Breeding fish for Profit

20 gallon would definitely work, IMO either a long or a tall or standard works, as mystery snails use all available space, unlike fish, who are geared to use more length than height. If you want to use it for fish later, 20 long is better, if you don't plant to ever use it for fish, any size works.

 

20 gallon would definitely work, IMO either a long or a tall or standard works, as mystery snails use all available space, unlike fish, who are geared to use more length than height. If you want to use it for fish later, 20 long is better, if you don't plant to ever use it for fish, any size works.

do you know how many snails I could fit in a 20 gallon? I have 2 females and one male, but I want to start to get a more diverse breeding population (having 2 of one type of snail in one tank, and a few mixed in a new tank I'm getting).

I plan on getting ivories, jades, and peppermints. ill put my existing ones in either a 20 or 29 gallon, for incubation.
then ill see if I can put 2 jades in a 10 gallon alone, and take the clutches and place them into a 29 gallon with the other pair.
finally, for my last tank (which is currently set up) I will put a peppermint and an ivory to have them crossbreed in the current 20 gallon setup.

Also, do you know what the ideal lighting and equipment is needed for a 29 gallon snail tank? I read their eyesight was awful, so ambient room light would be fine as long as it wasn't sunlight. I doubt this is true, and I want confirmation lol.

also, would I need décor or something for snails to climb on and get more space in the aquarium?

 

do you know how many snails I could fit in a 20 gallon? I have 2 females and one male, but I want to start to get a more diverse breeding population (having 2 of one type of snail in one tank, and a few mixed in a new tank I'm getting).

I plan on getting ivories, jades, and peppermints. ill put my existing ones in either a 20 or 29 gallon, for incubation.
then ill see if I can put 2 jades in a 10 gallon alone, and take the clutches and place them into a 29 gallon with the other pair.
finally, for my last tank (which is currently set up) I will put a peppermint and an ivory to have them crossbreed in the current 20 gallon setup.

Also, do you know what the ideal lighting and equipment is needed for a 29 gallon snail tank? I read their eyesight was awful, so ambient room light would be fine as long as it wasn't sunlight. I doubt this is true, and I want confirmation lol.

also, would I need décor or something for snails to climb on and get more space in the aquarium?

If you're raising babies in the same tank, I'd say 6-8 is a good number, if just adults, 14 is probably max.
Not sure about lighting, mine move around fine at night, if you have control over heating, just keep it at 70 or higher, but below 80.
There are some cheap Mindak LED lights on Amazon.com that provide a pretty good amount of light, and are $14-30, so good price.
Decor isn't necessary, but it would be an interesting addition. If you add some, just be sure there aren't crevices for babies to get stuck in or anything.

 

If you're raising babies in the same tank, I'd say 6-8 is a good number, if just adults, 14 is probably max.
Not sure about lighting, mine move around fine at night, if you have control over heating, just keep it at 70 or higher, but below 80.
There are some cheap Mindak LED lights on Amazon.com that provide a pretty good amount of light, and are $14-30, so good price.
Decor isn't necessary, but it would be an interesting addition. If you add some, just be sure there aren't crevices for babies to get stuck in or anything.

Wait, so I can only fit around 6 to 8 baby snails in a 20 gallon???

 

Wait, so I can only fit around 6 to 8 baby snails in a 20 gallon???

Sorry! I mean 6-8 adults with babies, if no babies in the tank, 14 adults max. Maybe you could fit some babies in with the 14... Seems like a lot, lol!

 

Sorry! I mean 6-8 adults with babies, if no babies in the tank, 14 adults max. Maybe you could fit some babies in with the 14... Seems like a lot, lol!

Lol! I was just thinking to get 4 into a 20h or 29 gallon tank, and have 1 in my old tank.

