whats the average profit for you guys per month

[dragonforce]

IMO setup small 10g aga aquarium with a heater, a mj1200, 10lbs of LR and then eggcrete on top of that with a DIY metal halide setup using your old bulbs, in my case i use old 175w metal halide bulbs. For water changes you can use the water from your reef it will work just fine. And as stated grow xenia, gsp, and rare zoas. This setup makes my coral purchases for my 37g mixed reef basically free

[billr]

You really have to do it BIG TIME if you want to make a living out of it. I don't know anybody out there that can actually say that they have made enough money PROFIT over the years to retire on. Do it for the love of it and let everyone else go broke.........

[redox]

If anything Im going broke over it. It is all about love of the hobby to me , billr couldnt be more right

[kathainbowen]

Yeah, on a small scale, I'd do it for the love of corals, a backup for my display collection, and a bid to take a large role in responsible reef ownership. I'd like to join in on a larger scale, but I do not have the money to really do it (although, I've been eyeing a plot with three greenhouses that have been out of use for 10 years!).

There are also a ton of things you need to take into account before getting really into it that don't fall under the costs department. Like, you need to stay on top of what is generally good sellers consistently, as well as what is the new, hot rage. If you're not shipping, you need to stay on top of the hot rage items, otherwise, you'll flood your market and have the prices drop over time to nothing. If you ship, then you should stay on top of both. You'll have to compete with larger distributers like ERI and larger aquaculturalists like ORA for prices. And, after all that, you have to compete with the internet dealers for livestock guarantees.

All in all, it was fun to pick up store credit every now and again by fragging out of my display tank, but it wasn't really worth it as per turning a profit when it came to doing it on a small scale.

If you really want to make quick, easy cash in the aquarium field, go into tank maintenance. You've already got the hookup working for an LFS, so it should be easy for you to pick-up clients! Especially when you end up with newbs starting their first tank, or business professionals who don't have the time. Just don't commit to anything you can't handle.

pm me, and I'll give you the scoop.

[Frankysreef]

u need a bigger tank, and about a year to grow the corals out to fragging size.

I hit all local frag swaps, and have people come by every soo often.

All in all after costs.. I can make 2-400 a mo, maybe... So it is just a little extra spending money for me.

I havent attempted shipping yet. It seems like a PIA.

I let my tank grow out for at least a year before I started selling...

And then you will make costly mistakes, and there is the corals that will die on you too no matter what you do... So more money out of your pocket..

Sit back enjoy your tank, and if it gets big enough to frag go for it...but don't rely on it for income.

Maintenance is a bigger money maker I think.

F

[kathainbowen]

Originally posted by Frankysreef
Maintenance is a bigger money maker I think.

There is money to be made with aquaculture. Look at ORA, or even Proaquatix (before their unscheduled changed of location...). However, it's just too expensive of a profession to really make it worth it unless you are truly business and reef savvy. Even then, there's just too much competition. However, when done right, with an excellent bank throughout the entire process and with extensive knowledge of propagation techniques.

My experience, with both having attempted to "turn a trick" with my reef tank, and having done maintenance, is that, between the two, maintenance is a far surer bet. Yeah, you might not make as much as you could over a longer time period with an aquaculture company. However, as long as you know how to take care of a tank, you can't really lose.

G'luck to anyone who does get into aquaculture. I would like to go back to school for marine biology, and I've been starting to put together research paperwork studying the feasibility of aquaculture as a business over wild capture.

[RedEyeElf]

no no no, don't do maintenance, just makes it harder for me to find customers

Maintenance is a sure thing compared to the serious risks of aquaculturing
Yes ORA and abunch of others do it, but it took them years to get there

You get a person with a 40-60g tank, you show them the pictures and explain to them the ease of a larger system, you then sell them the larger reef system (with mark-up) the larger reef tanks (generally LPS, Softy tanks) are faster to clean than a FO tank, the livestock bring a better profit than fish (especially when you are selling them YOUR frags) the salt you sell them, the food you sell them, the medications you sell them, the decorations you sell them, the RO system you sell them for their garage, ect.

just an example, but myself, and people i know make a living doing this

best tip, Do it on your own

[msuzuki126]

Hey man I'm in the same boat as you. I'm in high school too and trying to get some money out of frags eventually.

[RCS]

The most important things you'll put into a business venture in this hobby are experience, knowledge and time. Forget the money part of it. This isn't a store where you can "shut down" for the weekend and get back to it on Monday. This isn't shipping out models, or paint, or electronics. One small mistake anywhere along the way can spell disaster. Not replacing a $50 MP3 player damaged in shipping disaster, I'm talking tank-crashed-and-everything-died disaster. Starting in this business, successfully, will take 4-6 months MINIMUM. Very few corals show any growth until a tank is mature and they're properly settled in. There are some that will grow like wildfire after they hit that point, but it will take time. I do some stuff on the side here in addition to my "day job", and moving twice in that time, it's taken a LONG time to get things up and running, waiting for systems to mature and getting any sort of coral growth.

It can (and definitely should, with the future of our hobby at stake!) be done successfully, but if you're asking lots of questions on "how" to do it, I'd venture that you're nowhere near the point that you need to be to fully understand and appreciate the demands of various species of corals and various species of customer in order to truly make a living doing this. I've been sort-of doing this for going on 4 years now...and I sold my first corals today to a LFS after a 10-month hiatus re-establishing a couple tanks.

You can do it cheaply...heck, you can do it simply and be successful. The problem is, you CAN'T do it quickly.

[spankey]

I am not in this hobby to sell, however there is nothing wrong with selling frags to other reefers to help keep the hits down on natural reefs.

If you can make a few bucks to throw back at your tank, you are only doing good. It helps with costs of maintaining the tanks you have.

I hate to admitt it, but I fragged one weekend and made well over $400 in frags. Mind you I don't do this all the time, maybe every other month. Its not good to frag, frag and frag quickly. Its better to allow the coral to heal, then do some more fragging later in a month or two....

Clip away