The "Profit of 10 Gallons" project

[Jakob]

Every other thread on this forum are made by people asking and discussing what is the most profitable fish to breed, and how much you can profit from it. For myself, I have never thought much about profiting from the hobby, though it would of course be nice to get some extra cash for financing the hobby.
I guess some of the most profitable fish out there probably are Discus and Rays for example. But both are far from being easy to keep.

So, the other day, I was wondering how much a person can profit from a small, simple tank with 'easy to keep' fish. I thought this might be an interesting challenge.
Last Saturday I took a 10g tank I had in storage, put gravel in it, filled it up with 60% cycled water from my 125g and 40% tap water, put a filter and a heater in it.

Last Monday I then went to a LFS and bought 3x Guppies (1m 2fm) and put in the tank. I also put some plants in it, including a handful of Java fern.

So, in this thread I am going to let you people observe how much exactly I can profit from this small, simple tank of mine. I will keep you posted on how much I spend, and how much I profit.

Of course I will post pictures of the tank and the fish.

If there are any questions, just ask.


3x Guppies bought = -$18
Java fern bought = -$9
-----------------------
Profit (04/13/12) = -$27

 

[BoabMac63]

3 guppies cost u 18 dollars thats a bit much

 

[Andrew1002]

Holy crap $18! I get guppies for $1 at petsmart! I get pairs for $3 at a lfs as well. I get cobra guppies as well which sell online for average $6 and I get them for $2! But guppies are an actual very profitable fish as they breed so readily! I have some pregos right now actually that I'm getting babies from hopefully. But my really really pretty male cobra just died of unknown causes while all my other males are still alive. But I got my first three pairs ever for less than $10 from negotiating and trading in future. You can make a couple hundred dollars no problem with some nice looking guppies. But don't expect thousands unless you have those crazy show guppies

-Andrew

 

[B_IN_SD]

Don't forget to add labor, electricty, feed and water costs in the spent colum. I tried for several years to breed discus and only saw 2 wigglers for less than an hour before they were eaten. this was from a group of 50+ adult LSS,Red Dragon,cobalt blue and Turks. I used the "profits" from angelfish and bushey nose pleco sales to fund the food bill for the discus. As for rays being profitable that is questionable at best. Rays take about the same care as discus, except the tanks required are monster sized and the food bill is larger by several times.

Good luck with the project !

 

[Kaosu]

13$ for a nice set of guppies is not out of this world....the $1 guppies at the chain stores are diseased rejects from breeders ..you gotta pay a bit more for healthy good stock..not crappy inbred throwaways.


Awesome thread..im subed!! i had a 10 gallon with 4 female guppies and 2 males..tons and tons of plants and snails and they bred like crazy..once my females reached nearly 3 inches they were dropping 100+ fry every 3-4 weeks..it was a breeding machine ^_^..if they were higher end strains i could of made bank but they were just plain fancies I used as feeders.


Im really interested in seeing how this turns out!! ^_^

 

[Bderick67]

I've made over 400 bucks in the past few years on an $18 red cherry shrimp investment. Also do OK selling guppies and dwarf plecos. But considering time and other costs, this is a losing proposition.

Also does anyone take into consideration the OP's location before being astonished by the price he payed for the guppies

 

[greenbud]

this is a cool idea but a reality...... Well we shall see

 

[Pshmock]

Guppies can be extremely profitable. If you get imported IFGA approved show guppies you can easily get $50-60 for a pair. Check it out on google. This is just one example of an IFGA certified guppy.

 

[Jakob]

Holy crap $18! I get guppies for $1 at petsmart! I get pairs for $3 at a lfs as well. I get cobra guppies as well which sell online for average $6 and I get them for $2! But guppies are an actual very profitable fish as they breed so readily! I have some pregos right now actually that I'm getting babies from hopefully. But my really really pretty male cobra just died of unknown causes while all my other males are still alive. But I got my first three pairs ever for less than $10 from negotiating and trading in future. You can make a couple hundred dollars no problem with some nice looking guppies. But don't expect thousands unless you have those crazy show guppies

-Andrew

Here in Iceland Guppies go for that price, it's normal for me to pay $6 for each Guppy I buy, but then again, as they are more expensive, they sell for higher prices, also the Guppies are guaranteed to be healthy. They come from good breeders, and good strains, not inbred.

Don't forget to add labor, electricty, feed and water costs in the spent colum. I tried for several years to breed discus and only saw 2 wigglers for less than an hour before they were eaten. this was from a group of 50+ adult LSS,Red Dragon,cobalt blue and Turks. I used the "profits" from angelfish and bushey nose pleco sales to fund the food bill for the discus. As for rays being profitable that is questionable at best. Rays take about the same care as discus, except the tanks required are monster sized and the food bill is larger by several times.

Good luck with the project !

Thanks

13$ for a nice set of guppies is not out of this world....the $1 guppies at the chain stores are diseased rejects from breeders ..you gotta pay a bit more for healthy good stock..not crappy inbred throwaways.


Awesome thread..im subed!! i had a 10 gallon with 4 female guppies and 2 males..tons and tons of plants and snails and they bred like crazy..once my females reached nearly 3 inches they were dropping 100+ fry every 3-4 weeks..it was a breeding machine ^_^..if they were higher end strains i could of made bank but they were just plain fancies I used as feeders.


Im really interested in seeing how this turns out!! ^_^

Thanks, I will keep you guys updated for sure!

I've made over 400 bucks in the past few years on an $18 red cherry shrimp investment. Also do OK selling guppies and dwarf plecos. But considering time and other costs, this is a losing proposition.

Also does anyone take into consideration the OP's location before being astonished by the price he payed for the guppies

Red Cherry shrimps go for $12 a piece in an LFS here in Reykjavik. I can find them online for $2-3. I think they might add a bit to the profit.

this is a cool idea but a reality...... Well we shall see

Thanks, I am not expecting much, at least as a start.

 

[Jakob]

So, this is all worthless without pictures I guess. So here you go. No fry yet, but I am guessing next week I will get a bunch.

The tank:

The male Guppy

The two females

Valisneria

Anubias

Java fern