 

The main question is what fish can I breed in a ten gallon for the most profit? I have hard water, around 8.0-8.2. Temps are 78-80 but may go a little higher in the summer. It's a regular HOB filter but I cover the intake with some mesh. I've also got a five gallon sponge filter that might be big enough too. Livebearers are okay but I'm hoping for something a little more profitable. I don't want shrimp for this project because I already breed them in three different tanks. I'm also trying to get fish. If they can work with one betta, that would be great.
Thanks.

 

Fancy shrimp might be worth a shot, blue varieties tend to go for $10-12 each
You could also do honey gouramis

 

How about just plain yellow shrimp?

 

Fancy shrimp might be worth a shot, blue varieties tend to go for $10-12 each
You could also do honey gouramis

How about just plain yellow shrimp?

The problem is that I've already got three different kinds of shrimp, so I'm trying to do fish this time. I'm a little nervous about gouramis because I'd have to find a female, and that's a little hard to do.

 

You could do rams if you raise the temp a little

 

You could do rams if you raise the temp a little

I thought they needed softer water? Would I have to take the pair out after the eggs? I don't really have another tank for them if they eat shrimp.

 

They'd prefer softer water, but they would be just fine in hard water like yours too. They're not the best parents and take a few tries to have most of the fry to live, but you don't have to move the parents. They usually don't care for shrimp either though

 

My water runs 8-8.4 and my GBR's breed no problem.

You're pretty limited on fish you can breed for a profit in a 10. First, Id check with loval fish shops to see if they buy anything. I no longer have any fish stores near me (even within hours) that will buy anything, so I no longer breed. If you can find a shop that will buy, find out what they want. Endlers are an option as are a few species of Tetras, Rams and a few other things. But Id check around first.

 

Shell dwellers may be a good option. Or apistos...

 

My water runs 8-8.4 and my GBR's breed no problem.

You're pretty limited on fish you can breed for a profit in a 10. First, Id check with loval fish shops to see if they buy anything. I no longer have any fish stores near me (even within hours) that will buy anything, so I no longer breed. If you can find a shop that will buy, find out what they want. Endlers are an option as are a few species of Tetras, Rams and a few other things. But Id check around first.

I ship online Ebay, Fishlore, and I've also been successful in giving fish/shrimp to stores. The only problem is that I have a betta. Do you think I'd have to move him if I get a rams pair? He's pretty passive but he might try to eat eggs, I'm not sure. Maybe I should put a shrimp in there and see if he'd eat it.

 

Malaysian trumpet snails !! I would buy those lol
and they're livebearers so maybe that doesn't fit ur criteria

 

Shell dwellers may be a good option. Or apistos...

Shell dwellers are great, but I'd have to switch up some of my landscape for it. Apistos are very pretty though. Are they easy to breed? Are they aggressive?

Malaysian trumpet snails !! I would buy those lol
and they're livebearers so maybe that doesn't fit ur criteria

Thanks, but I'm primarily looking for fish. My other tanks are all shrimp tanks that I sell but I'm trying to find something that would fill up my tank and that could eat the frozen food still in my freezer haha.

 

Thanks, but I'm primarily looking for fish. My other tanks are all shrimp tanks that I sell but I'm trying to find something that would fill up my tank and that could eat the frozen food still in my freezer haha.

just chuck them in with the fish then LOL... I just want people to breed cool snails all the time. Blue rams horns or whatever

what about killifish??

 

Shell dwellers are great, but I'd have to switch up some of my landscape for it. Apistos are very pretty though. Are they easy to breed? Are they aggressive?

Hows the tank scaped? You probably may not need to do that much.

As for apistos, very similar to rams. Territorial when breeding, otherwise not too aggressive. If you have a male and female, they pretty easy to breed.


If heavily planted, you could do smaller rainbows... like threadfins or spotted blue eyes for example.

 

My bad, I misread the post. I was thinking you had a 10 you wanted to use for breeding, not a 10 community tank you wanted to breed in too.

