the store price, which brings it down to around $10CA level. In my 33g, I can probably hold no more than 10 of them, economically, it doesn't quite work for me... (I'd still like to create a community tank with those in it one day...)

- Frontosa... :O: Yes they get big, but if I can get a huge tank and some fries, I can raise them for about 1 year, and eventually get some fries. From what I have read so far, the main challenge is the size of the tank as these mouth brooders are somewhat easier to obtain the fries without killing them. Around here, 2 inch fries cost $30CA or so - nice price. Big problem is the big tank which I don't currently own, but I could if I wanted it badly...

I am willing to learn the process and put decent amount of effort into this hobby, which I enjoy alot. Challenging species would be ok as long as it is feasible using the current equipment. My 24 hours old water parameter out of the tap is pH=6.8, KH=2, GH=5 and all the tanks have decent amount of java moss and ferns.

Has anyone successfully bred fries for this purpose, and continuing to have success? What did it take you to achieve this?

 

[TankGirl]

The fish you suggest would all be good ones to breed for resale to your LFS, if you could successfully breed them (I think corys are difficult). It mainly depends upon the store, the area, and what is commonly available. In my area you can forget trying to sell your convict babies, because convicts breed like crazy and they have too many juveniles already. If you mainly want to raise fish for sale, call your LFS individually and ask what they really want, and what their customers are asking for. I think if you could successfully raise cardinals you would be in a good position, as they are difficult to come by, and most are wild caught. I don't think you could go wrong with cory cats either. Discus might be tricky because that is an extremely competitive area of fishkeeping, and there is a lot that can go wrong with certain strains of discus, in terms of genetics. What kind of water do you have? If you have soft, acidic water, then raising rams is a great idea. If you have hard, alkaline then go with the Frontosa, though you make a good point about their size, and the demand is so/so due to their tank requirements. Go for a fish that is in high demand and is adapted to your water parameters, and a fish that you would enjoy raising.

 

[yhbae]

The fish you suggest would all be good ones to breed for resale to your LFS, if you could successfully breed them (I think corys are difficult). It mainly depends upon the store, the area, and what is commonly available. In my area you can forget trying to sell your convict babies, because convicts breed like crazy and they have too many juveniles already. If you mainly want to raise fish for sale, call your LFS individually and ask what they really want, and what their customers are asking for. I think if you could successfully raise cardinals you would be in a good position, as they are difficult to come by, and most are wild caught. I don't think you could go wrong with cory cats either. Discus might be tricky because that is an extremely competitive area of fishkeeping, and there is a lot that can go wrong with certain strains of discus, in terms of genetics. What kind of water do you have? If you have soft, acidic water, then raising rams is a great idea. If you have hard, alkaline then go with the Frontosa, though you make a good point about their size, and the demand is so/so due to their tank requirements. Go for a fish that is in high demand and is adapted to your water parameters, and a fish that you would enjoy raising.

Thanks for the feedback!

In response to some of your feedback/questions, good idea about your suggestions on calling the LFS - so far, I've been guessing by visiting them often and observing what they have and how fast they sell...

Convincts and definitely not what I had in mind...

I was only half-serious about Discus - I don't think I'm ready for that and not sure if I want to get in that deep...

I do have water that is considered good - pH = 6.8, KH = 2, GH = 5. So most likely I won't need any RO water, just a little peat filtering would be sufficient in most cases for breeding purpose.

I've read so many corycat breeding articles that I can pretty much remember every word in those articles... - I am looking forward in breeding them, except that my panda cories are still somewhat young. I may need to wait for few more months at least...

Have you managed to actually get any store credits (or even cash) by selling fish back to them? Typically, how much are they willing to pay?

Appreciate any feedback...

 

[Terry]

Hi yhbae.

The one thing that all store owners like is Locally Breed Fish, they know that fish that are breed locally will be fine for there customers. I wouldn't bother with livebearers as the sort of quantities that you would have would not be worth anything. If you want to breed fish for your lfs i would recommend the more unusual Cichlids (but not convicts), like kribensis, rams, Africans (malawi, Tanganyikans ) and some of the other south american/north american. Blue Acara's, Oscars, Angle fish etc.
Catfish like corydous and ancistrus are always a good choice.
Basically you want to choose fish that are unusual and this will be more sort after by your lfs.
The one thing you have to remember is that your lfs gets his fish from a wholesaler that has 1000s of differant types of fish, so your reward for raising these fish are minimal. In some cases you will find it will cost you more to grow the fry on, that what you get back in return.

I would just like to say on the frontosa from Tanganyika that there are quite a few differant types to choose from ( i can give you more info if required), and the downside is that if you get juvenile frontosa's they can take anything from 2-4 yrs just to reach maturity and when they are small they are quite hard to sex and you wan't a ratio of 3 females to 1 male.

As for store credit that would be down to your lfs, some will give you nothing for your fish and some might give you a 1/3 of what they feel there worth. It is down to the person in charge at the store.

If you wanted my opinion i wouldn't even bother. I find in my store i get more big fish in than baby fish, people bring fish back that they have had a while and get store credit on them. not many people bother with babies.

HTH

 

[TankGirl]

I agree with Terry on this. I think many people wind up breeding fish either by accident and get hooked, or they are careful and patient aquarists who enjoy creating the perfect conditions for healthy, long-lived fish, and nature takes its course and they find themselves with more fry than they can comfortably keep. I get fry as a by-product of enjoying my fish and taking care of them, but not as a goal from the outset. If you want to get into breeding, find a fish that makes you happy (I think rams would be a good place to start with your water) and then if you get fry, see who want them. It is extremely rewarding to have your fish spawn and then watch the babies grow.

 

[Terry]

Tankgirl, thankyou for agreeing with me, As a store owner i know what i would prefer to take, cichlids in general are ok but i would prefer the likes of rams etc. i wouldn't be interested in guppys, mollys etc. you have explained it better than me, you should enjoy what your doing. breeding fish is a great part of the hobby and should be enjoyed.

 

[yhbae]

Thanks guys for the feedback!

It kinda started off as:

"why don't I breed some platies and give them away for friends who are trying to get into the aquarium hobby, which I know a few already? It's difficult to kill one of these, so they are great for entering into this hobby".

Then went:

"why don't I breed some schooling fishes and have nice uniform 10+ schools of the same species, especially the cardinals, rasboras and cories?".

Then it became:

"since I am interested in breeding different ones, why not make them pay for my hobby as well?" (that is, if I choose _one_ species carefully for this purpose).

So Terry, you are suggesting rams (which I like) as possible species to breed. (and potentially cories as well).

I do have a question - wouldn't hard to find species be harder to sell if you are a store owner? Sometimes, I see those unusal ones that stays in the tank for months, while during the same time, whole tanks of platies, neons and cardinals get sold within the half the time. Do you not get worried about not selling it at all?

Once again, appreciate any feedback!