Which Shrimp Do You Prefer (Poll)?

[Curiosity101]

Basically the CRS really haven't taken to my tank at all. I may well switch to a different species of shrimp (one of the above).

Now it's not about me making money and of the above shrimp my favourite is probably the blue bee but as I already have blue tigers I don't particularly want more blues. So my second choice is probably the red tigers, followed by the white bee or the snowball.

Eitherways this is a shrimp only tank so the point is that they WILL breed. And I don't want to shell out a lot of money on shrimp that nobody else likes/would want to purchase (unless I practically gave them away at cherry shrimp prices).
As I'm not going to have some big scale breeding project it works out too money and time consuming for me to post 'cheap' shrimp but at the same time I'd like to offer postage...it just has to be worth it.

What I want is for people to say which their favourite is and how much they'd expect to pay from me as a private breeder vs a shop. (Cause obviously they'd be significantly marked down on what I originally paid). Eg. If I paid £20 a shrimp I'd want to sell at £10-12 each. If I paid £10 I'd want to sell for £5-6 and so on. So basically would you be happy to paying around 50-60% of the shop bought price, particularly baring in mind that the shrimp I'll be keeping are relatively rare in the UK and are normally shipped in so hard to source at a shop anyways (though obviously this doesn't apply unless you really like the look of a specific shrimp)


Find pictures here : http/www.planetinverts.com/shrimp_species.html

 

[VaegaVic]

Basically the CRS really haven't taken to my tank at all. I may well switch to a different species of shrimp (one of the above).

Now it's not about me making money and of the above shrimp my favourite is probably the blue bee but as I already have blue tigers I don't particularly want more blues. So my second choice is probably the red tigers, followed by the white bee or the snowball.

Eitherways this is a shrimp only tank so the point is that they WILL breed. And I don't want to shell out a lot of money on shrimp that nobody else likes/would want to purchase (unless I practically gave them away at cherry shrimp prices).
As I'm not going to have some big scale breeding project it works out too money and time consuming for me to post 'cheap' shrimp but at the same time I'd like to offer postage...it just has to be worth it.

What I want is for people to say which their favourite is and how much they'd expect to pay from me as a private breeder vs a shop. (Cause obviously they'd be significantly marked down on what I originally paid). Eg. If I paid £20 a shrimp I'd want to sell at £10-12 each. If I paid £10 I'd want to sell for £5-6 and so on. So basically would you be happy to paying around 50-60% of the shop bought price, particularly baring in mind that the shrimp I'll be keeping are relatively rare in the UK and are normally shipped in so hard to source at a shop anyways (though obviously this doesn't apply unless you really like the look of a specific shrimp)


Find pictures here : http/www.planetinv...mp_species.html

Blue's are my favourites hands down.
In terms of payment, you have to make sure you appeal to all audiences. Having the price too high would knock you out of some of the lower end markets, which could lose you alot of revenue.
I might also suggest selling different packages, Baby, Young and Young Adult, that way you can cover all the bases.
Baby would be just recently born, £3 a shrimp.
Young would be a few weeks old, £6 a shrimp.
Yound Adult would be a few months old, £8 a shrimp.
Adult, mature adult that's getting on a bit, £10 a shrimp. (Ideally males)

That way you have a continually stream of turn over, rather than waiting for 6-8 weeks every time to make a large profit all at once.
Also tank into account the shipping costs, a lot of people, including myself, will definitely take shipping into the final price. If I want 5 baby shrimp, which would cost be £15 (for example), and then have to pay a further £10 shipping, I'm going to say no to the entire deal as the shipping is 66% of the actual price, even fridge/freezers aren't that much!
I'd say try to stick to the 33% shipping cost, so £15 for shrimp and then £5 for shipping, I'd snap that deal right up.

Also in regards to the choice of shrimp, pick one that isn't common where you want to sell it, either online like ebay or in your local area. I think the blue shrimp have more of a chance to sell as they're quite rare where as people with red shrimp already could be in the same boat you are, not wanting more shrimp of the same colour.

