$$ for Fish

[Reefette]

Brad A.'s post about his baby banggers has me thinking. I have the "facilities" to raise fish and had planned on doing it for some time. I just can't decide between clowns and banggais - I even considered dottybacks. :eek1:

Anyway, I know I'll lose money selling the young fish, but I'm more into it for the challenge, helping the hobby by captive breeding and for $$ for reef goodies.

So, what does an average baby banggai or a clown of any type bring from an LFS?

I recently saw my LFS selling less than 1" perculas for $32.99 and was shocked they were so expensive! Maybe that's the going rate, I dunno, I haven't purchased fish in a LONG time. :)

So, would $10/fish be reasonable? Is that what wholesale price is?

Kathy

[FMarini]

kATHY:
thanks for the email.....
so here what my LFS in Houston would give me for a captive bred/captive raised 2 month old banggai....
= 5bux =^0.

I would expect your places to buy it from you around $3-10/fish. Remember that LFS are in business to make money. AS you know they buy fish at "wholesale prices" which means most fish cost 1/3 to 1/4 the cost you actually see. A $32.00 clownfish probably cost the LFS under $8.
A $100 fish cost the LFS under $25, etc. (most stores won't give you cash, they will give you store credit)
I found when you have baby fish your best bet is to trade/swap/barter w/ you reefbuddies for goods and services. Its much better in the long run.
As far as breeding goes, IMO opinion the ease of raising fry (which is the sticking point of all fish breeding) is 1)banggais, 2)seahorses, 3) clowns/psuedo, 4) gobies.
I hope this answers your Q?
Good luck
frank

[Agu]

Kathy,

I have to second Franks trade/swap/sell/barter with other local reefers if you start raising fish!! You have access to a pretty large community of reefers and should have no problem finding a local market for your babies. As a recipient of two captive grown banggers I really have a lot of appreciation for those fish, and am proud to point out to people they were born and raised right here in Minnesota.

Agu

[Reefette]

Thanks Frank and Agu! This is the info I was looking for! I would love to give/sell to locals and the LFS as I guess I'm thinking that at about 20 babies per month for banggers, the number of fish can add up quickly and as much as I would love to house them all.... :)


Next question. I have a 72 gallon bow front that I am just using as a REAL BIG refugium now. :) If I decided to breed both clowns and banggers, do you think it would be ok to put an acrylic divider in the tank to keep the clowns and banggers apart?

I also have a stand that has (14) ten gallon tanks plumbed together that I plan on using as grow out tanks for the babies, so they won't be staying in the 72 with mom and pop. But as these are plumbed together, would the clown and bangger babies be ok too? Would it be advantageous to plumb the 10's into the 72 also?

I know we mix fish in our tanks, but I almost feel like the babies need a "sterile" environment. LOL! Guess that comes from being a mom.

Thanks for your help!

Kathy

[FMarini]

Kathy:
Unless you gear up w/ 2 or 3 pairs of banggais expect to have about 10 babies at anytime ready to move out. When i did this in bulk i had between 4 and 6 males and 2 females which got passed around (have you read the 1997 reefs.org article?). I was able to produce approx 300babies in one yr using this method(remember that males are the sticking point in this equation). Thats only about 20-30 babies/month.

The 72 gal tank is fine and a divider will work fine as long as it allows suffienct water movement.

The 10gal growout tanks are also fine, just ensure you have screens over the inlets and outlets of the plumbing or else your fry will move freely betwen tanks. the advantages of using all these tank linked together is much better water quality(larger total volume of water) and any uneaten food could pass thru tank to tank. I like the idea.
Goodluck
frank
http://www.eparc.com/banggai/banggai.shtml