Take your aquarium fish to the pet store. Is it easy to make money selling aquarium fish? Sale of aquarium fish

Did you think that raising fish for sale brings a good income and that hobby keeping will be a profitable hobby? How wide the scope of sales will be depends on you and the reality of the local market.

I will tell you about the main points that you need to pay attention to before deciding to make money selling fish.

The first step is to estimate the capacity of your local or regional aquarium and equipment market. Chat with pet store owners to find out. Nobody will present the layouts on a silver platter, so you have to "work with the liver" or open your wallet.

The find will be a talkative chatty seller, from whom you can find out about the patency of the pet store and the needs of buyers for the purchase of fish for the aquarium.

Chain pet shops work with national suppliers and rarely turn to private owners, preferring reputable well-known amateurs - breeders of the breed.

The more information you collect about the local market, the lower the risk and cash costs will be.

How to breed fish for sale

Are you planning to breed fish in a dozen aquariums or can you breed them in equipped pools? This issue is of great importance, since the selling price of fish and the cost of breeding are related to it.

If you know how to breed fish at home, which are in great demand, then I congratulate you. I'm pretty sure there is another businessman in the region who supplies or breeds fish in pools. If there is no major player, then this is a reason to seriously think about the question "why"? Regional players may be located in warm regions, which affects the cost of breeding. The cost price will be lower compared to the cold regions.

Decide which fish you want to breed and become a breeding expert. If you wake up in the middle of the night, then you should tell how the fish are bred, what they eat and how to quickly grow fry. Viviparous fish are bred independently, but for breeding spawning fish, conditions are created for spawning of eggs. Swept caviar must be preserved, preventing it from being eaten by producers and being affected by fungal infections.

After hatching of the larvae from the eggs, the question arises of rearing to the fry stage. You will need food such as live dust or specialized food for fry or larvae. The culture of the first is difficult to maintain, and the second is roads, which will affect the cost of fish. Expertise will be required not only in breeding but also in feeding.

How to sell fish

Popular fish in pet stores cost around 50-200 rubles and when buying a batch of 20-30 fish, the stores provide a decent discount. Rare fish, like discus fish, cost about 2,000 rubles. But discus is difficult to breed, but even more difficult to sell. A rare aquarium owner will buy fish worth 700-1000 rubles per pair for a home aquarium. The market for selling expensive fish is narrow. The size of the market is determined by the value of the fish, which depends on the difficulty of breeding.

Determine the cost of breeding aquarium fish, based on the conditions, and compare it with the wholesale and retail prices. This will allow you to understand the level of income from the sale of one fish, relative to the complexity of breeding.

You will need a lot of fish producers, because you can't make money from breeding from one pair. Achieve regular fish breeding. Decide to what size you need to raise the fish before it becomes marketable. Find a pet store that is ready to participate in the implementation and carefully consider how long it takes, how many fish will be sold.

How to sell fish wholesale

If a pet store sells 10 fish per week, then the market for this type of fish and the store will be 30-50 fish per month. Such a rough calculation will allow you to understand how well the fish are selling, and whether it is worth negotiating more sales through the pet store. If the starting batch of fish is sold for a month, then admit that you won't be able to make money, since the market is absent or small.

The internet is full of well-written articles, tempting recipes and words about how easy and good income is from selling aquarium fish. If you think that this is so, then you better not take it.

Breeding fish to make money on the subsequent sale is hard and risky work. The success of this work depends on knowledge and skills, which does not exclude the influence of negative factors, such as an outbreak of infection in aquariums with juveniles.

I will not talk about the business of reselling fish, as well as the amount of required aquarium equipment for breeding, so as not to blur the message of the article. If necessary, you can easily calculate yourself using the indicated reference points.

The article provides up-to-date information on the breeding and sale of demanded and expensive aquarium fish, including advice on choosing aquariums, equipment, premises and the most valuable species of fish from a business point of view.

