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

[ClownLurch]

Maximise the tanks you already have with fish, snails, shrimps, plants etc. See if you can sell anything from those before you spend money on other tanks equipment would be my advice.

 

[OliveFish05]

After careful consideration of everyone's much appreciated advice, help, input, and thoughts I will start with making my current tanks as profitable as possible, meaning I will start with just plants and maybe shrimp. My plan so far, working with the tanks and setups I already have -

40 gallon (36x18x16 inches) coldwater tank with axolotls
pennywort
ambulia
amazon frogbit


20 gallon (30x12x12) tropical community
water wisteria
red ludwigia
salvinia cucullata


29 gallon (30x12x16) room temp. Temporarily holding goldfish
anacharis (elodea densa)
duckweed


Do these plants seem like the best choices for these setups? They all have good lighting, except the goldfish tank which will have lighting that only covers one side of the tank...

About how much would you expect it to cost to buy anacharis, water wisteria, pennywort, salvinia cucullata, duckweed, and frogbit? Should I get Hygrophila Polysperma? Would that work in the goldfish tank?

 

[Colin_T]

swap the ambulia and ludwigia around

plants should only cost a dollar or two per stem if you buy cuttings, maybe $3 for a small pot.

yes get H. polysperma, it grows well in most tanks and you can sell a fair bit of it.

You could put java moss in the goldfish tank where there is no light. It grows slowly but can be sold in golf ball sized clumps when it has grown

and have fish in the tanks. even if it's just a group of small rainbowfish (Pseudomugil gertrudae, signifer, furcatus, etc), or guppies or cories.

 

[OliveFish05]

and have fish in the tanks. even if it's just a group of small rainbowfish (Pseudomugil gertrudae, signifer, furcatus, etc), or guppies or cories.

I have the fish I already have in the tanks, I just meant I wouldn't be selling any fish!

plants should only cost a dollar or two per stem if you buy cuttings, maybe $3 for a small pot.

I found a seller on Ebay who offers free shipping. He offers bunches of about 6 stems for $6-$8, buy two get one free. The problem is I have 6 or so plant types to buy, and if I buy two of each to get the buy two get one free thing, I would be spending about $80...

 

[Colin_T]

just buy 1 bunch of each. you get 6 stems and can grow them on.

if you lay ambulia, ludwigia and H. polysperma on the ground and weigh them down, they send up stalks from along the stem and you can get more branches quicker.

 

[OliveFish05]

just buy 1 bunch of each. you get 6 stems and can grow them on.

if you lay ambulia, ludwigia and H. polysperma on the ground and weigh them down, they send up stalks from along the stem and you can get more branches quicker.

But the sale...

Thats genius, I’ll do that for sure!

About how many of each floating plant should I try to get? I can get 3, 6, 12, or 12 of each?

 

[Colin_T]

About how many of each floating plant should I try to get? I can get 3, 6, 12, or 12 of each?

3 or 6 should be ample. If you give them lots of light and fertiliser, they will grow rapidly and probably double in a few weeks.

you can have lights on for up to 16 hours a day.

 

[OliveFish05]

3 or 6 should be ample. If you give them lots of light and fertiliser, they will grow rapidly and probably double in a few weeks.

you can have lights on for up to 16 hours a day.

I am getting the Pennywort, salvinia, frog bit, and H. polysperma from one seller, and the others from another seller. I am $5 away from free shipping if I get 24 salvinia, 4 stems of Pennywort, 3 stems of hygrophila, and 12 frogbit. If I get more frogbit, I’m still $0.05 away from free shipping. They don’t have more of the stem plants I am getting. I could get pygmy chain swords, or rotala indica?

I would rather get $35 worth of plants than $20 plants and $10 shipping

 

[Colin_T]

get pygmy chain swords

what else do they have?

 

[2tank]

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!

think about hornwort super easy for cover, great for guppies, pearl weed is the fastest growing stem plant I know of and provides tons of cover.

 

[2tank]

get pygmy chain swords

what else do they have?

is that Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, or is that something different.

 

[Colin_T]

pygmy chain swords are different to lilaeopsis
pygmy chain swords are easier to grow underwater and don't need as much light as lilaeopsis, which is a marsh plant and needs bright light and lots of nutrients when kept underwater.

 

[2tank]

pygmy chain swords are different to lilaeopsis
pygmy chain swords are easier to grow underwater and don't need as much light as lilaeopsis, which is a marsh plant and needs bright light and lots of nutrients when kept underwater.

okay cool, never seen a dwarf chain unfortunatly,

 

[OliveFish05]

think about hornwort super easy for cover, great for guppies, pearl weed is the fastest growing stem plant I know of and provides tons of cover.

I thought about hornwort, but went with elodea/anacharis instead

 

[OliveFish05]

get pygmy chain swords

what else do they have?

I was able to get an additional stem of pennywort instead! They had water sprite, Java moss, a few types of floating plant, a few types of rotala, some plants I’ve never heard of, and then the ones I mentioned in this thread.