Best way to sell fish

[Drammy]

Hello all,

Whats the best way to sell fish in the UK? eBay, LFS etc...?

How much should I be able to sell some F1 Apistogramma Agasizii for?

They're colouring up very well and getting bigger every day so need to start thinking about how I'm gonna sell the little dudes.


Cheers,
Drammy

 

[dw1305]

Hi Drammy,
You'll need to find a local lfs that sells fish that are a little out of the ordinary, probably one where the owner is an enthusiast.

You will need the fish to be coloured up, and sexable, and they will probably only want them as pairs or at the most trios (1m/2f). You may find that they will take your spare males, but not females.

It won't be a big money spinner, a credit note for 1- 2 pounds a fish.

Yo could also try "Aquarist classified" collection only I'd aim for 10 pound for a trio, it's no good for me because I live in the country and there aren't many dwarf cichlid keepers locally. I don't post fish, if you think it will be worth your while you need to sort out a courier etc..

cheers Darrel

 

[Drammy]

Thanks for the ideas Darrel,

OK, so I got an offer for £3.50 per fish from a cichlid LFS. I guess that is quite good then? Yes, as a credit note though ;-)

Its a bit of a treck to get there (about 60 miles away) as I live int he country too. What would be the best way to transport them?

 

[dw1305]

Transporting fish

Hi all,
£3.50 a fish! I'd bite his hand off.

Buy some fish bags (TA Aquaculture sell them), arrange a date with the LFS, then don't feed the fish for a couple of days before you go over. The LFS will probably prefer them in the morning, arrange a time and a contact name (ideally the owner - lets call him Bob) (9.30/10.00 am ish) so that you miss the rush hour but it's not too warm.

Unless you have a fully cycled tank to store the ones your selling catch the fish just before you go, (give yourself lots of time). I have a small (about 5 litre) glass tank that I put each fish into so I can inspect and sex it.

I transfer the fish into the bag with the net, I put the bag (about 1/3 filled with tank water) into a small sauce-pan, beaker or jug (to keep it upright) and I use a large bag (you can use large good quality food grade "Freezer" bags, but you need to tape the corners). Always use a double bag (1 inside another).

Once I have the fish in the bags (don't put more than 5 in a bag, I usually bag each trio separately), blow the bag up (this might sound silly but actually there is still quite a lot of oxygen in the air when you breathe out).

Tie the top securely (or you can use an elastic band), and place the bag in a cool box (If you haven't got a cool cox/cool bag, a dark carrier bag or big brown paper bag will do) this is both insulated and dark. I have some litre beakers that I use as bases to sit the bags in, but you can pack polystyrene or newspaper around the bags to make sure they stay up-right. (they are securely tied and double bagged so they shouldn't leak, this is just insurance).

Pop the cool box in the boot, again making sure it can't fall over, drive to the LFS, take the cool box out of the car and walk into the LFS with it. As soon as you are inside say to the first staff member you see "I'm here to see "Bob", he knows I'm coming, I've got some fish for him".

The fish will be good for several hours like this.

If you are really worried you can take a change of water, some more bags and a battery air pump with you. Again store the water in the cool box, pour into the new bag, run the air pump for 5 minutes in the new water, then carefully let most of the water out of the old bag, and pour the fish (and remaining water) into the new bag, double bag it, tie it up, back in the cool box and away you go.

cheers Darrel

 

[Drammy]

Cheers for the lamesman instructions Darrel - appreciated!

I guess I'll do this then and go for the £3.50 a fish.

Just irritates me that I paid £15 for my first pair of Apisto in an LFS...

 

[Mike Wise]

Just irritates me that I paid £15 for my first pair of Apisto in an LFS...

I think that you're getting an excellent "wholesale" price for your fish. Think about it. Your retailer takes all of the risks and obligations once he buys your stock. Livestock is not the same as dry goods. It needs to be fed, maintained (water changes, heat, etc.), and kept healthy. Then the retailer has to absorb the cost of losses not only in his tanks, but in the tanks of those to whom he sells the fish. Some of his perfectly healthy fish will be lost by customers due to their "inexperience". Good retailers replace or refund the money for dead fish. Now on top of this the retailer also has to pay for his shop, the utilities, employees, advertising and everything else that goes along with selling his product. Since he needs to eat, the retailer needs to make a profit, too. The average mark-up for livestock in the US is 3 - 5 time wholesale, depending on rarity and how delicate the animal is.

Now you could sell the fish yourself at a better price. But then you will need to feed, maintain and keep healthy the livestock until it is all sold. You will have to take the time to pack and ship the fish so they will survive the trip to the buyer - and replace livestock that doesn't survive, or refund the money.

 

[electric eel]

i'd have to agree with Mike.i've always heard a good "rule of thumb" is 25% of retail in cash and like a third of retail in store credit but i don't know how things work over there.believe me you are'nt going to get rich but if you work real hard you might pay for your hobby and it takes a bit to do that sometimes.i've made more money with rams then anything else cause they grow out fast and there's always a big demand around here anyway.i used to have dreams of spawning some high dollar fish and making some money but i've found that there is usually a reason why they are expensive.they are either extremely hard to spawn,fry may be super problematic to grow out or maybe they grow so slow that it takes a year to get them to sellable size etc.seems like the guys that spawn some of the desirable L-number catfish are the ones who are making money right now.unfortunately i'm just not a catfish person.don't get discouraged though if you make a name for having high quality healthy stock you can sometimes get a better price then the average person but this is'nt going to happen overnight.good luck and have fun with it anyway!i don't know how cost prohibitive it would be for you but i picked up a 20pound oxgen tank at work and my dad gave me an old regulator this way you can even bag your fish the night before and it takes a lot of pressure off you.put a couple drops of prime or something in your bag and they are easily good to go for 24 hours.

 

[viejo]

If you look around, you may be able to find a fish wholesaler who can take fish in quantity. You will get less per fish but often they can take most of what you can produce. However, common courtesy ( & common sense) dictate that if you find such a buyer, you should not attempt to sell all that you can to hobbyists & shops (his customers) first then attempt to foist off the leftovers on him :wink:.

 

[Drammy]

THanks for the continued advice.

I understand that I am probably being greedy all things considered. I should have researched a bit better before I started out then I wouldn't have been disappointed at this stage.

Anyway, watching the wee fellas grow from eggs to teenagers has been excellently entertaining and I'm happy they all seem very healthy fish. They also don't seem too boisterous with one another yet. Just the odd tail flick and curl up and twitches but its all really barking and only on a small scale.

At how many months do they start to get too boisterous to keep together?