2021 update: With most of the world still in some form of lockdown, more people are filling their homes with pets to help them feel less lonely. This has increased the demand for all pets across the board, including pet fish. And with global supply chains under additional stress from the pandemic, many fish distributors are looking to source more locally. Meaning now is a great time to start. So enjoy this updated article for 2021.
Breeding fish for profit may sound like a daunting task, but I assure you it’s not only incredibly rewarding, but also a great way to make some extra pocket money from your favorite hobby. You could make enough to be profitable and have your hobby pay for itself. Some people take it even further and turn it in to a full-blown business that pays their bills. To successfully breed for profit like that requires skill, commitment, knowledge, technique and maybe a little bit of luck of course! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves for now, and talk about the things to think about when just starting out.
Stay with me here. Knowing the easy fish to breed and how to breed them with minimal investment and resources will make all this make sense. And before anything else let’s set down a few characteristics a potential breeder should look for in picking a fish to breed. These characteristics will help us narrow down our selection and come up with the most viable options when it comes to breeding ornamental fish.
- Ease of Breeding
- Number of Spawn and Survival Rate
- Frequency of Spawning
- Value of Fish
Ease of Breeding
Like any other animals, fishes breed differently. While almost all of them lay eggs, the process of courting mates to fertilizing eggs may differ from one fish to another. Also, when it comes to rearing their fry, there are a plethora of ways on how fish go about it. For example, some fish are mouth brooders while others make nests.
We have to greatly consider the ease of breeding because it will allow us to know which fishes would render a higher success rate when it comes to breeding. Since this is the backbone of the industry we are trying to penetrate, a fish that is easy to breed will be more favorable than another which may be complicated.
Number of Spawn and Survival Rate
The amount of fish per spawning and their survival rate is also very important when breeding for profit. Simply put, the more fish that is produced, the more income it generates.
If fish are more likely to survive from being a fry to a juvenile, then they are more likely to be sold for profit. Even if a fish is easy to breed, if it does not have a good survival rate and a good number of fries produced upon spawning, then it would not be as profitable. Hence, these fish should breed in good numbers and are have a high survivability rate.
Frequency of Spawning
The frequency of spawning is another very important aspect to consider when looking for the best fish to breed for profit. A fish that breeds frequently would produce more juvenile fishes in the same time than one that does not. This helps maximize the profit of the breeder. Furthermore, it also helps to provide the breeder with a more consistent supply of fish to sell rather than only being able to profit occasionally.
Value of Fish
Lastly, the value of the actual fish is also a very important thing to consider. A fish might be able to breed extremely well but if it does not sell for much, then it will most likely, not be able to sustain the accumulated expense of breeding them. More so, since we are breeding for profit, a fish that just covers its own expenses would obviously not be profitable. Thus, we should look for fish that have a rather high market value.
Now that we have our four main characteristics that we should look for upon selecting which are the best fishes to breed for profit, let’s check out the top 4 best fish to breed for profit:
Fancy Guppies
One of the all-time favorite fish in the hobby, guppies are very easy to take care of and will always be popular amongst fish keepers. According to Maddy Hargrove of Tropical Fish Keeping Magazine, guppies are very easy to breed. She also said that guppies breed rapidly. Guppies usually give birth to around 20-40 fish per litter. They may be kept with a ration of about 1 male to 4 females. That would amount to roughly 160 fish per liter. Couple that with a very short spawning cycle, you would have a ton of guppies per year!
Although at first, one might think that guppies are quite inexpensive fish, there is a difference between an ordinary guppy and a fancy guppy. A fancy guppy is a selectively bred guppy that display extremely beautiful coloration, pattern and fins. A Blue Moscow guppy is priced at around 40-100 dollars!
The guppy makes our list because it is very easy to breed and is very valuable! Probably the biggest bang for the buck!
Fresh Water Stingrays
In Thailand, one of the worlds biggest ornamental fish exporters, backyard fresh water stingray breeding has boomed. Hundreds of backyard breeders have successfully produced species of South American fresh water stingrays.
Although most would say that keeping stingrays are quite hard, it is actually very straight forward. Just make sure the filtration system is sufficient, the rays are well fed and that they are given ample room to swim, they will thrive.
More so, breeding stingrays are quite simple as well. They breed naturally at around 1 year and a half of age and will continue to do so for up to over 20 years. They would breed twice to four times per year while the amount of pups (small stingrays) can range from 4 to at most of 18.
What sets the stingray apart is its value. The cheapest they go fo is around 50-100 USD while the more expensive rays are known to be sold for over 20,000 USD. The value of these awesome animals, and their longevity is one of the most appealing characteristic they have for breeders. Indeed, for the monster fish keeper, breeding a fresh water stingray would be very profitable.
Platy Fish
Yet another fish for beginners, Platys are almost always a staple in a beginner’s community aquarium. They are very colorful and very peaceful towards other fish. Breeding platys are very easy. Actually according to Robert Brand of Aquarium Tidings, Platys take care of breeding on their own.
They would readily breed in a good sized tank while breeding requirements does not usually differ from normal tanks. The only consideration one must keep in mind is to keep a ration of around 3-4 females for every male. The males usually try to breed females all the time and keeping more females around the males would render more pregnant females.
Being live bearers, Platys give birth to their fry instead of hatching them from eggs. This helps ease the survivability of the spawn since most fries are already well formed upon birth.
Although the value of the platy is not that high, the sheer amount of fish that can be produced more than makes up for their lack of market value. Also, they are always in demand since a lot beginners buy them. Indeed, the platy is one of the first options suitable for all potential fish breeders!
Fancy Betta
Bettas are one of the most captive bred ornamental fishes in the world. They are “mass-produced” in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. This is because it does not take much to breed Bettas. They can be bred very easily because they can thrive in very simple tank set ups. As a matter of fact, a lot of Bettas are bred in milk bottles across Asia!
Fancy Bettas are fish selectively bred overtime to display desirable coloration and finnage. Their market value is exponentially higher than what people usually see available in pet stores. However, since they are basically the same fish, their breeding patterns are the same.
Generally, males build bubble nests once they are ready to spawn. The female then releases her eggs on the nest for the male to fertilize. Once they are fertile, the male will take care of the spawn until they are free swimming. There are around 20-40 fishes per clutch.
For it’s simplicity to breed, a fancy Betta could net quite a high market value. According to Leonard Ho of AdvancedAquarist.com, the most expensive fancy Betta sold was bought for 1,500 dollars at an auction. Although that is an unusually high value for a betta, fancy bettas are often sold at around 50-100 dollars. Imagine having an armada of easily bred Bettas producing fish that sell at that amount! Ka-Ching!