Breeding guppies for profit?

[kamikaze_fish]

Ok so I've got limited space, even with multiple tanks and I love the hobby of guppies but obviously they like to make more and more and more guppies. So is it even profitable to keep enjoying the hobby and selling the overabundance on aquabid and craigslist? How do you sell them or trade them in to a LFS? Like all I'm aware of is Petland, petco, petsmart. Would I walk into one and be like "how many guppies do I need to bring to you?"

[GuppyGal]

There needs to be outlets for you to send guppies to as you raise them..unfortunately it seems that those who do quantity aren't always for quality. Occasionally there is one. Yes you can call the various mom and pop type fish shops to sell the fish to. The large chain stores like Petsmart or Walmart does not buy them. You can send them out on Craigslist and AquaBid too. Its easy to find what to do with them..especially if they are nice.

[48willys]

My thoughts run more toward what does it cost to raise one guppy that you might get $1.00-$2.00 for on craigslist or LFS?

[vinniemabuna]

I think its very hard to raise guppies and make a profit, I have noticed that the breeders on aqua-bid Im sure are experts at this so their stock is high quality also they buy fish from Thailand and Germany, and can sell them easy for profit, the fry of course.

[MADMIKE]

If you are doing this just for money,you will not be happy.Even with show guppies.I keep about 2-5% of the best ones for my breeder.Only around 30% are what I would call really nice.The rest are just so-so fish.As I also do not have the tank space to raise really nice fish to sell,I raise what I can for my own breeder and cull real hard.I just sell the rest of them to a LFS.If I had another 12 tanks I would look at it different.

[gregjonesonline]

Aquabid is always a good bet if you have fish worth buying.
Mom and Pop fish stores are more reliable for selling fish off
Although people do sell fish on craigslist you aren't suppose to
You can look into posting ads in periodicals / papers
You can start up a website to sell online
Chain stores normally don't buy from individuals as they have contracts, and if they do, they normally only give store credit...

[Bianni]

I only have a few tanks and sell some of my best fish to a local LFS. I don't come anywhere near to making a profit. I am just happy to get a little bit of store credit to help my hobby support itself.

I think it takes a lot of time and dedication as well as a large initial outlay of money to get the kind of high quality guppies and the kind of equipment to breed these fish for profit.

[gregjonesonline]

Sometimes a hobby can transition into a business if the love is there, it is the initial investment and then the number of hours that you put into it that determines what you will end up making for profit.

It is a change in thinking from "oh, that's cute, i'll breed this little guy too!" - to "what 3-5% of these fish are worth my time?" (and get rid of the rest).

[jimmytrick]

The people who supply Walmart and the big box pet stores like Petsmart don't cull like a breeder does. The culls are the profit. The ordinary guppy customer buys ordinary guppies.

They would only cull for health. Generally if a drop represents a recognizable strain its golden if you have a distribution channel.

Looking at it from the other end if I spend two years developing a strain only to sell a trio for a hundred bucks, did I not just work two years for a hundred bucks?

If you want a profit you should run a business, not breed guppies for quality.

[gregjonesonline]

by "get rid of the rest" i meant sell them.

if you start with expensive fish you can't afford to let them degrade by random breeding. The sick and deformed should be culled, the lesser 80% should be sold to LFS, the best 15% (the ones that are "WOW") should be sold as such, and the best of the best should be kept to keep breeding.

if you sacrifice quality for quantity you will never get more than 50 cents - 1 dollar per fish, and that isn't worth your time.

if you sacrifice quantity for quality you can develop a reputation as a trusted breeder and sell your fish for 10-20 dollars each.

(and the fish take up the same space, eat the same food, etc...)

your choice!