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ok I want the people in the know here to tell me what they think of this..........

I could regret saying that couldn't I?

ok, the plan,

15G tank
internal fluval 2 filter
no substrate
lots of hornwort
I would cycle the tank, using other tank filter media.

at the moment I have baby mollies and guppies all over the show. I am fairly ok with the duff ones being eaten and only the fittest surviving but obviously will just end up over stocked.

So I was going to set up the 15G, and grow out the surviviors, selling them either to my LFs or by an Advert in the Petshop.

so far only four guppies survived and rather more mollies how many survivors could fit in the tank if I did really frequent Water Changes?(I am thinking some thing to do hormones and encouraging growth?!?!?!) and kept all the N02 and N03 at 0. really i want them to grow and then get sold?

I only want to give the fish a chance, its most likely the LFS will get them but I would like to give private sales ago?i?

so be gentle but tell me what you think

Cheers
GFG


_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

GFG,

I have no experience with breeding fish for sale but I would like to provide my 2 cents anyway .

I personally think that the addition of any growth hormones is “not natural” and as such would not do that, but I am not in the fish-for-sale business. So I will slip into my sales person pants and try my best to pretend a breeder role:

- Stuff the 15G to the rim with fry. What do you have to lose? Half the fish? So what, the other half is still more that any rule suggested for “normal” tank populations. Just make sure the tank stays within acceptable parameters.

- Feed hormones so that a sellable size is reached quickly.

- Sell as soon as possible to create space for more fry.

- Don’t get attached to even one of the fry.

Have you ever seen a shopping web site from an Asian fish importer? The pack them by the thousands. I know this sound like a tough approach, but business is business. As a side note, I don’t know the legal implications in England, but I know that in Germany the frequent sale of anything would make you (any private person) a business and as such taxable. You might want to look into that.

EDIT: (after-thought) You have to keep the rules of supply and demand in mind. You will never be able to sell more than your accessible market is willing to buy. So if your LFS would be your only buyer and is willing to take 20 a month then there is no need to raise more.

Now, back to being myself. I could not pull this off. I am too much of a softy and would change my plans as soon as I look into the eyes of these little buggers. If I have too many fish then I have no problem “selling” them to the LFS, but they would not have been produced for this purpose.

I am not implying that what you intend to do is wrong, I just want to make you aware that it is not going to be easy on the soul.

Ingo

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 08-Oct-2005 05:11

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I am not adding growth hormones! I haven't got a clue how you'd do that? I meant I was going to do lots of water changes so that the growth hormone the fish excrete (right word?) wouldn't build up and stop them growing? sorry for not being cleaner.

I am not exactly sure if I am correct, but I thought fish released a chemical in the water and once that chemical reaches a certain level they stop growing? - much cleaner water equals bigger fish?

any way now I have got over the shock of that! I shall go back to reading the rest of your post!



GFG

Last edited by goldfishgeek at 08-Oct-2005 05:15

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

I think some how you have got the wrong end of the stick Little fish?

I am only going to sell the ones that survive from the main tank? and I am not thinking of making loads of money out of it AT ALL. I have four surviving guppies only. I am not looking at breeding loads and loads.

It would be unfair to keep the babies in over stocked tanks like I have now. I did say in my first post I only wanted to give the fish a chance.

I just wondered if any one had managed to raise decent sized fry in a fifteen Gallon. I guess I should have been more clear, I was a bit over excited about setting up a another tank.

sorry for the confusion.

GFG

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

GFG,



Well, I guess there was a “slight” misunderstanding then. In this case, sure, go ahead, set up the tank and raise your 4 fry.

That’s kind of funny, what a gross misinterpretation on my end when reading your post.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Speaking of misinterpretations Ingo..

"So I will slip into my sales person pants and try my best to pretend a breeder role:"

Try not to get banned from the store, also, not to get arrested Your fish store must REALLY think you're friendly !


Heya GFG, enjoy your new tankie
Regards,
DaFish


The Amazon Nut...