Do You Think I Can Make A Living Breeding Fish?

[Frazeldiniho]

Hello, I'm wondering if anyone thinks it would be profitable and possibly make a living off breeding fish? I have 24 L134 Leopard frog plec's, 24 L66 King tiger plec's I will brake up these into 3 different breeding groups of 8 fish for each species. The L134 have from 15-45 fry and the L66 have between 5-18 that I will sell at an inch long for £10 each. I have a pair of the striped angelfish that breed every 4 week and produce between 100-160 fry at a time,my LFS buys most of them. I have a breeding pair of bristlenose that breed every 6 week with around 100 fry at £150 each. I have a trio of L46 imperial Zebra plec's produce between 5-15 at at a time and the bring £90 each. ( breeding patterns are unpredictable with the zebras.) I also have just got a group of 5 L333 that bring £10 each and the list that I'm going to get is 2 groups of 5 L260 Queen arabesque, 1 group of 6 L200 Green Phanton's, 1 group of 6 L168 Blue Phantoms. Another group of 6 L46 Zebra plec which I will break into 2 groups, the last groups of plec's I am getting will be L173 that bring in £150-£200 for each fry. The Cory's I have are Sterbia and Adolfi that I am all ready breeding in 4 groups and I'm getting a group of Gold or Orange Laser Cory's. If you think I am wasting my time and money please let me know. Or if you have tried the same and failed please tell me why so I don't waste my time and money. The fish I already breed I have no problem of selling and usually have people waiting for the next batch, I am also confident I will get all of the other fish breeding as I have bred all exept L173 and L200 before. Thanks for your help and time

 

[Gytas]

wow a lot of fish you have there
sounds very cool i have no idea if you are going to get a lot of profit but if you can sell them all why not give it a try and if you love doing it, it makes it a 100 times more rewarding

goodluck in what ever you decide

 

[Caprichoso]

I think as long as you introduce new blood into the breeding lines occasionally then I don't see a problem with it. As far as profit? Well considering how many people kill their fish on a regular basis, it's not like the demand will ever stop. I personally breed shrimp and sell them, though I'm not hardcore by any means but it definitely pays for my fish/shrimp hobby and a bit left over for other things. I only advert on my local forum and sell to one lfs for now but I'm not really trying either. I think if you have a good reputation and have healthy fish you will have much success.

Good luck with your venture

 

[MrHenrypalmer]

I believe that if you have the right attitude then you can do whatever you want, I am about to breed angel fish or some kind of tropical fish for the first time; I believe there is a profit to be made in anything as long as you are persistent and stubborn in your venture. good luck

 

[minnnt]

To be perfectly honest, i doubt you could make a living from breeding fish unless you plan on doing it mass scale... For somebody with a few tanks, or even a fish room i don't think you would be able to sell on the scale of a successful LFS. And i doubt that you would be able to sell them for the prices that LFS's demand. If you offered postage, advertised on as many websites as possible, sold on ebay etc then there is no doubt that you would make a fair amount of money, but to rely on it as your main source of income is very risky imo. Anything could happen, not breed, eat the eggs, eat the fry, powercuts, leaking tanks etc etc etc. Say you had a group of Plecs that would make you potentially £70 each and they got to a few days old then the male decided he didn't want them to survive, that would be a very big setback towards your monthly income.

Just my way of thinking about it. If you could guarentee that they would breed perfect every time then go for it... but what is the actuall reality of that happening?

 

[fluttermoth]

I've known breeders of various animals all my life and, in all honesty, no-one really makes that much of a living from breeding;, whether it's horses, cows, dogs, rabbits, hamsters...

If you're a good breeder you'll be able to cover your costs; if you're very, very good you might be able to do it as a full time job but you'll never be a millionaire!

 

[minnnt]

I breed Lionhead rabbits. They're purebreads and to be honest struggle to sell them for £15 each. £10 is more realistic. Go to a farm park and they sell them for £45 each no problems at all... If you had a small shop or something then i don't doubt you would make money, but would it be enough to live on by the time you have paid for rent, rates and tax etc...

 

[Tolak]

Depends on how you plan on living. I've never seen a fish breeder on the Fortune 500 list.

Anyone I've seen making any sort of living off of it usually supplies multiple shops in a region, on a contract basis. The usually have 200+ tanks running, often more, and have to work at least a part time job to cover insurance benefits.

Years back I got much of my gear from an angel breeder that was shutting down, pushing 70 years old it was time to call it quits. His setup was 300 forty gallon tanks, on a centralized system, 300 gallon tub full of bio balls, UV sterilizers, dozens of 150 gallon tubs for extra growout, and so on. He worked a municipal job part time for insurance benefits, after doing this for enough decades it was time to retire from both fish breeding & the regular job. His house was paid for, and he did have a nice car in the driveway, so he did pretty good with it.

 

[juggernuts]

Again just to go back over on what people have already said but still, I think if your able to cover all your cost's then maybe make some more money from it for extra,I'd just enjoy the hobby and the satisfaction but I personally wouldn't consider sitting back and doing it full time.

If you were able to get hold of a few local stores and possibly convince them of buying some of your stock on a regular basis then maybe see how you move on from there. I would just consider what if one month you have a really poor time, no breeding, no buyers and then everything mounts up and the cost's for everything seem to be a problem. Just be carefull, but in all honesty I am just jealous! You sound like you have an amazing collection and Im guessing setup.

I too have 11 l134's and seeing you had 24 prior to anything else just made me drool haha!

I again would just see how it goes and stick out your current job or w/e and see how you pan out for say the first 3/4 month, make an assessment see how it goes from there!!


All the best in what ever you decide !!

Paul