 

Profitability will also depend on your market. Will you be selling online and shipping them, or are you limited to local sales? Figure out where you’ll be selling and research what species are in high demand and then research if they can be bred in your setup. To be honest, you probably won’t make much money raising fish, especially if you’re limited to a 10 gallon, so I’d suggest choosing a species based on what you like rather than what will make money.

Also, I definitely wouldn’t add a betta to a breeding setup because they are predators and will hunt the fry or shrimplets and eat them. Edit: I just realized you already have the betta, so you might just want to use the tank to grow aquatic plants and sell the trimmings. Not many other options.

 

My bad, I misread the post. I was thinking you had a 10 you wanted to use for breeding, not a 10 community tank you wanted to breed in too.

It's really just one betta. I'm figuring out a place to move him. For now he's in the tank but I'm looking for a new arrangement to empty the tank for breeding only.

Hows the tank scaped? You probably may not need to do that much.

As for apistos, very similar to rams. Territorial when breeding, otherwise not too aggressive. If you have a male and female, they pretty easy to breed.


If heavily planted, you could do smaller rainbows... like threadfins or spotted blue eyes for example.

Since the tank has a divider at the moment, half the tank is gravel and the other half is black substrate. I personally think the rams and apistos look better, so I'm leaning towards those as better options.

Profitability will also depend on your market. Will you be selling online and shipping them, or are you limited to local sales? Figure out where you’ll be selling and research what species are in high demand and then research if they can be bred in your setup. To be honest, you probably won’t make much money raising fish, especially if you’re limited to a 10 gallon, so I’d suggest choosing a species based on what you like rather than what will make money.

Also, I definitely wouldn’t add a betta to a breeding setup because they are predators and will hunt the fry or shrimplets and eat them. Edit: I just realized you already have the betta, so you might just want to use the tank to grow aquatic plants and sell the trimmings. Not many other options.

I sell both online and to local stores. I'm thinking that I'm going to set up a 5 gallon again (I have the supplies) for the betta to clear the ten gallon. I think rams are a good idea, if they really are ideal in a ten gallon. I thought they needed more room but I guess not.

Would electric blue rams work in the ten gallon?

EDIT: Actually German Blue Rams work, never mind.

 

A pair of Rams can spawn in a 10 gallon no problem, it's just a matter of separating them from the fry so you don't have a crazy overstocked tank

 

A pair of Rams can spawn in a 10 gallon no problem, it's just a matter of separating them from the fry so you don't have a crazy overstocked tank

I thought the pair needs to take care of the fry. Do you know how old the fry need to be so that I can sell them? I've already researched all the proper foods. How many fry can I expect? Can I grow them all in ten together with lots of water changes?

 

They will, but only to a point. After two-three weeks they should be separated 1. In case the parents spawn again and 2. Because I see no way to happily keep at least 20, but up to 200 baby rams in a 10 gallon tank. Also keep in mind that it can and will take a few tries for the parents to get it right on their own.
AquaticJ and coralbandit have experience breeding them though, so they can be of more help then me

 

I think hard water is going to be an issue myself ?
pH means NOTHING for rams or anyone who knows how to test water ..TDS.
Rams are profitable but very difficult .
Most fish take 4 months to get to a salable size where you can get a little money .Any less you should expect less and if older you may get more if they are large or paired.
I would not choose rams unless you want the challenge .
I make more off my swordtails and they are way easier ..Yea MORE !

 

I think hard water is going to be an issue myself ?
pH means NOTHING for rams or anyone who knows how to test water ..TDS.
Rams are profitable but very difficult .
Most fish take 4 months to get to a salable size where you can get a little money .Any less you should expect less and if older you may get more if they are large or paired.
I would not choose rams unless you want the challenge .
I make more off my swordtails and they are way easier ..Yea MORE !

I'm willing to take the challenge if I can end up with profits at the end. I have bred platies in the past but stopped when I could only sell them for 50 cents each at the local store. No one wants to buy them online. I have the frozen foods, and I have eggs to make live brine shrimp occasionally. Do I need powder food for the fry? I thought I would make more off rams eventually because they're expensive. How often would I have to do water changes?

