Looking to make a small profit with a fishkeeping project. Thoughts and advice?

[OliveFish05]

Hello. I am looking to set up a small fish breeding/plant growing setup to turn a profit of at least $40-$50/month. It's not a lot, so it shouldn't be too hard, right? Or am I crazy and that is a lot to expect from fish and plants?

I am able to have probably around 3 somewhat shallow 8-15 gallon plastic totes with sponge filters, lights, and heaters in my garage. I am looking for a fish, floating plant, and rooted plant that reproduces quickly and has a high enough demand that I can move them on quickly.

I am looking at guppies? Specifically a pair of purple dragons and a pair of red dragons.

Thoughts on plants? Maybe duckweed or red root floaters? Or both?

What about a rooted plant? Ideally it would provide lots of cover for the fry and be fast growing.

Because I would have sponge filters, the plants need to do well with low flow!

Thanks in advance for any help I get!

 

[Crispii]

For fish, I recommend breeding Medaka. They're easy to keep and breed prolifically, not to mention that they're a bit uncommon in the US. For plants, you can do java moss or guppy grass. As for floaters, depending on the floater, it may be illegal to own in certain states, so you probably won't make a whole lot of profit depending the type and state that the customer lives in.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

Breed zebra plecs! $200 a pop!

No, really though... Sounds like a plan! Though I'm not sure how lucrative guppy breeding is for selling in the US. In the UK, you just give them away for free on Gumtree (the UK's equivalent to Craigslist) and ask no questions. If you're lucky enough (incoming sarcasm), you'll have someone go "ooh, I'll have that nice one; that pretty one; the one with the xyz tail; the one with the spots" and on and on until you really do think they should be paying you for it. Since they're so readily available, it might not be as easy to sell them as you'd like to think - even the nicer ones. You do have a shot at it though, of course. Breeding is a gamble as is everything else in life, so if you want to take that gamble then by all means do. However, if it goes belly-up, it might not be the most fun or easy to clean up.

As far as plants go, I believe @Sgooosh has his duckweed farm that he's making some money off, so maybe he'll be able to give some pointers on that. Like @Crispii said, guppy grass would be great. Java moss is pretty easy as well! On top of that, you could try amazon frogbit or elodea ...iirc the American term for it is anacharis(?). Again, like Crispii mentioned, some plants may be illegal in certain states and countries, so watch out for that if you plan on selling across states and internationally.

Hope everything goes well, give us updates if you go ahead with your plan(s)!

 

[OliveFish05]

For fish, I recommend breeding Medaka. They're easy to keep and breed prolifically, not to mention that they're a bit uncommon in the US. For plants, you can do java moss or guppy grass. As for floaters, depending on the floater, it may be illegal to own in certain states, so you probably won't make a whole of profit depending the type and state that the person lives.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I will definitely look into that and watch out for the illegal side of selling plants!

 

[Crispii]

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I will definitely look into that and watch out for the illegal side of selling plants!

Yeah, there's a lot of floaters that are illegal to own where I'm at. If you do end up growing and selling floaters, you can notify which states/countries you can't ship to.

 

[vanalisa]

Cool!
I think that dwarf tiger lotus or dwarf Lily might be a good idea because they propagate themselves. I mean all plants do...hehehe, but I believe they do form their own little bulb offshoots.

I don't know much about breeding fish but if it's a special kind of guppy there might be a market for it.
@emeraldking
(Loved your card, your looking swell, as usual ).

Otherwise maybe find something that works really well with your source water and specialize in something...

 

[OliveFish05]

No, really though... Sounds like a plan! Though I'm not sure how lucrative guppy breeding is for selling in the US. In the UK, you just give them away for free on Gumtree (the UK's equivalent to Craigslist) and ask no questions. If you're lucky enough (incoming sarcasm), you'll have someone go "ooh, I'll have that nice one; that pretty one; the one with the xyz tail; the one with the spots" and on and on until you really do think they should be paying you for it. Since they're so readily available, it might not be as easy to sell them as you'd like to think - even the nicer ones. You do have a shot at it though, of course. Breeding is a gamble as is everything else in life, so if you want to take that gamble then by all means do. However, if it goes belly-up, it might not be the most fun or easy to clean up.

True. One thing is, my LFS I know, for a fact, will buy guppies from me for $1.50 a piece. Not to mention the ones I am looking at on Ebay sell for about $8+ a piece, plus shipping. Even if none of them sold and I had to give them away, I adore guppies so it will have hopefully been worth it!

 

[OliveFish05]

Cool!
I think that dwarf tiger lotus or dwarf Lily might be a good idea because they propagate themselves. I mean all plants do...hehehe, but I believe they do form their own little bulb offshoots.

I don't know much about breeding fish but if it's a special kind of guppy there might be a market for it.
@emeraldking
(Loved your card, your looking swell, as usual ).

Otherwise maybe find something that works really well with your source water and specialize in something...

Oooo I do love tiger lotus!I used to have some doing really well but it disappeared. Perhaps the bulb is still in there somewhere

 

[vanalisa]

Lucky bamboo...



Also you could Branch out with Dollar store containers...
Gravel...

 

[OliveFish05]

Lucky bamboo...



Also you could Branch out with Dollar store containers...
Gravel...

I may get several smaller containers to have a larger variety of plants!

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

True. One thing is, my LFS I know, for a fact, will buy guppies from me for $1.50 a piece. Not to mention the ones I am looking at on Ebay sell for about $8+ a piece, plus shipping. Even if none of them sold and I had to give them away, I adore guppies so it will have hopefully been worth it!

Oh wow! You're one lucky fishkeeper! My LFS owners will take any fish off your hands but will grimace at you and not give you anything back for it hahaha.

 

[OliveFish05]

Oh wow! You're one lucky fishkeeper! My LFS owners will take any fish off your hands but will grimace at you and not give you anything back for it hahaha.

They bought my EBA back for $10 and gave me $1.33 for each of bloodfins. I guess I am very fortunate!

 

[vanalisa]

https://res.cloudinary.com/dyx4yhvoq/image/fetch/w_480,h_480,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto/https://www.easternleaf.com/v/vspfiles/photos/800083-05-2.jpg

 

[OliveFish05]

https://res.cloudinary.com/dyx4yhvoq/image/fetch/w_480,h_480,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto/https://www.easternleaf.com/v/vspfiles/photos/800083-05-2.jpg

Whatever that is is restricted on my phone for some reason

 

[Meg0000]

Depending on what's in high demand where you live I would recommend spiky moss and amazon frogbit, it grows really well and people tend to like them. Rotala rotundufolia is also a good option. I used to sell for about 30$ a month with only these plants.