Business concept

In essence, the business of breeding aquarium fish is a simple and unpretentious activity: we buy rare and expensive aquarium fish, first create conditions for them, get offspring and in the future, establish stable sales channels.

The essence and prospects of the aquarium fish business are as follows:

Complete lack of competition from large manufacturers. In contrast to Europe, in Russia and the CIS countries there are still no such enterprises or the corresponding equipment.
Low investment, the availability of aquariums, equipment and accessories, the ability to start a business practically from scratch.
A novice entrepreneur does not need to spend money on building or renting premises, since aquarium fish can be bred in an ordinary apartment.
Availability printed and electronic literature allows anyone who does not have the appropriate education to do such a business.
Wide distribution channels, such as pet shops, bird markets and private aquarists, almost completely solve the problem of selling aquarium fish.
The ability to receive additional sources of income through the production of related products (algae, invertebrates, live food).
Huge perspectives business development, up to the opening of a pet store or a whole retail network.

Selection of the most popular fish

Choosing the most sought-after fish is the most important thing in this business. And here you should rely on several factors:

First, under the guise of a buyer, to thoroughly analyze supply and demand in all pet shops in the city. Find out which fish are in greatest demand and which are not, how much they cost, whether they breed in captivity, etc.
Second, in no case do you rely on well-known and easily reared fish species. Firstly, these fish are cheap. Secondly, ordinary amateur aquarists will simply form a monstrous competition for the entrepreneur, since they will constantly saturate the market with cheap fry, which they often give to pet stores for nothing.
Third, it is forbidden to breed little-studied fish species, as well as imported fish that live in the brackish coastal waters of India, Asia and Australia. Such fish are in high demand, they are well acclimatized in artificial reservoirs, they grow well, but they are completely incapable of producing offspring.

The list below contains the most optimal options for orders and species of aquarium fish that have a decent price, high demand and the ability to reproduce offspring.

Common name		Price in rub.	Reproductive ability

	From age
Synodontis

Notopterous

The main channels for the sale of aquarium fish

In the ways of implementing aquarium fish, there are two main areas that work in close connection with each other.

Selling fish directly private aquarists. This method works great regardless of the volume of production. Indeed, over time, the entrepreneur gains not only practical experience in fish farming, but also authority among aquarists. As a result, the number of such clients will only grow.
Sale of fish pet shops or resellers. Naturally, the price in this case for fry and adults will be lower than the retail price, but such a sales market will be an excellent benchmark for regulating the overall production of aquarium fish.

Important: In the sale of fish, you should not focus on only one age group. And it is better to sell them in parts, namely: the main part - by fry, the rest - by adolescents, and what is not realized, to grow to reproductive age.

What equipment is required to start a business?

To answer this question, first you need to decide on the types of fish farmed, study the conditions for their maintenance and reproduction and, based on the knowledge gained, select equipment.

At the initial stage of business development, you can purchase universal aquariums with a volume of 200-250 liters, the equipment offered for them, and already on the spot create the necessary conditions for each species of fish.

List of universal equipment

Name of equipment	Appointment of equipment	Price in rub. for 1 piece	Required number of pcs.	Total cost in rubles
Aquarium Biodesign Reef
Eheim Air Pump Compressor	Water aeration
SOBO WP-1900F filter	Water filtration
Daylight lamp T8 Life-Glo II	Aquarium lighting
Thermostat Sobo HG	Water heating
Auto Feeder Trixie	Rational feeding of fish
Thermometer sticker	Water temperature control

Room requirements

Almost any type of freshwater fish can be bred in a city apartment, or more precisely, in a separate room, which must be brought into proper form in advance and must meet a number of important conditions:

The first - be sure to shade the room

The fact is that for some species of fish, bright daylight is either necessary or contraindicated, but there are also such fish that can die from an excess of light. Therefore, it is better to regulate the required degree of illumination for certain types of fish with the help of special aquarium lamps that simulate sunlight.