 

I just got myself a 14-gallon second tank. I was looking for advice on what fish I can breed for money to fund this lovely hobby. The LFS suggested to breed Guppies, but has given no assurance that he would buy from me as his orders are usually 500+ per species.

Any suggestions on what fish I can breed for money would be really helpful. Thanks.

My first tank is doing well with some Harlequin Rasboras, Neon Tetras, Amano Shrimp, RCS.

 

I just got myself a 14-gallon second tank. I was looking for advice on what fish I can breed for money to fund this lovely hobby. The LFS suggested to breed Guppies, but has given no assurance that he would buy from me as his orders are usually 500+ per species.

Any suggestions on what fish I can breed for money would be really helpful. Thanks.

My first tank is doing well with some Harlequin Rasboras, Neon Tetras, Amano Shrimp, RCS.

What is your tap water like? (pH, GH, KH) The most profitable fish are the ones that:
1. will thrive and breed in the water that you have (water you don't have to spend $$$ "fixing") AND
2. your LFS want to buy from you. Obviously guppys won't be a fish they'll want from you.

 

High end guppies. My LFS has the owner incapacitated on Sat Sun as he ships out all his high end stuff (bettas and guppies). You will cull a lot as you only want to sell top end and do not want to make extra money selling your culls. You also do not want to sell culls as feeders as someone else will pollute the stock thinking they can make money.
The problem is you are looking for what is hot "right now" and by the time you grow out fry you do now if it will be hot anymore. You may have stuff that no one wants anymore. You can make money through consistent breeding so when someone wants something that is out of fashion you can supply it (I think this is more the aquabid route). the guy with the large Mbu on Youtube has some videos on this.
You can also go rare. As you just bought a 14 gal I'm guessing you do not want to throw money around for that and so even high end guppies (~75$ for 3) may be out of reach.

Your experience also says "just started", I do not recommend getting into fish to make money. The people who make a lot of money breeding fish do it in a different way than hobbyists do it.

 

Unless you are a large division of fish breeder support fish for large area State wide ,then you might make money on fish, after invest lots of money for every thing to breed them.OR you can not competed with another fish suppliers and go bankruptcy.Just think it is a business then you might survive ......if it is a hobby,and try to breed fish to profit ,then any kind of fish might cost you more than earning.,If you think highend guppy is the fish you will going to breed as hobbies, to sell to LFS or any big buyer like petsmart,petco,walmart ,Then lots of big breeders already have a lot of these fishes to sell to them before you sell...It is a good idea ! but in small scale to sell special fish to friends or neibourgh you may earn some penny.

 

HI All! Thanks for your responses.

I use RO water for my tank. The hardness comes from the Seiryu stones in the tank. pH is almost near neutral.

I agree that I cannot compete with folks into professional breeding. I have seen their farms on YouTube. I do not have the time nor money to procure and manage a project of that scale.

When I met up with my LFS chap last month, he suggested that I take my hobby to a next level as I seemed to have the interest and knowledge to do so, according to him. After some thought, I chose breeding over having an advanced aquascape in my second tank. During our next discussion, he said if I am thinking about breeding, I should be thinking of doing it for money. Otherwise it can be frustrating with so many extra fish and not knowing what to do with those. And yes, he suggested exotic guppies - not the common strains.

I am not thinking about this as a long term venture, while I do not rule it out either - as long as I am into this hobby.

I was looking for advice on which fish I can breed in the tank which I have. I am happy selling just 30-50 fish a month, if I am able to figure out who is going to buy them. Are guppies the only reasonable option?

