Dropped my juvenile fish off at the LPS 😕

[Back in the fold]

@AdoraBelle Dearheart Yes indeed it would be a shame if all we wind up with is soulless big box stores. When that day comes , and I hope it doesn’t, humanity will have lost everything. Dystopia.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

@AdoraBelle Dearheart Yes indeed it would be a shame if all we wind up with is soulless big box stores. When that day comes , and I hope it doesn’t, humanity will have lost everything. Dystopia.

Grief might be making me more cynical than normal, but I think we're already there...

 

[Rocky998]

Yah, I'm definitely not making a business out if this BUT when I do get fry I will sell them off, and maybe keep a few.
Right now, I'm definitely not looking at having a regular income from this. But when it happens, it happens.
I do kinda want to get a pvc cave that I can color grey or black though to ENCOURAGE breeding. Not to make this a regular thing, but I would like to raise more. It was fun.
Right now I may have more babies on the way
Mom and dad were under the piece of wood for a long time and today the mom is out. She is looking very skinny and her belly isn't yellow anymore. VERY positive there are eggs.

 

[Rocky998]

When I first set up a tank of my own in 2019, all I wanted was a little guppy colony tank with live plants and maybe some shrimp. But knowing what guppies are like, since my parents were in the aquatics trade for decades and had a fish then a general pet store, and always had a tank at home since I was a kid, I knew guppies breed like wildfire, so I checked with my LFS if he'd be willing to take the young ones before I brought any guppies home. Luckily he was, since most chain stores won't take fish from home breeders, especially livebearers, and not all privately owned LFS will either.

He was fine to take them once they reached around three months old, and old enough to sell. Said he couldn't pay for them since they're a cheap fish, but might be able to give some store credit here and there. Since I got into breeding them for a while, I ended up bringing in bags full of young guppies, mollies and platies pretty regularly, earned the nickname "The Guppy Girl", but built a relationship with the owners and staff over that time, chatting when I popped in, and he'd knock some money off of my bill since I'd always be buying something anytime I went in there anyway. In time he came to know that the fish from me came from healthy tanks, had nice colours and sold well, and he was happy to add them straight to the sale tanks with other fish once he'd had a lot of fish from me and knew they'd be disease free.

Once my cories started spawning and I was getting an overstock of those, he said he'd pay for shrimp and baby cories, and really wanted any pygmy cory fry I could get him, since they're popular and sell well. Said he would give me some cash for them. Not a lot, since they're not particularly expensive either, but more valuable to him than guppies/mollies/platies are. I needed him to take my overstock of livebearers much more than he needed the fish! So I never asked for money, and was just grateful for the times he did give me some store credit.

It really would be fruitless to try to breed to make money in just normal home tanks. What is very useful about doing some home-breeding and either selling or giving away the stock, is the connections you can make that way. Due to my relationship with that store, he helped me out when I needed someone to house a big batch of juvenile fish that were too young to sell, I met other local hobbyists through being at the store often, learned a lot from chatting with them and the store owner and staff, and networking with other local hobbyists is invaluable.

Through selling batches of pygmy cories and some excess live plant trimmings privately I've met several great local hobbyists, and traded for other fish and plants I really wanted to keep. Another man I met that way is an incredibly smart and connected fishkeeper who is involved in the tropical fish club for my city, so he has a lot of connections to help source other, less commonly sold fish from the people he knows, and has given me fantastic advice and become a friend.

There's no way even with rarer and expensive fish and four tanks that I could sell enough to cover the cost of running the tanks, let alone raising the fry for months, and the idea of profit is a laugh! Privately owned fish stores operate on a knife edge, are being outcompeted and shut down because of the big chains, people buying equipment and food etc on Amazon instead of local stores, and it's incredibly hard for them to even stay open now. My one that was generous has shut down now.

Breed if you want to, because it's fun and a great experience, and it's nice to at least offset the costs a little when you sell some young, since it's an expensive hobby. But also try to support your LFS where you can if they're an otherwise decent store, and try to understand how thin a margin the LFS have now. Their overhead costs are crazy and they're dying off, which would be a real shame if we're left with only soulless big box stores and uncaring massive corporations.

That's a really cool story!

When I get my 40g I'll have corydoras and hopefully some UNDER substrate caves. I'm hoping to get some fry from them
I like a good challenge to figure out, and breeding fish is a REALLY cool way to put my mind at work with this stuff.
Again, don't want to start a serious business, but it would be fun and as @AdoraBelle Dearheart said, it offsets the cost for the hobby a but when your young

 

[emeraldking]

Yah, I'm definitely not making a business out if this BUT when I do get fry I will sell them off, and maybe keep a few.

Well, you could make some decent money out of it when you sell them at relevant events such as vivaristic events. That's the way I get decent prices for my fish. And through my website. Although my website ain't commercial, I do get requests to sell fish to others (national and international) by filling out the contact form. And still get decent prices for those fish. Things can go in a good way if you also have some selling points. One of mine is that I breed rare livebearers. And that I keep the quality high. When I'm selling at an event, a lot of visitors already have known me for years and have seen the quality of my fish right in front of them. And in my case, quality doesn't actually means good of color but well shaped body, healthy looking and vivid fish. When needed, I do give them advice as well. Take your time to give the proper information and not in a hasty way in order to sell more fish to others. If you're open about taking the time for a customer, other costumers will respect that and wait till you're done.
And tbh, I also refuse to sell to certain costumers when I notice that my fish will not have a good future at their place. And if bystanders are witnessing that I refuse to sell to such a person, I won't sell less. They even respect what I've done. I'm firstly an aquarist at all times and sales have a subordinate role for me at that moment.

