Breeding shellies by the thousands

[Deco]

Anyone ever try to breed them to sell or for fun by the thousands?  Any setups recommended?  I was thinking to do that to sell locally and for fun. Mostly for fun. I currently have only Brevis and have 7 adults and about 75 Fry. 

1 pair in a 20 gallon long with all the fry

5 in a 180 gallon Tanganyikan Tank.

I plan to get maybe a bunch of 10 gallon tanks to separate Fry as they get bigger.   

What you guys think?

[ice]

I guess if you could find enough buyers for them... however, think about it- if you're producing brevis by the truckload, they'll need to be vastly popular in order to continually sell them onto LFSs. Also- you'd need to start with some brilliant adults and see if you could perfect the line  a syou go along, nipping out any males/ females with bad colouring/ temperament and not breeding those ones...it's a massive thing to think about. IME, breeding one variety 'by the truckload' isnt a smart idea, you get stuck with too many fry and then you find that you're practically giving them away instead of selling them becuase the market gets flooded with individuals and no one wants them anymore. My suggestion would be to select 3-4 species and select good adults to start with and breed 3-4 species at a time, separating them into your said 10g's. This means you wont every have too many fry at any given time and you'll be producing not only one species, but a few for the clients to choose from.

I dont even  know what you'd do with 75 brevis! Especially as brevis aren't really harem colonists too. Buyers are more likely to buy a pair etc- though a fish store would probably take 10 at a time. Why dont you do some research, email around your local LFSs and find out which species are in demand, and if you were to breed certain types how many they would be willing to take and at what price and how often? You might find its a massive operation that you're just not keen on.

Shellies that are typically slow growing such as ocellatus or a tang like calvus is where the money lies as they're harder to rear and it takes major patience on the breeder's side to keep the operation going. I would suggest you go with something more like either of those two, other than brevis. Anything that's bred by the truckload is likely to  be recieved well at the beginning and then the interest dies off as the species floods the markets.

Good luck to you! I've always wanted to do something similar, and picked up the above tips when i looked into it Let us know what you decide to do!

[fish head]

Ice, you got that right.  Very good advice!

I've been discouraged to find that the only way I could move the fish at a rate worth messing w/ would be to start shipping fish.

Local interest here is just about zilch.  (and I'm not even trying to sell them....... I give them away!)

LFS sells oscars, jack dempseys, convicts, and a tank of misc african cichlids...auratus, kenyi, red zebra.

Too many flat screen tvs in competition?

"Today's special:  Free FLAT SCREEN TV w/ the purchase of a pair of shell dwellers"

that might spawn some interest, eh?

I think the thing to do is start a club.  Give free fish to new members.  And then, after a while, make a GROUP BUY!!!  ...or group sale.... aution?

[mmillerr]

The problem with the Club thing is that once a member has a good breeding pair of any species it doesn't take long until everyone in the club has a pair producing too.  That's sorta what happened with my local club CAFE.  One member really got into keeping several species and started selling/giving them away to other members until pretty much anyone in the club with any interest in shellies had a bunch.  

I have a 20L full of gold occie juvies right now and can't find anyone locally who wants them.  I sold the parents at our last auction because they were so productive that I would have needed a second tank for the fry at the rate they pumped them out.  Tried shipping a group to SC twice with bad results and lost money on it so either they don't ship well or I suck at packing?

So unless you've got a huge local demand or you've got better luck at shipping than I do I don't see any reason to mass breed any fish.

Just my two cents,

Mark

[tranced]

over here gold occies are retailing for $65 each! would be worth breeding some at least, lol

[mmillerr]

Thanks for telling me that!  Here I am considering using them as feeders or euthanizing them and they're worth their weight in gold in your neighborhood   BTW where are you located?

If you take a vacation to Ohio anytime soon let me know, you could take some with you and maybe pay for part of the ticket?  

Too bad I don't seem to have any luck shipping them

Later,

Mark

[Alleycat]

Thanks for telling me that!  Here I am considering using them as feeders or euthanizing them

Mark, if they don't sell around Columbus, it's time to take a drive north to Akron, or Cleveland to a few of their club auctions. Todd has the market covered around Cinci, and if I recall right, he has well over 200 fry in several tanks. He stopped pulling fry back in the fall as he had too many and they weren't selling, and like you, he doesn't like to ship.
Having a source like bluegrassaquatics or bluechip to unload them on would inspire me to rear more fry, but I do not. I used to have the same problem with Brevis here. Now I take them to your area, Akron, and the Indy area... They sell quite well.
I couln't imagine 1000's of them though. I'd need some darn good sources in the US, and Canada to unload them on. 

[twistedfisher]

well gold occies would be greatly loved in my household 

[Alleycat]

well gold occies would be greatly loved in my household 

Plan a trip westward to Akron, Cleveland, or Pittsburgh this fall to one of their auctions. I'm quite sure there will be some around!