 

Fish business alone like fish store did not have very good income that make them have pet store instead fish store just only sell fishes and tank and plants and decoration And fish equipment to pay for the cost of rent and employee and expense while running it.The most fish store I gone to have fast sell on some thing cheap prices for local young hobbies range from 3$99 to 6$99 items or baby fishes.The next thing is for amateur hobbies who has job and can afford some cost from 9$99 to some where 50$-100$ in some items or fishes but that will be limit.So! The interesting of fish hobbies is random and depend on season ,income they made and influence.Try on some fish which normal store would not sell like exotic fishes then start sell over ebay ,amazon and LFS to see how they get hook.If some other would not sell and you have it then that could be a your fish of choice....Beside that the price would be a second consideration.No one want to buy a rare fish for 5 k if they are not a Hollywood star or million air....

 

Cherry shrimp may be a good one, if you can maintain quality colours...

But I wouldnt expect any quality breeding to bring much profit. You will fork out more into it than you will make back.


Thing is, you will need more than one spare tank to breed. Mostly, once you have sexually mature babies, you don't want them inbreeding. So youd have to separate males from females. Especially to keep your lines healthy, with ANY fish or shrimp.

But especially guppies as they breed so prolifically. Do you have enough tanks to support the mass amount of babies you will have, especially if some don't sell as fast as youd like...

 

I think I would skip worrying about intentionally breeding for profit at this point.

Get some fish that do reproduce in a normal tank and see how it goes.

Then answer the critical question:
What can you do with them once you have the fish?

Some fish stores will pay you something for them...
Some will offer you store credit only....
Some will offer to take them for free...
Some refuse to deal with extra hobby person fish unless they have an established relationship with them...

But here's the deal....
Say you get $0.25 each for a miscellaneous guppy, molly, or platy....

Is that enough? Is 20 fish for $5.00 worth your time?
Can you cover your costs?
OR
Is it just disposing of excessive fish that your hobby generates?

 

I just got myself a 14-gallon second tank. I was looking for advice on what fish I can breed for money to fund this lovely

I am happy selling just 30-50 fish a month,

This is like selling 12 year old scotch. You need a constant pipeline to keep selling. To be able to sell your 30-50 a month, you have to hatch 60-100 a month due to culling (depends on species, some are close to 0 cull some are well well above 50%). So if it takes you 4 months to get a fish to market size, this means you have a 14 gal tank with more than 200 fish in it. Even at 2 months it is over 100 fish.
To do this you would have to go "Youtube Stupid" by this I mean set up something like a 55-75 gallon sump to filter it, sure it gets views but in the real world you would use the 55-75 gal tank as your main instead of a sump if you had one. You would still have the problem of breeding in a very small bait store live well type environment. Fish will be stressed and unwilling to breed. If they suddenly did breed the eggs would be eaten instantly. And then there is the issue with many fish that you can only have so many sets of babies before the older eat the younger if you do not separate.

For 30-50 fish per month you will be setting up a lot of tubs or garbage cans. Or more aquariums. Either way lots of filtration. Lots of space. Lots of money.

Beyond that if you are just thinking the LFS, then the local market has to be able to buy 30-50 a month, every month.. That is a huge ask. For example with my albino checkerboard haplos even though I'm one of the only breeders in the US, 1-2 broods per year saturates the local market.

I hate to be a downer but if there was something you could breed for money, at the rate you want to do it, in a 15 gal tank, we'd already have collapsed that market long long ago (we'd all be doing it and big breeders would have warehouses doing it. Then the value of the fish would have dropped well below what it costs to feed them.).

Now if you want to go off the beaten path.. And you have lots of space because you will always need space.
You could look at breeding mystery or exotic snails in a garbage can or bin with a foam filter (look online for super cool looking snails the LFS doesn't have or are rare on aqua bid, then google what it takes to breed them).
Or the food direction. You could set up garbage cans with a foam filter and 3-6 inches of raked leaves from your yard and consider mysis shrimp. You could set up worm compost bins. Bins growing daphnia. Breeding black worms doesn't seem worth it, so I wouldn't consider it.
If you are selling live food you always have a market if you have a good product at a good price.

