Small clownfish business?

[Miller Aquatic]

I have been thinking about breeding clowns. From what I’ve seen there’s almost no money to be made. Making money isn’t my biggest concern but at the same time feeding the broad stock and babies seems very expensive. If I were to have 15-20 pairs and I did it right do you think I could atleast break even.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

I would say not likely but I can be a pessimist at times. lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have been thinking about breeding clowns. From what I’ve seen there’s almost no money to be made. Making money isn’t my biggest concern but at the same time feeding the broad stock and babies seems very expensive. If I were to have 15-20 pairs and I did it right do you think I could atleast break even.

Pet stores buy them for literally nothing and I feel for those who give clowns for store credit as you are giving them clowns below wholesale and your credit is for retail pricing

 

[Miller Aquatic]

What if I were to sell on eBay with competitive pricing and ship with my fed ex acount? I really would love the process and it’d be fun but with food cost, salt price, electricity etc for the system. I’d be down thousands upon thousands.

 

[twentyleagues]

I did this in the early 2000s. Luckily a certain movie was recently released and demand was very high. But yes cost wise you would be lucky to break even now. Even back then I made more money selling some of my coral frags every couple months.

 

[Miller Aquatic]

I did this in the early 2000s. Luckily a certain movie was recently released and demand was very high. But yes cost wise you would be lucky to break even now. Even back then I made more money selling some of my coral frags every couple months.

So you would say a frag tank could be more profitable?

 

[twentyleagues]

So you would say a frag tank could be more profitable?

Depends on your tank. I had a lot of corals and room. My corals grew well and I had a lot of high end zoas that grew well for me. I was able to make most of the money from them and a few pieces of sps that did well also.

The feeding of the fry and getting them to sellable size is where the cost will most likely outweigh the profit. Like I said I got lucky in the timing of mine and the demand was very high so lfs were paying top dollar for them. I would not even try it now. Within the last 5 years I have bred quite a few fw fish that were highly desirable when I was sourcing them but now everyone has a source and always have them in stock so I cant even give them away. The one that would probably still be worth something take forever to become mature and even then lfs wouldnt pay what it took to grow these out to a sellable size. I've been offered $200 for the male and $75 for each of the females for them now that they are hitting maturity. These came from my original trio that I lost during or slightly after my move 5 years ago. I was able to get the original trio for a good price and they had 2 batches of babies. The first batch I sold and the second I sold half of then I had to move. I lost the three adults and half of the half of the second batch. What I have left is 1m 4f which are just now getting to breeding size. Basically what I guess I am saying is its not worth the time and effort to try this you wont make enough to equalize the cost as a business. But on the hobbyist level it can be rewarding just for the fun or challenge of it. Dont do this hobby to try and make money do it because you like it and if you make some money then great.

 

[rpkneumann]

There is a book you MUST read...Talks specifically about clownfish breading, all the ins and outs and how she flooded her local market at first ...
Clownfishes
Wilkerson, Joyce D.

ISBN: 978-1-890087-92-0 (Softcover)
ISBN: 978-0-7938-4426-5 (eBook). Kindle Edition

 

[Miller Aquatic]

Thank you guys very much I will continue doing research and figure it out!

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Thank you guys very much I will continue doing research and figure it out!

Good luck! I hope it works out for you.

 

[Miller Aquatic]

I have a couple of racks that I am wanting to setup as either clownfish breeding with a ton of 10 gallons or a couple frag tanks. This is what one of them looks like.

 

[Miller Aquatic]

I am 15 and jobless at the moment so I will have to take this very slow lol

 

[twentyleagues]

I am 15 and jobless at the moment so I will have to take this very slow lol

Takes money to make money as they say.
Hatching brine shrimp and growing rotifers isnt cheap or all that much fun. I was lucky with most of the clowns I think as most quickly readily accepted pellets and flakes once free swimming. But fresh hatched bbs is a great way to get them to size fast.

 

[californiarob]

good luck young entrepreneur.... its a time succubus as you will never be able to take vacations or you will need to train peeps to help with fry feeding when out of town...