Hypothetical Dollar Signs

[dalethewhale]

G'day all.
As promised more questions from a simple man.

Here is a hypothetical scenario for you. A pair of 6cm Blue Diamonds (selected for their excellent shape and the redest eyes of all the fish in the tank) ar bought from 3 different locations ( hopefully sponsors).

Note, BD's were selected in this example as they have great colouration at an early age, and look appealing in the local fish shops tank. Therefore, have a greater turn over than other strains at the 6cm stage.

I now have 6 of the best BD's and average joe can buy off the street in this country. Time goes buy, they grow up big and healthy, from excellent fish keeping practises and eventually a pair is formed. And with a little bit of mathematical luck they are not siblings. They produce baby's that are of a reasonable standard for an Aussie fish and our hypothetical fish owner, masters raising baby brine shrimp, wheens them onto prepared and frozen foods in time, and has the tank space for adequate grow out. Our Hobbyist now has 75 happy 6cm good qality BD's. These retail for about 35-45 dollars (oviously he is expecting to get about a 3rd of that, would settle for 8-10 Bucks per fish) so here is the question.

HOW DO YOU REGULARLY SELL QUANTITIES OF REASONBALE QUALITY FISH?

Can anyone expect to get to turn over (sell) that number of fish every couple of months ( ie, he's got the production line happening)?

If yes, then how?

Lookong forward to you responses.

Cheers,

Whale.

[taksan]

A completely unhypothetical response if you get into Discus looking for money your going to be very disappointed.
Blue diamonds certainly are not going to make you much they are a very common and overbreed strain.
At $8-10 per fish your going to be losing money on every fish you sell. You would sell them for sure at that price but you would lose money as it would cost you a lot more to raise and house them.
Anyhow anyone who breeds fish to make money is no longer a hobbyist anyway.
A Discus hobbyist knows one thing ....Discus cost you money...in fact all fish cost you money.. you can breed a few,sell a few, offset a few of your costs but your always gonig to be behind.

[madasa]

Hi

I'm going to disagree that anyone who breeds for money is no longer a hobbyist. I love keeping fish but I also love selling quality fish for a reasonable price to private individuals or LFS's. And yes I would say that I think I make some money.

Re: offloading large quantities of fish then - private ads, LFS, any left then the bigger they are the more they are worth :)

Pete

[the german]

but there is no money in breeding fish,i do it for a while and let me tell you,you can make a few $$ but profit :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: dont even think about it.
your BD example,in thailand you get reasonable BD at 6cm for 0.99$

[dalethewhale]

Thanks for the input guys i really appreciate it.
I guess i should have choosen the title to this post a little more carefully. I am aware that keeping fish for profit is a dangerous trap(from experience). I know that making a few bucks and covering a few costs is a more realsitic scenario

I was more interested in the actual of "how to" move (yes, sell) fish.
My example of blue diamonds was only of a fish that is coloured at a small size, relaivietly cheap and should appeal to the average Jo strolling through ther local fish shop.

I guess i still want to know how people move reasonable numbers of fish. I am concerned at being in a postion where i had sucessfully raised a large batch of fish ( breeading and rearing fry is a truck load of fun on its own) and not being able to find homes for my babies. And, yes also a concern of being able to retrieve part (all?) of the cost that would have incurred.

So i guess i would like to hear from successful breeders, and the techniques that they have used to successfully sell their babies(especially reaonably large numbers). Not neccessarily rare, expensive fish that other breeders are keen to snap up. More of you bread and butter "cheaper" fish that alot in th hobby start out with.
As an aside how does one determine a selling price?

Hope I'm not being to much of a pain in the arse but this forum has been a great help already!

Cheers and merry christmas!

Whale

[ILLUSN]

G'day whale, your best bet is to build up a good relationship with the LFS in your area, just get talking to them and see how they go, when the time comes they're usually more then happy to take 10 or so off you at a time (at a fair price, slightly better if you'll accept store credit), if they sell well they'll want more.

Again the VERY BEST possible senario you can hope for is to break even with discus, and even then your doing VERY well.

in all honestly you should do yourself a favor when you start breeding and cull anyfish that is below par, that way you'll only have to raise 1-70% ish of your spawns and all your energy can go into the better fish, to help keep your overheads down (i had a pigion pair (my first) that i'd be lucky to keep 2 fish from 50 at the 3 month mark).

I can honestly say that after 3 months I'll be culling at least 1/2 my red rose fry. it's heart breaking but it what responsible breeders do.

[dalethewhale]

Thanks Illusn. Thanks for the advice mate

I am already aware of how crapy it is to have to be a "responsible" breeder at times and cull the guys that are not up to scratch. It is however the right thing to do.

It seems as though the LFS tkaing 10 at a time (maybe) is a likely scenario. I am still interested in how people overcome paring with even slightly large batches.

Cheers Whale

[dalethewhale]

Sorry,
Should have read "overcome 'parting' with even slightly large batches"
Whale

[mistakes r crucial]

There's money in fish but it's like anything else and possibly worse, you have to have the best of the best stock, stock that's currently in vogue and plenty of contacts. Just as much hard work and a little luck as anything else but some do it, plenty don't.
MAC