Hope that gives you some food for thought, anything else you need, just give me a shout.

 

[Curiosity101]

Well I've worked out that postage would probably be £8 per order actual costs but I could obviously buffer that with the actual shrimp price. But this would either be a large group of cheap shrimp (say 20?) or a small group of expensive shrimp (1-10).

The thing I was thinking was that generally speaking I'm not likely to be in a position to sell large quanitities which is why I'm edging towards the more expensive shrimp (for the exact reasons mentioned, I can't sell say 10 cherry shrimp at around £6 + 8 delivery!).
The problem I'm having is that they tend to be more expensive due to the fact that they're rare and not neccesarily because there is a massive demand (hence me asking through a poll to try and work out demand).

I do get what you mean though and thanks for your post. It's very thorough.

 

[PDSimon]

Red tiger and yellow shrimp are my favourites.

If we're talking about top class shrimp then you'll sell them what you paid for them, maybe a bit less so that P&P covers the rest so its still cheaper than any supplier with postage.

If they're the second class, (can't remember the classes sorry) then mid range.... with prices going down the more you buy?

Definately go towards mid to high because they are rare shrimp. They aren't anything like cherrys. They aren't beginner shrimp either so you shouldn't be expected to sell them at that price range.

If you need any help with graphics advertisement design give me a shout

 

[Curiosity101]

Thanks for the offer PDSimon

I'm sorta torn between the red tigers and the snowballs and the yellows...
Just need a few more opinions from people to help me decide. Let me put it this way... the snowballs and yellows are alot more affordable... but I do think I prefer the reds...

 

[Curiosity101]

Oh no... guess what I just noticed.

Blue tigers are caridina, red tigers are caridina. Yellows are neocaridina and snowballs are neocaridina.... Do we see where I'm going with this? I certainly do... down to the shops for a water test kit for copper...just to be sure.

 

[VaegaVic]

One last thing I want to point out regards to selling them.
If you can get enough numbers up and get a steady stream of supply, selling them for less will result in a greater profit in the long run.
More people will buy from you if you can give them better quality at lower prices.

Since you're only breeding them for the love of them and not for pure profit, any money you make would be a bonus anyway.

Basically, moral of the story is, don't get greedy with profits (thinks of Marks & Spencers..) and people won't go else where (Morrisons).

 

[Curiosity101]

There is only one thing I specifically want the shrimp to pay for from sales... and that's any losses of shrimp I've bought. Atm that would be 7 CRS S-SS Grade We shall see, at the end of the day they are worth what someone will pay and that is the reason I'm checking. I will eventually end up with more than I can keep, and I don't want to have bought shrimp where it's only me that thinks they're pretty! lol.

I'm slowly settling on the idea of replacing the CRS with red tigers and adding yellows into one side and snowballs into the other. Sound like a plan?

 

[PDSimon]

Sounds good although the snowballs look a bit boring to me. The reason I like yellow is because I've never seen anything like it before...

some amazing shrimp on there! where would you source the filter shrimp from? I want some in the future

 

[Curiosity101]

I quite like the snowballs Eitherways I've asked for a quote. I've not got any filter shrimp on my list...?

If you mean where 'would' I source some from. Definitely shrimpking. The guy there has been very helpful at all times and imports. So if he can't get it in the UK he can order in... sometimes a bit more expensive to cover european shipping. But if you can't get what you want here then what else can yah do.

 

[PDSimon]

Lol no they were just on the website that you put down so thought maybe you knew I had a look on shrimpking but they weren't listed, might email when I have the tank set up.. Thanks

 

[Curiosity101]

There aren't yellow shrimp, red tiger shrimp or snow balls but I've still asked for a quote lol.

 

[Curiosity101]

Need some more opinions on favourites

 

[PDSimon]

try it in tropical discussion and put the pictures so that they show as thumbnails then loads of people will vote