Second - place aquariums as far as possible from the central heating batteries, and if possible, turn them off altogether, replacing them with electrical appliances with microclimate control.

Central heating batteries are completely unpredictable. Sharp and sometimes destructive jumps in air temperature in a room with aquariums lead to irreparable consequences. Therefore, replacing central heating with alternative room heating is justified.

Third - make sure the floor coverings are solid and place the aquariums only in a single row.

In the aquarium fish business, production is usually measured not by the number of aquariums and fish, but by the volume of water in these aquariums, where the count goes to tons. And in the business model presented below, to obtain stable income, you will need at least 2 tons of water... Naturally, all this entails significant loads on the floor slabs, which should withstand such a weight without any problems. And one more thing: it is not recommended to set up aquariums in two or three tiers. Firstly, it will be difficult to service them and, secondly, if this whole business collapses inadvertently, then you will have to not only calculate the losses, but also pay impressive compensation to neighbors for apartment renovation.

Feasibility studies for starting a fish farming business

In order to have a clear and clear picture of further actions, you need to build on a certain and, of a kind, universal business model. For example, there are 12 fully equipped aquariums for 200-250 liters of water each, where 5 of them will be occupied by adult fish (6 females and 2 males in each), and the remaining 7 aquariums will go to spawning, rearing and rearing fry.

As a result, reducing everything to average indicators, 3000 fry can be obtained from 30 fish per year (100 fry per 1 female). Where the average cost of one fish sold will be equal to 200 rubles. (fry - 50-100 rubles, teenager 200-300 rubles, adult fish - 200-3000 rubles). Based on these figures, you can make accurate calculations of capital investment, income and expenses.

How much money does it take to start a business?

Capital investment

Purchase of aquariums and equipment - 172,000 rubles.
Purchase of 40 adult fish. - 40,000 rubles.
Feed for 3 months. - 7 200 rubles.
Other expenses - 10,000 rubles.
Total - 229,200 rubles.

How much can you earn from fish farming?

Revenue calculation:

250 fish per month for 200 rubles. each one.

Total - 50 thousand rubles.

Monthly expenses:

Electricity - 2600 kW / month \u003d 3900 rubles.
Feed - 2400 rubles.
Total - 6300 rubles.

Profit calculation:

Profit \u003d RUB 50,000 - 6 300 rubles. \u003d 43 700 rubles.

Return on investment 6-8 months.

The business of breeding aquarium fish consists in the sale of rare species and related materials, that is, food, plants and the necessary equipment. You can also offer customers the maintenance and cleaning of their aquariums - home or office.

Benefits of this business idea

Little competition.
Minimum costs, allowing you to start a business from scratch.
The ability to breed fish at home.
Ease of implementation.
You don't need to have a special education. There is a lot of literature on this topic that is enough to study on your own.

How to choose the right aquarium fish?

Explore supply and demand by visiting specialty stores.
Study the photos, species names and breeding conditions of those fish that you are ready to breed at home.
It is almost impossible not to buy cheap and common fish, it is almost impossible to sell them, since people rent such fish even for free in order to get rid of them.
Do not buy fish about which there is little information.
Do not buy fish that are imported from India, Australia and Asia. They are not suitable for breeding, since they do not produce offspring.
Suitable for the aquarium business are such fish as cichlids, notopterous, synodontis, barbs, gold.

Breeding aquarium fish as a business

As with any business, a fish farming business starts with researching the necessary information. Having decided on the species, it is necessary to study everything related to its reproduction and the rules of care. Then buy equipment, namely:

aquariums with a volume of 200 - 250 liters;
compressors;
filters for water;
fluorescent lamps;
thermostats for heating water;
auto feeders.

To begin with, you can get by with one aquarium, and then increase the number.

Protect the room in which the aquarium fish will live from sunlight, that is, shade. They will get the necessary light from the lamps.
Do not place aquariums near heating appliances.
For safety reasons, arrange aquariums in one row. A three- or two-story structure can collapse and is also difficult to maintain.

