How big and how much?

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mr limpet

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jul 25, 2009
332
56
61
New York
I have a pair of Wild Caught Jaguars that have spawned a couple of times. I have saved some fry from a previous spawn and am waiting for their most recent spawn to become free swimming before I remove them from their parents. Was wondering how big do the babies have to be before trying to sell them?Also how much can I expect to get ($) for each Jaguar baby selling them to local fish stores.
 
In my area jags are so common now even F1's like what you have would not be worth any more than jags that you did not know where they came from.
 
Jags are pretty common, so I wouldn't expect too much for them, even F1s. I would wait to sell them until they are at least 1". You're looking at $2-3 each for 1", $5-8 for 2", $10-15 for 3". And those are retail prices. Wholesale or store credit to your LFS will be 1/3 retail prices.


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Cool fish, enjoy growing a few out and give them to friends or sell/donate them in club auctions. Unfortunately CA cichlids are not worth much in LFS unless they are adults. You will be lucky if you can give them away if you have very many.
 
jgentry makes a good point many new CA fanciers miss. Because these fish lay thousands of eggs at a whack it is easy to flood a local market to the point you can`t give them away. If I were you I would go for store credit some where they know you. If you are lucky you may build credit at several places and almost never have to lay out cash for a fish again. At one point I had credit at three stores. The only thing was that because of their mark up it was not good on "dry goods", only fish or frozen foods.

If you want to generate money you will do better with rarer species, fish the farms tend to shy from.
 
If you want to generate money you will do better with rarer species, fish the farms tend to shy from.
True but even then you can flood the market with these rare fish and end up bringing the prices down. In my area I have a friend who is a local breeder and he has literally flooded the market with things like hoga, red isletas, F1 red devils, and all sort of rarer stuff. It was to the point every local store had his stock and he has resorted to Craigslist postings and trying to sell online.
 
I used to flood my area like that until I figured it out. After that I would only raise a couple hundred from each spawn. Even with something as popular as Oscars or Dempsies there are just so many a store can absorb. I would kind of gauge how many to raise based on how many were moving in each store. Even at that my regular stores would sometime just tell me they could`nt use them.

Mr. Limpet, You will be well served to cut down on how many fry you try to raise from each spawn or even turn down your pairs water temp to a level they do not feel as inclined to pump out eggs. Then if you have room try a species that is either harder to spawn or rarer in your area or one that will sell over a broader area via the net. All that being said, it is still a pleasant problem to have.
 
Where I live, when I had a breeding pair of managuense, stores were giving me about $0.35 credit per 1" juvie, a bit better if they were 2" or 3" (but not much better).
And at local club auctions a bag of 10 managuense or dovii would go for a buck or 2.
When I was breeding haitiensus I was either giving them away or trading with other aquarists for something I hadn't tried, I have found this to be the case with just about all cichlids, unless you happen to have just what someone else wants at that particular moment.
I find trading with others to be my best option.
 
I sell mine to a few LFS for 2 bucks apiece store credit, they F1 but the stores do not care. need to be at least 1", cull the small ones for protein snacks. my oscars and JD love to chase em down and eat them, just keep the larger hardier guys for sale. vid tanken lastnight after water change, 3 weeks old. they will remain in the tank with mom and dad for another 2 or 3 weeks before moved to the 75 grow out. pull them to soon and male will get violent with the female to mate again before she is ready.
[video=youtube;_pWPFyE7TJc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pWPFyE7TJc&list=UU8pb9KmCkITlkucqJu7QpOA[/video]
 
Thanks for the advice.A little down after hearing that even F1 Jags aren't worth that much.It is what it is.Maybe in the future I will try my hand at a more rarer type to breed.A LFS here on Long Island did say they would buy them from me but wanted them at least 2 inches and didn't say how much they would pay.
 
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