Is There Any Profit In Breeding Pygmy Corries

[Mikaila31]

I don't think the break even point is too hard. I work to pay for initial setup and fish, but after that food, electricity, co2 refills, ferts, ect. Is covered by plant and fish sales. When I can ship in the summer I run a ebay auction every week that is a plant package from my tanks. I've always made much more money off plants than fish. The package is always the same deal, with slight variation. I usually make and average $8 profit off each auction. Its been as high as $20 and as low as $2 though. This for me is more than enough to cover the upkeep cost of my 4 tanks. I got $70 from selling a bunch of plants and a few fish at a fish auction a month ago. I of course spent $40 buying stuff there and $50 a few days later on some new fish . Thats how it is with this hobby.

 

[Ben M]

i don't have that many plants, but i'm in the process of heavily planting it. i have loads of caves and a huge piece of bogwood. i don't really want to put a divider in.

 

[waxjlp]

I don't think the break even point is too hard. I work to pay for initial setup and fish, but after that food, electricity, co2 refills, ferts, ect. Is covered by plant and fish sales. When I can ship in the summer I run a ebay auction every week that is a plant package from my tanks. I've always made much more money off plants than fish. The package is always the same deal, with slight variation. I usually make and average $8 profit off each auction. Its been as high as $20 and as low as $2 though. This for me is more than enough to cover the upkeep cost of my 4 tanks. I got $70 from selling a bunch of plants and a few fish at a fish auction a month ago. I of course spent $40 buying stuff there and $50 a few days later on some new fish . Thats how it is with this hobby.

I agree that selling plants can be much more profitable than breeding/selling fry. But, refer back to your point on the break even quantity. My question to you is that how can you calculate your break even quantity if it is almost impossible to calculate both of fixed cost and profit margin. So IMO what you claim to be the profit is really an estimate, unless you are running a separate set of meters in your house just for your fish. I don't want to make this sounds too academic, but IMO recovering your costs can be possible.

 

[Mikaila31]

if you mean electricity water costs they are not hard to calculate for each tank. I know the theoretical consumption for each tank. this isn't 100% accurate, I know that. Im still fairly confident that my tanks pay for their up keep.

 

[Knox213]

Would'nt have a clue.

when you buy everything

keep the total in your "Notepad" etc
then when you breed them / sell them cancel off how much you paid

and you should find out how much profit you get!

 

[waxjlp]

if you mean electricity water costs they are not hard to calculate for each tank. I know the theoretical consumption for each tank. this isn't 100% accurate, I know that. Im still fairly confident that my tanks pay for their up keep.

You must be a scientist, but I am an accountant. I am a bit of conservative on cost analysis.

 

[Mikaila31]

Yeah I'm in my second year of college for Bio major and chem minor. Calculating electricity cost is not that hard. There are site that will do it for you. You just need to know how many watts your heater, filter, lights, ect use, how long they run in a day, and how much you pay per Kilowatt. I know my high tech 55gal with 110 watts of light that are on 12 hours a day will eat about $11 a month in electricity.

When the new year roles around I'll start trying to keep track of my tank costs/ sales much more closely. That said as a college student, I put effort into minimizing food and other costs. Petsmart will price match any online site. Honestly I can not look at petsmarts prices without feeling pain. You can always get them to cut the price by at least 50% on anything.

I'm probably also lucky to live where I do. The twin cities has one of the largest, if not the largest aquarium societies in the US. Selling to members gets you more compared to what little credit stores give you. Its always cheapest to buy from members too weather its fish or supplies. The emperor tetra in my avatar costed about 75 cents. The auctions can run 8 hours and stuff gets really cheap towards the end

 

[waxjlp]

Yeah I'm in my second year of college for Bio major and chem minor. Calculating electricity cost is not that hard. There are site that will do it for you. You just need to know how many watts your heater, filter, lights, ect use, how long they run in a day, and how much you pay per Kilowatt. I know my high tech 55gal with 110 watts of light that are on 12 hours a day will eat about $11 a month in electricity.

When the new year roles around I'll start trying to keep track of my tank costs/ sales much more closely. That said as a college student, I put effort into minimizing food and other costs. Petsmart will price match any online site. Honestly I can not look at petsmarts prices without feeling pain. You can always get them to cut the price by at least 50% on anything.

I'm probably also lucky to live where I do. The twin cities has one of the largest, if not the largest aquarium societies in the US. Selling to members gets you more compared to what little credit stores give you. Its always cheapest to buy from members too weather its fish or supplies. The emperor tetra in my avatar costed about 75 cents. The auctions can run 8 hours and stuff gets really cheap towards the end

Well, I guess my tanks cost more than what I have thought now. But anyway, I dont shop at petco or petsmart. Just because LFS in San Francisco just a lot better than them. I buy almost all of my dry goods online at Bigalsonline.com. I know local clubs can be extremely nice resource for exotic fish and plant. Last Sunday I just got approx. $60 worth of plants for free from SFBAAPS.

 

[Ben M]

well, i'm thinking of getting some more plants, and then getting a group of corries. i wish people would stop putting up pics of different corries, i want them all lol. i'm suck between c. Sterbai and c. Trilineatus. any pros/cons, e.g price, breeding readily?
thanks

 

[Harlequins]

I would go trilineatus but i'm bias

Looking at sterbai they look bigger and tend to be more expensive than trilineatus,but then that depends where you buy them

 

[Ben M]

hi, i think i'll go for the Trilineatus then, any advise on how to breed them in a community tank?
thanks

 

[mattlee]

a comunity tank is not the place to breed fish as there are too many hungry mouths waiting for the fry. also the filter can suck the fry straight in. if you want to breed fish then ideally its best to set up a breeding tank, a fry tank and a growing out tank.

 

[waxjlp]

Okie, I breed both of C. Sterbai and Trilineatus. In my experience sterbai is much more prolific than trilineatus, and price is higher. But its really up to you. I love both of them.

agree with mattlee, breeding in community tank equals more work and disappointment.

 

[Ben M]

i would have a breeding tank, but i'm not allowed another tank, and if i did get another, which would be a miracle, then would i need loads of growing on tanks?
thanks

 

[mattlee]

i would have a breeding tank, but i'm not allowed another tank, and if i did get another, which would be a miracle, then would i need loads of growing on tanks?
thanks

but if breeding is what you want to attempt then to do it properly these are essential to the fish........! if you want to sell the fry when big enough where are you going to put them for a couple of months at least until they are big enough? also they are not guarenteed to sell immediatley so you may well be hanging on to them for a while unless you take some to lfs and get pennies for them..
ive just started to breed my corys in the last 2 months or so and i now have 6 tanks devoted to them and if they keep breeding as they are i may well need more especially if the green stripes start spawning as i would like to keep them seperate!!!!!!!
it really isnt easy and takes up alot of time and money.