time to sell ?

[simmo2302]

at what age do you usually start selling off fry?

i have about 65 discus fry in a 3x15x18 140L grow out tank, they are about 2 months old, and are of various sizes (body sizes vary from a 50c piece to a 5c piece) and are already looking very round.

also what do they usually sell for? they are pigeon bloods. i m most likely going to sell a few to a few locals, and then just sell of the rest to LFS's

[Hollowman]

Post some photos Simmo

[simmo2302]

not the best of pictures, but the best i can get with my old camera.

both parents r supposed to be Pigeon Bloods and were Discusworld stock.

they were originally bought by someone else, who nearly killed them and thus are stunted with signs of their old illnesses (the slightly sunken in nose area)

from what i understand pigeon bloods were bred out of turk's, so i'd guess the mother is a genetic throw back, when i got her she had little to almost no turk markings but as she has gotten older more have come out.

the father doesnt look too bad.

i m not trying to breed show quality, hell i wasnt even trying to breed to begin with, but they kinda had a mind of their own.

[Hollowman]

Simmo,

I am going to be dead honest. I do no think it is good to try to sell these fish to anyone. Their poor parentage and lines do nothing to to improve our hobby. The fish you have bred would best be kept for your own improvement and to learn how to raise fish properly.
We see too often poorly crossed fish in our lfs's and we hear from the poor people who end up buying them because they don't know any better. I know you may want to re-coup money spent in the raising of the fish so far, but I just don't think it will be worth it.

If the fish were top quality from top quality parentage, selling at 2" for me would be a bare minimum and way too young.

I don't mean to offend, and I hope you don't take what I say wrongly, but it is my opinion that we improve fish lines, not just breed and sell
anything.

Steve

[simmo2302]

thats all good, but unfortunately as i never intended on running a breeding program, i only have 2 x 3ft tanks.

so i am unable to keep them all to maturity to pick out and re-breed the better quality fry.

and i'd rather not kill them :-S

[Hollowman]

Simmo,

From a batch of fry you will see as they grow which ones are becoming potentially good fish (from this batch) You need to cull the rest (humanely with clove oil) and keep culling until you only have the very best left. Ok, so you do not 'want' to cull, but like I said before, it is all about learning and gives you great experience.

[simmo2302]

ok,

so are there any key things to look for as they grow up.

they r currently @ 2 months old, is it too young to start sorting them out?

[Hollowman]

Weed out the very small ones, any with deformed fins, any that look stunted, poor shape, short gills for starters. That might get rid of 50%

hth :wink: