How can I make money from my hobby?

Question

I have several fish tanks ranging from 10-55 gallons and I want to know how I can turn a profit from keeping fish. The only reason I ask is that I am addicted to fish keeping and constantly want to upgrade, which is a financial issue. What is marketable and what are some easy steps to success.

Answer 1

Join a fish or aquarium club in your area and you can sell your fish to some of the other members and at the fish club auctions. Many clubs have 2-3 auctions per year where you can take your extra fish and make enough money to buy their food and maybe pay for some or all of the electricity used to keep the tanks going. That is what I do.



I live near Cleveland, OH and there are 6-7 clubs within an hour and a half of my house. Each one has 2-3 auctions a year. I buy most of my new fish at these and the prices are quite reasonable. It is about the same as paying wholesale price for the fish.



I spawn and sell bushynose plecos, hi-fin cory catfish, many different species of cichlids, shrimp and some livebearers.



Do not try to breed and sell common fish like tetras, danios, barbs and things you see all the time in the pet shops, the oddball and seldom seen fish are the ones people want.



Very few people can make a profit from the fishkeeping hobby. You would need many, many tanks (some for breeding, some for grow-out, some for display). A friend of mine has over 100 tanks in her basement and makes a little money, but not much. She ships all over the US, sells at auctions and gives talks at the various clubs on breeding and fish room set-ups.



If you have some fish that are out of the ordinary, you might try putting them on one of the fish auction sites online (like aquabid.com). Check them out and see what kind of prices different fish are selling for and then decide what fish you want to start breeding.



Good luck, it is a great hobby. Mine has almost paid for itself over the last few years. Feel free to email me if you have more questions you think I might be able to answer.



8

Answer 2

To be honest..no. Unless you go big, like a fish farm, you probably would only make a few cents on the dollar invested. Now..if you lived in an area that had a lot of fish fanatics and could figure out exactly what type of fish most would want, you could breed those and sell the fry. But there again, unless its a rare and hard to breed fish, cents to the dollar.

I understand the fish addiction. At 17 I had twenty some tanks in my bedroom a,lone! Thanks the Lord for good parents! I even had an outlet for fish..my soon to be boyfriends family had a pet store. But there again, cents on the dollar. it takes so much money to care and raise fry that you rarely get your money back. And as most chains only buy from fish farms with who they have contracts, where are you going to sell them? Garage sales are only good if the fry are ready to go at that time and you have people wanting them and then they will only want to pay little

Sorry to tell you this.



Listen to 8. If you can make enough money to keep your hobby going, then your ahead of the game. 8 is lucky he lives in an area where there are local clubs. check your area out. then check within decent driving distance. But he is right..breeding "normal" fish will not be profitable.

Answer 3

It is, frankly, very rare for anyone to make a profit from keeping and breeding fish.



There is more money in selling aquarium equipment and supplies than in selling fish. I don't know anybody who's gotten rich doing this, either, but I do know a few people who've made a living at it.

Answer 4

1) You could turn one of your tanks into a breeding tank, and breed and sell sevral types of fish at monthly garage sales



2) When you "upgrade" things like filters and heateres, sell the old ones, or return them if thet were new and broken



3) Grow live plants in your tanks, and clip them once theyu get big enough, then sell the clippings to your pet stores



There are other things you can do, but you would need some type of permit

Answer 5

Collect exotic fish at a small price and sell them for more money. Make it a package deal, selling the exotic fish and a nice fish tank.



Or maybe fish hotel.

Answer 6

get a breeders license and breed breed breed...as i live in FL and fish stores only buy from licensed breeder