Best plecos to breed?
- Thread starter Justepic
- Start date
Do you know of anyone in this forum who has bred them? i would like some advice.
No.
Bristlenose plecos are always in demand and stay small, as well as being easy to breed.
L134s are one of the most popular in demand plecs IMO easy to breed and raise vs a zebra plec thats so slow to grow. BNs are oversaturated in the market those days. You are in the UK where people drop alot of good money so might have to go to fish shows and conventions/auctions to see whats selling and what is being ingored.
People can sit on a high priced pleco for months before finding the buyer, or it can sell like hotcakes.
People can sit on a high priced pleco for months before finding the buyer, or it can sell like hotcakes.
Having purchased 12 Zebra plecos over the past 3 years, and losing three .... and not yet to have a successful spawn, I wouldn't recommend starting off with Zebra plecos.
Long fin albino bristlenose plecos tend to sell well.
Take a moment to put down all of the things involved with selling for profit, and I think you'll quickly realize that you won't make much.
I recommend that you do this for the love/fun of breeding, and if you want to sell, then think of the money as an offset to the cost, but you will unlikely make profit.
Here are some thoughts to get you started:
1. Shipping: Priority around $20, Express USPS around $60
2. Each fish would probably only sell for around $5, unless you ship breeding pairs. Breeding pairs tend to sell for a bit more. More fish = more weight = more shipping cost.
3. You'll need shipping bags and shipping boxes (with insulation)
4. Time, this is important. The time it takes to raise the fish, electricity, water changes, food, dechlorinator, time to catch the fish, bag them, box them, label the bags and box, and take them to ship.
5. The risk of losses in shipment (things that you have no control over, like lost packages, delayed packages)
If the process seems like something that wouldn't be torture, then I would encourage you to do it. I actually enjoy the process, but I've learned that it doesn't make you money.
I enjoy the fact that I have bred something that someone else wants. I take pride in packaging to make sure the fish arrive live and healthy. I also enjoy hearing about successful shipments and getting the compliments from a satisfied purchaser.
But, I don't do it as much as I used to, since I've realized the the time it takes removes any profitability from the activity.
Sorry for the buzzkill, trying to keep it real
Long fin albino bristlenose plecos tend to sell well.
Take a moment to put down all of the things involved with selling for profit, and I think you'll quickly realize that you won't make much.
I recommend that you do this for the love/fun of breeding, and if you want to sell, then think of the money as an offset to the cost, but you will unlikely make profit.
Here are some thoughts to get you started:
1. Shipping: Priority around $20, Express USPS around $60
2. Each fish would probably only sell for around $5, unless you ship breeding pairs. Breeding pairs tend to sell for a bit more. More fish = more weight = more shipping cost.
3. You'll need shipping bags and shipping boxes (with insulation)
4. Time, this is important. The time it takes to raise the fish, electricity, water changes, food, dechlorinator, time to catch the fish, bag them, box them, label the bags and box, and take them to ship.
5. The risk of losses in shipment (things that you have no control over, like lost packages, delayed packages)
If the process seems like something that wouldn't be torture, then I would encourage you to do it. I actually enjoy the process, but I've learned that it doesn't make you money.
I enjoy the fact that I have bred something that someone else wants. I take pride in packaging to make sure the fish arrive live and healthy. I also enjoy hearing about successful shipments and getting the compliments from a satisfied purchaser.
But, I don't do it as much as I used to, since I've realized the the time it takes removes any profitability from the activity.
Sorry for the buzzkill, trying to keep it real
If money is what you are looking for then why not try some plants? It won’t be huge money but people always want plants!
I can’t grow hornwort very fast and only sell it when I want to clean out my tank but I sell ziplock baggies full for $2-3, I have a sword plant that gives me babies approximately 10 baby plants a year each baby $2-3 each, I have another bushy easy to grow plant that I sell for $5 per ziplock baggy it can give me about 5-6 baggies full every 2 weeks. My jungle vals go pretty quickly as well $1 per plant. Assassin snail sell for $1-2, mystery snails same thing $1-2 each...all of those things I just listed take little time and effort to sell locally.
live bearing fish like guppies, platies, molly, and swords are always in demand. It’s not a get rich game or we would all be selling our aquarium items/fish for profit haha...it does help off set some of the costs though.
also something to note is you don’t have a very big tank for making profit, usually you need multiple tanks for growing/raising fish
At the moment, I breed Zebras, L333,L134,L236.
Zebras take a long time to get up to breeding size if you start from juvies. Plus their spawns are small and they take a while to get to a sellable size.
Of all the Plecos I breed my L134s have the largest spawns, grow the fastest and are the easiest to sell. I’ll get about 80-100 fry a year and it takes them about 6 months to hit 1.5-2”. Then I usually sell them $30ea or 4/$100
I would agree to start out with some fancy Ancistrus and then move up from there.
With Plecos it’ a labor of love, once your hooked it’s hard to stop.
Zebras take a long time to get up to breeding size if you start from juvies. Plus their spawns are small and they take a while to get to a sellable size.
Of all the Plecos I breed my L134s have the largest spawns, grow the fastest and are the easiest to sell. I’ll get about 80-100 fry a year and it takes them about 6 months to hit 1.5-2”. Then I usually sell them $30ea or 4/$100
I would agree to start out with some fancy Ancistrus and then move up from there.
With Plecos it’ a labor of love, once your hooked it’s hard to stop.