Aquariums are distributed in the following way: if an entrepreneur has 12, then five aquariums for adult fish, for example, six females and two males in each. Seven fish tanks for growing fry.

Sale of aquarium fish

The fish will bring the first profit only after six months, if everything is done correctly, namely, the adolescents began to produce offspring. It is easy to implement fish. There are three ways to sell aquarium fish. The first... Meet fish lovers. Over time, their number on the list will grow, thanks to word of mouth. Second. Pet Shop. Although the price of fish is small, it is stable and reliable. You can even sign a supply contract. Third... Submit information on the Internet. More often than not, this option works very well. It happens that a person is looking for exactly that fish that is not in the store, and turns to private ads for help. This way you can gain regular customers, albeit not many. When selling fish, both age groups must be taken into account. Sell \u200b\u200bboth fry and teenagers. In addition to the main income, you can also get additional revenue from the sale of live food, algae, and so on. A fish breeding business will bring a profit of about 44 thousand rubles a month if you have 12 aquariums and the right organization. The investment for starting your own business will be about 230 thousand rubles, which will pay off in six months.

Often, a hobby can be both fun and money-making. Breeding fish fit like home-based business as additional income for adolescents, housewives, and pensioners.

If you have an aquarium at home, why not try raising fish for sale.

A city apartment is also quite suitable for breeding fish.

You can, of course, immediately put things on a grand scale and buy 10-15 large aquariums in order to breed many different types of fish. However, it must be borne in mind that many aquariums in an apartment simply cannot be placed. An aquarium with a volume of 200-250 liters itself takes up a lot of space; if you put the aquariums high (in several rows) - there is a risk of collapse of the structure, and as a result - flooding of neighbors. And reimbursement of repair costs may exceed your income. It should be borne in mind that 10 aquariums with a volume of 200-250 liters are 2-2.5 tons of water; if the house is old, the structures may not support this weight. The aquarium has a small footprint and a lot of weight, which can exceed the ceiling load limit. The installation of smaller aquariums for breeding fish is impractical, although in principle possible.

It seems more correct to set up 1-2 aquariums, and start with breeding 3-5 types of fish, the most demanded by the city aquarists.

It is better to start by breeding unpretentious fish species. At the same time, there is no point in breeding those types of fish that aquarists donate to pet stores anyway; you don't need to compete with enthusiastic amateurs. By the way, you can take fish for free (information about this can be found on specialized forums of the city, according to ads), and at a convenient moment sell them in the future. It is better to breed those fish that give a fairly large offspring. Of course, the more fertile the fish, the lower its price, here you need to choose the best option. This business is quite democratic - you can breed both common types of fish and rare exotic ones - over time you will decide on the best option.

Of course, the fish need constant care and attention. Poor quality food, not cleaned out the aquarium on time can destroy the fish. Whoever kept or keeps an aquarium at home will confirm that caring for it is a constant work. Any livestock business is at particular risk. For example, an elementary blackout in winter can ruin many months of work.

It is necessary to constantly monitor the market and track the emergence of new species of fish. There is a "fashion" for fish, which can change from time to time. Therefore, before starting a business, it is necessary to collect the necessary information on pet stores, specialized forums, announcements in the media, and the Internet. You will have to become a frequent visitor to the Internet forums of aquarists - although, perhaps, you already are.

In pet stores, the minimum price for a fish starts at 30 rubles. However, representatives of rare species can cost much more - their price can go up to 500-3000 rubles, or even more. If a female reproduces about 100 fry per year, your income can be 50-300 thousand rubles per year (do not forget that this is income from a fish of one species).

When studying the information, it must be borne in mind that the number of eggs will far from coincide with the number of surviving fry. For example, the female of the Sumatran barbus sweeps away up to 400-600 eggs at a time (it can spawn several times a year). If 30 fry hatch out of 600 eggs, it can be considered a success for a beginner. The cost of the Sumatran barbus is an average of 35 rubles / piece. But the denisoni barbus is already valued much higher - the price starts from 300 rubles.