 

[Rocky998]

Well, you could make some decent money out of it when you sell them at relevant events such as vivaristic events. That's the way I get decent prices for my fish. And through my website. Although my website ain't commercial, I do get requests to sell fish to others (national and international) by filling out the contact form. And still get decent prices for those fish. Things can go in a good way if you also have some selling points. One of mine is that I breed rare livebearers. And that I keep the quality high. When I'm selling at an event, a lot of visitors already have known me for years and have seen the quality of my fish right in front of them. And in my case, quality doesn't actually means good of color but well shaped body, healthy looking and vivid fish. When needed, I do give them advice as well. Take your time to give the proper information and not in a hasty way in order to sell more fish to others. If you're open about taking the time for a customer, other costumers will respect that and wait till you're done.
And tbh, I also refuse to sell to certain costumers when I notice that my fish will not have a good future at their place. And if bystanders are witnessing that I refuse to sell to such a person, I won't sell less. They even respect what I've done. I'm firstly an aquarist at all times and sales have a subordinate role for me at that moment.

Thats awesome!
Yah, I DID NOT want to hand over my fish to that petstore but it felt like there were 0 options.
Sadly (Ive checked), there are no events like that near me. As Ive said, the fish keeping community here is dim. Not much here...
Next time I will sell on Craigslist and OfferUp asking for a picture of their aquarium and their test results before having them buy my fish.
And if that doesnt work then the LPS will hopefully be buying from me for a higher price.
I cant do shipping. Too risky and too expensive. I get nervous with it, I feel like so many things can go wrong... Especially with terms and conditions on buying from me, then theres all that legal stuff.

 

[emeraldking]

Thats awesome!
Yah, I DID NOT want to hand over my fish to that petstore but it felt like there were 0 options.
Sadly (Ive checked), there are no events like that near me. As Ive said, the fish keeping community here is dim. Not much here...
Next time I will sell on Craigslist and OfferUp asking for a picture of their aquarium and their test results before having them buy my fish.
And if that doesnt work then the LPS will hopefully be buying from me for a higher price.
I cant do shipping. Too risky and too expensive. I get nervous with it, I feel like so many things can go wrong... Especially with terms and conditions on buying from me, then theres all that legal stuff.

I do get it that shipping international or domestic can make one nervous. For there's always one or more risks involved how specialized a courier may be. I do have to admit that I do ship abroad and domestic but I do pack them in a good way to keep the risks as low as possible. And you're right, regulations differ per country (and state) when shipping live animals. Getting such a business started is easier said than done. That's a fact.
When I ship, I always request the customer to send a feedback when they've arrived. And thusfar, everyone has done that...
But I also get visitors at home to purchase fish from me. In my case, it's domestic visit and from abroad. I'm fortunate to be in that position. I've build my name in the serious aquatic world all by myself. Don't try to be a good name in a very short time limit. For I can tell you that such persons won't be taken for serious in the serious aquatic world. It needs time to build a name. And making mistakes along the way, is part of the game. And as long as you learn from it, nobody will put you aside.

For I've met up with several people who were wannabees that wanted to build a name in a very short time. Most of them have already vanished from the scene by several reasons.

 

[Rocky998]

I do get it that shipping international or domestic can make one nervous. For there's always one or more risks involved how specialized a courier may be. I do have to admit that I do ship abroad and domestic but I do pack them in a good way to keep the risks as low as possible. And you're right, regulations differ per country (and state) when shipping live animals. Getting such a business started is easier said than done. That's a fact.
When I ship, I always request the customer to send a feedback when they've arrived. And thusfar, everyone has done that...
But I also get visitors at home to purchase fish from me. In my case, it's domestic visit and from abroad. I'm fortunate to be in that position. I've build my name in the serious aquatic world all by myself. Don't try to be a good name in a very short time limit. For I can tell you that such persons won't be taken for serious in the serious aquatic world. It needs time to build a name. And making mistakes along the way, is part of the game. And as long as you learn from it, nobody will put you aside.

For I've met up with several people who were wannabees that wanted to build a name in a very short time. Most of them have already vanished from the scene by several reasons.

How much does it normally cost you in materials to ship a small package of fish?

 

[emeraldking]

How much does it normally cost you in materials to ship a small package of fish?

That differs per shipment. Simply because the costs I make using breathing bags, the insulation and other packaging material if needed. And the size and weight can be of importance. And then the costs that differ when shipped abroad. For that may differ per country of destination.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

How much does it normally cost you in materials to ship a small package of fish?

As @emeraldking said, shipping costs vary wildly depending on distance and destination, and your packing costs will vary based on those things too. If you're just dipping your toe into the water and are nervous about shipping live fish (understandably, I would be too!) begin with checking out shipping costs and times just within your own state, or even local area first, before worrying about international shipping and getting overwhelmed.