 

I was wondering what type of Freshwater fish are not so commonly bred that I would have a better chance of trying to breed for profit, I know live bearers are easy to breed but that is kinda the problem since none of my local fish stores are willing to buy them, so I wanna breed something that isn't so common and isn't a live bearer.

 

Rams or angels.

 

Cories and plecos go for a fair amount, cost little to breed, breed readily (usually), and are typically in-demand. If you can find a breeding pair of pure strain Endlers that can be lucrative as well. Not the guppy hybrids. Red cherry shrimp are decent as well but it takes a long time to establish a shrimp tank. But you'll see hundreds of shrimp produced every month by the end of it (depending on your colony size) and they sell for 1-3 dollars depending on grade

 

I would ask the question at your LFS. I have a LFS that prides it’s self from sourcing as much as possible from local breeders giving him great quality and value for him to sell.

he’s pretty open telling you what fish breeders he needs because he knows what moves in his store.

 

I would ask the question at your LFS. I have a LFS that prides it’s self from sourcing as much as possible from local breeders giving him great quality and value for him to sell.

he’s pretty open telling you what fish breeders he needs because he knows what moves in his store.

True facts right here. No one can tell you what they'll buy better than the owners themselves. Ask them what they wish they could get their hands on locally.

 

I agree with above. Ask your LFS what they would buy. You can also sell on Craigslist and Reddit if your LFS won't take all the offspring.

Inverts (shrimp, snails, crayfish, etc) are pretty lucrative. I used to fund my hobby selling RCS. Plecos go for a lot but it might take a while to sell them all. Plants go for a surprising amount if you have a green thumb (or even if you don't). You could also breed killifish or something you won't find in a Petsmart but your LFS will sell.

 

Hello! I have been researching in the reef side of the hobby and I am currently getting all the equipment I need just one problem, everything I need is expensive! Total cost of all the equipment is about 1,000 dollars, so I decided I need to make some money and what better way to do it with fish! The 20 gallon long is currently freshwater but I am planning to move it to a saltwater reef tank (with equipment) in about a year, so is there any good freshwater fish to breed for profit in my 20 gallon long, the fish can't be too expensive because im trying to earn money not waste it ! Any advice will be nice, thanks again.

 

Hello! I have been researching in the reef side of the hobby and I am currently getting all the equipment I need just one problem, everything I need is expensive! Total cost of all the equipment is about 1,000 dollars, so I decided I need to make some money and what better way to do it with fish! The 20 gallon long is currently freshwater but I am planning to move it to a saltwater reef tank (with equipment) in about a year, so is there any good freshwater fish to breed for profit in my 20 gallon long, the fish can't be too expensive because im trying to earn money not waste it ! Any advice will be nice, thanks again.

I think Apistogramma cichlids could be good. They're pretty easy to breed too.

 

Things to consider when selling fish are is it worth your time and effort?, do people want that type of fish?, how are you planning on selling locally, online? If your selling online you need shipping supplies to ensure a healthy arrival, if your selling local does anyone even keep fish or interested in this type? Fish sell for more when they are juvenile or adults. So your looking at about 6-8 months before you even sell your fish if you want to sell them at a decent price. Also if these aren’t community fish they will need their own tank meaning more money spent

 

You'll make more off plants than fish. And it will be much easier in that tank size.

 

You'll make more off plants than fish. And it will be much easier in that tank size.

Will a heavily planted tank with java moss and java fern work? I can add cherry shrimp to sell too, I might just sell them to my LFS for store credit

 

Will a heavily planted tank with java moss and java fern work? I can add cherry shrimp to sell too, I might just sell them to my LFS for store credit

Those plants both sell well, but grow slowly. You'd want to add in some fast growing stem plants too.

 

Those plants both sell well, but grow slowly. You'd want to add in some fast growing stem plants too.

Any plants you recommend, should I add co2 / ferts or a good light?