It will not be very correct to focus on selling only adults. You can and should sell fry. What did not work out to sell - we grow up to reproductive age and sell. It is also not necessary to focus only on breeding (from eggs to an adult) - you can also engage in the cultivation of purchased fry.

As a rule, there will probably not be big competitors in your city - not every city has large "manufacturers". You can establish an exchange with fellow aquarists from other cities - transporting aquarium fish is not technically difficult. You will not be able to breed 100 species of fish, while by exchanging fish (with aquarists from your city or from a neighboring one) you can seriously diversify your assortment.

Your customers can be pet stores, individuals, and resellers.

We'll have to study the theoretical part of breeding livestock - fortunately, there are no problems with this now, a lot of information can be found in books and on the Internet. When selling fish, buyers need to be given expert advice on their content.

We will not dare to give advice in this article, how to breed fish correctly - there is a lot of professional literature on this topic. We only note that you will have to buy directly the aquarium itself, soil, plants, a compressor, a filter, a lamp for lighting, a thermostat, a thermometer. In principle, in a pet store you will receive quality advice on this matter. When purchasing one turnkey aquarium, you can keep within 20 thousand rubles.

Over time, you can even open your own department or shop selling aquarium fish... If you have sufficient experience in aquaristics - in order to generate additional income, you can offer the installation of aquariums in the premises of offices, restaurants, cafes, various shops. Taking care of these aquariums can be a good source of income for you. An internet page will help promote this business. Also, to generate additional income, you can grow plants for an aquarium, snails, crustaceans, turtles. When you come to grips with this issue, you yourself will determine the most promising areas for yourself.

Among those who maintain aquariums, there are people who breed fish not only for beauty, but also for sale. “This business is doing well in big cities,” says Ivan Dolsky from Moscow. - I have been breeding fish for a dozen years, I have gained clients and experience. Although I consider this occupation secondary, I have a decent income from three aquariums. "

This point of view is shared by many hobbyists who started out as hobbyists. In all fairness, it is worth noting that success did not come to everyone. “There are no trifles, you need to know everything about the life of fish: habitat temperature, water hardness, daylight hours, and so on,” said the forum member beni. - Lamps with the desired spectrum, lamps, filters, thermostats, chemistry, drugs. " The following post speaks about the bitter experience of failure: “After the lights were turned off for a couple of hours in winter due to bad weather, the desire to breed fish disappeared (and this was one of a thousand factors affecting their vital activity).

Those people who successfully breed ornamental fishconsider pedantry a necessary quality of the aquarist. “If you do not have this innate quality, then it is better not to enter this business, - says the forum member korol. - Yes! That's right! This business is highly profitable. As it is true that it may not work. Start small. Let it be just a hobby for a year or two ”.

Success accompanies fashionistas

In the fish farming business, it is important to constantly monitor the market. The demand for certain fish is as fluid as women's fashion. “Now there is a boom in freshwater shrimp,” wrote a member of the forum beni, “a couple of years ago there was an excitement for such fish as discus. It makes no sense to breed such fish as scalar. Just go to any aquaforum, where people give them away for free. "

By the way, the fashion for fish in different regions may differ. For example, in Moscow they ask for an Amazonian zebra catfish, and are ready to pay $ 300 for it. In the provinces, they are content with the crown-tailed cock. Cichlids, cuckoo catfish and even the Orange Mexican pygmy crayfish are popular everywhere. But there are also persistent addictions. First of all, these are bottom fish, the largest of which belong to catfish, for example, from the genus Corydoras.

