Need Help! Want to breed!

[James From Cali]

Originally Posted by Blue Ridge Reef

Outta curiosity, what was the fish species they wanted 20 bucks for?

3 Gold White Clouds(the only ones that they get in or are on special order list)

[nonamesleft47]

You are going to have a hard time with the constraints you've set. Whatever you breed will have to be rare enough to be wanted. In most shops you can't give away 100 danios or common barbs. I raise cherry barbs outside in the summer and have to give most of the young ones away in October. Any barbs, ect are going to be egg and young eaters so there won't be any unless you take the adults out.

There are livebearers that bring good money that are fairly easy to breed but the shops will usually buy. A pair of German rams would go nice in a 10 and you wouldn't have any trouble raising the fry, fairly easy to breed in soft water. You can do what I do with my 10 gallons, find a pair of bristlenose plecos, I don't know if petco or petsmart has them but local stores usually do. Provide them with a piece of driftwood, a cave and let them go, of course you can plant it as little or as much as you want. I even raise shrimp with mine so I've got 2 things coming out of the same tank. I just took 30 cherry shrimp and 20 two month old bristlenose fry from one 10 gallon to one of the local shops, 100 bucks credit. I do this about twice a month. It depends on the location but I get 3 bucks for brown bristlenose 1" long and 6 for albinos but these are the prices I set for my friends that own the shops, in exchange they push bristlenose for the awsome algae eaters that they are and don't pawn off chinese algae eaters on people so I sell more by giving them a better price.

[Blue Ridge Reef]

The standards are all pond bred in Asia and some in Florida. They are fine, but not as nice as the tank-raised stuff. Also, the LF is a much prettier fish "in person" than sparkles, though this is a matter of personal taste!
I'm pretty sure they're 7 each at Oddball, and maybe cheaper for smaller ones.

[macclellan]

Are you trying to make money, or what? If so, plants and shrimp are better than fish, IMHO...

[James From Cali]

Originally Posted by nonamesleft47

You are going to have a hard time with the constraints you've set. Whatever you breed will have to be rare enough to be wanted. In most shops you can't give away 100 danios or common barbs. I raise cherry barbs outside in the summer and have to give most of the young ones away in October. Any barbs, ect are going to be egg and young eaters so there won't be any unless you take the adults out.

There are livebearers that bring good money that are fairly easy to breed but the shops will usually buy. A pair of German rams would go nice in a 10 and you wouldn't have any trouble raising the fry, fairly easy to breed in soft water. You can do what I do with my 10 gallons, find a pair of bristlenose plecos, I don't know if petco or petsmart has them but local stores usually do. Provide them with a piece of driftwood, a cave and let them go, of course you can plant it as little or as much as you want. I even raise shrimp with mine so I've got 2 things coming out of the same tank. I just took 30 cherry shrimp and 20 two month old bristlenose fry from one 10 gallon to one of the local shops, 100 bucks credit. I do this about twice a month. It depends on the location but I get 3 bucks for brown bristlenose 1" long and 6 for albinos but these are the prices I set for my friends that own the shops, in exchange they push bristlenose for the awsome algae eaters that they are and don't pawn off chinese algae eaters on people so I sell more by giving them a better price.

Thanks. Most fish if well fed and the young have cover will have survivors. BN tend to get too big for a 10g, even clowns get too big. GBR need at least a 20g to be happy IMO just because of room. Yes my requirements are more high but most places already told me they wont take in a fish like danio or White clouds if they have it and they get them regularly.

Originally Posted by Blue Ridge Reef

The standards are all pond bred in Asia and some in Florida. They are fine, but not as nice as the tank-raised stuff. Also, the LF is a much prettier fish "in person" than sparkles, though this is a matter of personal taste!
I'm pretty sure they're 7 each at Oddball, and maybe cheaper for smaller ones.

Yes I know, LF are gorgeous and better but for $7 for the small ons its still much more money than Id want to spend with shipping.

Originally Posted by macclellan

Are you trying to make money, or what? If so, plants and shrimp are better than fish, IMHO...

Its just so I can have some extra funds for my tank. It will be enough to keep me from spending too much of my other money on my tank that is needed for school. Most places dont have shrimp here that are good to sell. I would get from shop n swap but I would have to catch it on a good day and need to have enough for a good ammount plus shipping. I will need to talk to some stores about selling plants cause shipping them is not an option until I can get the materials(boxes/bubble envelopes).

[James From Cali]

Well looking at my options I may just go the shrimp route. Im just wondering how many shrimp I need to start a colony plus how much they will cost with shipping.

[Blue Ridge Reef]

Originally Posted by James From Cali

Yes I know, LF are gorgeous and better but for $7 for the small ons its still much more money than Id want to spend with shipping.

The ones I paid 7 for were scattering eggs the first week I had them! They are FAR from small!
I love shrimps, too so I can't fault you for going that route. A dozen white clouds will produce more offspring than you'd ever believe, though. When I've had them in tanks by themselves, within 6 months there will be twenty schools of different-sized little fish all over the tank. The young have neon green stripes, too. The stripes turn bronze with age, sadly, but Oddball's have tons of color -reds and irridescent hues that exist in the regulars but are much more subdued. I'll post some pics of mine...

[macclellan]

Save up for something "midrange" (Tiger, Snowball, Yellow, etc.) and get 10 or so. It will cost you $40-50.

Priority boxes are free from USPS.

[Blue Ridge Reef]

Had to crop and re-size, but here goes. Not great pics, they are fast when you lean up to the front of the tank. Here are the fish, you can appreciate the reds and hues somewhat in this shot:

Here's the whole 125 gallon tank, I hope this puts their size into perspective:


Again, not trying to sway you one way or the other, just sharing how pleased I have been with Oddball's stock!

[lauraleellbp]

What about some of the more unusual Otos?

A 10gal would be perfect for them.

Of course anabantoids would be nice, as well... Dwarf gouramis might work?

EDIT- brainwave! Betta coccina or some of the other wild-types!!

[aznkonner]

i heard otos are hard to breed (even the normal ones)

the celestial zebra danios are pretty hard to find but easy to breed (supposedly, i'm working on it right now). but i would admit that the shrimp are probably easier to get then the celestial zebra danios. i'm not sure who's more prolific out of the two though.

[James From Cali]

Originally Posted by aznkonner

i heard otos are hard to breed (even the normal ones)

the celestial zebra danios are pretty hard to find but easy to breed (supposedly, i'm working on it right now). but i would admit that the shrimp are probably easier to get then the celestial zebra danios. i'm not sure who's more prolific out of the two though.

Shrimp will be. Thanks everyone for all your opinions, Im still thinking about which way to go. Check out my tank thread for my choice in about a week or two.

[MOsborne05]

I think the shrimp are a better idea. You can get cherries for pretty cheap, and they breed really quickly. Just depends on what your lfs will give you for them. The invert selection where I live is horrible, so I can sell cherries pretty easily. Yellow shrimp are another great choice, I just got 12 of them from Chikorita and they are doing great. They are more expensive to get, but they will also get you a bigger payoff when you sell them. Tigers are nice too, but I don't think they would sell as fast as the yellows.

I just got a 29 gallon to breed orange dwarf crays and endlers. It seems orange dwarf crays are pretty much impossible to find, and I found a breeder that will sell me a pair of them for $70. Pretty expensive, but I hope to get my money back after my first batch of babies

[tylercrawford]

I was thinking about this awhile back with a 10g . . .

it came down to cherry barbs or cherry shrimp too!