There is one nuance here. The point is that people tend to buy small aquariums. And only dwarf corridors can inhabit them, in particular, C. pygmaeus and C. Hastatus. The inhabitants of the middle strata frolic above them. Of course, these are fish of the Barbus family. “You can't make a mistake with the choice if you breed blue neons (Paracheirodon innesi), guppies (Poecilia reticulata),” advises Ivan Dolsky. - These fish are classics. They are bought most of all, and for breeding they are not so picky. " Success depends on the correct choice of fish breeds and their varieties. businessman-aquarist... The best advisors in this matter are pet shop sellers.

Commercial component

The same Ivan Dolsky cites simple arithmetic of the aquarium business: fry cost $ 0.3, and an adult fish is already three dollars, although he warns newcomers about the complexities of the aquarium business. According to him, people who decide to make money on this must carefully observe the technology. “The fry, which have just been born, will immediately be eaten by dad and mom,” he bitterly sneers. "And one more thing: one fish can be sold for a dollar, and another for a hundred."

Experienced aquarists are advised to purchase three aquariums for a start, four hundred liters each. “From experience I know that for the business to pay off, you need to have at your disposal from one to two tons of water, - states korol. - The cost of an aquarium is usually calculated per liter, about 20 rubles per cubic decimeter. " In order not to miss all the intricacies of the aquarium equipment, you will need to carefully study and organize a huge amount of special literature. It is believed that a novice businessman needs to study the work of M. Beckley and P. Bergess "The Golden Book of the Aquarist." It can be easily found on the Internet.

This book was written by professionals in the aquarium business. In paper edition, this work on its 450 pages describes almost all sides of this difficult and at the same time exciting business. “This is a great book, a real guide to the world of fish farming,” explains Ivan Dolsky. - And if you strictly follow the recommendations of the authors, everything will work out. As for the start-up capital, then fifty thousand is enough. I don’t know about the others, I recouped my investments only by the end of the second year, and for eight years now I have been “shearing” rent at 60-70 thousand per year, but this is from two tons of water. I have a friend who has as much as 8 tons of water in his house and also breeds fish. "

In the footsteps of experienced aquarists

When installing aquariums, you should be aware that, according to the design standards, when calculating a building, the maximum distributed load on the floor is taken for residential buildings at the rate of 150kg / m2 (for public office 200kg / m2, for commercial 400kg / m2). The aquarium has a small support area and a very large weight, and even a 60 liter capacity gives approximately 450 kg / m2, and an aquarium measuring 120-150x45x45 cm weighs approximately 350-400 kg and gives about 650 kg / m2. A large aquarium (180x60x60 cm) already weighs 900 kg, which with a support area of \u200b\u200b1.08 m 2 will give a floor load of 833 kg / m 2 instead of the normative 150 kg / m 2. This must be taken into account, especially if the floor has wooden beams. In order for the floor to withstand such a concentrated load, it must be distributed according to the calculations. This was announced by the forum member beni.

Selling a one-year-old fish is best, says Ivan Dolsky. Fry price does not exceed $ 0.3. A six-month "teenager" costs already one dollar, and an adult who has reached one year will easily leave for three dollars. All this is so, the forum member korol agrees with this argument and advises to open his own zoological shop, which specializes only in ornamental fish. “These shops don't take up much space,” he writes. "But I made sure that the fish breeder needs it just like aquariums."

You can also sell ornamental fish online. “A couple of years ago, virtual trading was something of a fantasy,” writes Karina from St. Petersburg. - Now it is becoming the norm. For example, I posted an ad “I am looking for fish and algae for an aquarium. Teaching care. " According to the entrepreneur, they constantly call her, with a request to "make" an aquarium from scratch, that is, to buy a container, equip it and start the fish.

***
This business can be considered as the main occupation, as well as ancillary. This business can be done in an apartment, or in a specialized room, you can work "for the public" and breed aquarium consumer goods, or you can specialize in unique samples. All this speaks about the democratic nature of this type of entrepreneurship.

Alexander Sitnikov
Photo from the site fotki.yandex.ru, liveinternet.ru, webhatti.com

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