# Best selling fry - haps



## TTUhouston (Jul 22, 2013)

I am always open to changing my breeding 150g up. I have so many electric yellows people wont even buy them anymore.

I am curious what people have found to be the best selling fry. I wouldn't imagine this changing much from city to city. Right now my red fin borleyi are selling ok but not great. OB peacocks sell well, but I am trying to get into a pure peacock (stuartgranti marlieri island). I am hoping to not have to grow them out as much as I am having to now (3 other tanks dedicated to fry right now) so curious who has luck selling what.

I have about 60 yellows cant get $2/EA for them at 2-2.5".
I have about 70 red fin borleyi from 1"-2" and they are only slowly selling at $4/EA.

Curious what other breeders do.


----------



## mikeross (Nov 5, 2012)

Not a breeder but I think you would have no trouble selling Placidochromis Madoka White Lip. Lwanda peacocks seems to be in demand in my area.


----------



## Chester B (Dec 28, 2012)

I was going to suggest the borleyi but it looks like you've got it covered. Look at what you commonly see in stores - venustus, compressiceps, fryeri. These fish have been around for decades and are always easy to find. Small fish that have color or an interesting pattern sell best and, fish like peacocks that have that drab brown color are often overlooked by the average person.


----------



## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

I agree with Chester. Haps and Peacocks are pretty much little gray fish until the males mature and don't have a lot of sellability except to hobbyists. Venustus, polystigma, linni, livingstoni, and fuscotaeniatus all have different juvenile patterns that are more attractive when young. They may be a better choice for something to breed that you don't want to spend a lot of time maturing before you sell them.

Andy


----------



## TTUhouston (Jul 22, 2013)

What about mbuna? Rusties are selling well. I have some cynotilapia afra yellow blaze growing in my growout tank but not sure how they would do with the big haps.


----------



## ITALIAN926 (Jul 31, 2012)

Honestly, I think of this in a different way. Choose the fish that make you happy, and when they breed, you can try to sell them. If you have too many, let them spit. Why make a hobby stressful in any way? Very few can make a business out of this, and you wont unless you turn multiple rooms in your house into fish rooms. I dont make money on this, consider all the electricity and supplies used to grow these out, not to mention TIME. I just like to save some of these babies, thats all.


----------



## Chester B (Dec 28, 2012)

We have an excellent fish store that specialized in cichlids around here and he told me that the farm price on mbuna is so incredibly low now that its not worth buying from hobbyists any more. Haps on the other hand cost him a lot more so he gladly will buy these.

I purchased some wild caught Sc. fryeri solely for the purpose of having high quality juveniles that I can sell to help offset some of the costs for keeping the fish I really like. Making money off this hobby is very hard, but if you can recoup some of your costs it helps.


----------



## TTUhouston (Jul 22, 2013)

I have kept malawi cichlids for 18 years now and find that selling off the fry is part of what keeps me happy with the tanks I have. I have 5 setup right now, a 150g main tank, 55g sell off tank/grow out tank, 2 30g growout tanks and a 5g fry tank. I have considered removing a tank but I really enjoy watching the fry grow. Really I think having other hobbyists enjoy my fry is part of why I enjoy it (selling the fry to others). A tank that does not breed really doesnt excite me any more. There is nothing to look forward to if you dont have fry growing into their colors. Once all your fish are colored I would get bored with it.

This is kind of how I think with this hobby. I am trying to recoup all costs and maybe help pay for a few bills with the hobby which is working fairly well actually. Yellows produce so many fry (4f/1m almost always 2-3 holding) that even at $2/EA that can be $100/month just in yellows. Others sell for more, I am now just trying to decide what sells easier locally so I can adjust tank to that. So for me the enjoyment is a combination of watching them grow, selling some to recoup costs and having fun fish to watch.

I have not tried to sell to fish stores due to some bad experiences in the past but have considered it recently making a relationship with a store. You are right about the fryeri but how mean is he?


----------



## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Keep in mind that fryeri are also just gray fish until the males color up. They aren't that sellable except to hobbyists as juveniles.


----------



## TTUhouston (Jul 22, 2013)

I am finding it is much easier to sell "uncolored" juvies when I can show them the father fully colored. With the red fin borleyi that helps a lot.


----------



## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Yeah but red fin borleyi have red/orange fins as juveniles at least. Fryeri are just gray.

Do you also tell them that only the males get that color? The females will just stay gray.


----------



## TTUhouston (Jul 22, 2013)

True. I do not have Fryeri, just using them as a typical example of haps.
All the haps I breed now have decent color in the females as well but I just got some Placidochromis sp Jalo to breed (they are juvies now) and they are pretty silver and bland young. Hopefully not a huge deal when selling them in the future.


----------



## chopsteeks (Jul 23, 2013)

Blue Dolphins always command a good price. Sold all my Ruby Red **** in a week...35 of them...poof gone. Lwandas also sell well, in my neck of the woods...very difficult to find... For sale Lwanda **** are gone in a few days.

I have plans of breeding Lwandas and Afra Jalo Reef Mbunas next.


----------



## cprings (Sep 10, 2003)

I would say lwandas. They always seem to be on the wanted list and in demand.


----------



## chiroken (Sep 25, 2007)

I would say it isn't the same from city to city as my entire region is very poorly stocked for malawi fish. Those you see are the same old things...lemon yellows, OB peacocks, assorted mbuna tanks. Venustus seem somewhat popular, females show colour too. I think ruby reds would sell very well, not a lot of red in the malawis, so many tend to be blue. Having said that, I think the fryeri would do well around here, they are such stunning fish. I think it's huge to be able to show the male's colours, it is definitely something I would want to see if I was a buyer. Dolphins seem to have a following as well.


----------



## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

Eureka Reds, Dragonbloods, Ngaras, ZRocks, Lemon Jakes, Lwandas, Fryeri, and Ruby/German Reds sell the best from what I've seen. Most Haps dont color til late which most ppl dont want.


----------



## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Hock said:


> Eureka Reds, Dragonbloods, Ngaras, ZRocks, Lemon Jakes, Lwandas, Fryeri, and Ruby/German Reds sell the best from what I've seen. Most Haps dont color til late which most ppl dont want.


All the Aulonocara have drab juveniles, and most will be drab in a store tank. Same as most Haps, a few Haps do have cool looking juveniles. It all depends on how knowledgeable the possible buyers are about the fish. If people are ignorant of what they fish look like as adults, they will not want drab juveniles. Check Petsmart, they know what sells to the masses... and what doesn't.

If you are selling to more serious hobbyists, they will want the type of fish you can't get at Petsmart.

If you can breed one of those hybrid so called "peacocks" like Dragonsblood, and can actually get them to look good, those probably sell very easily in some places... but if they were so easy to breed nice hybrids, they would be in every store unhormoned including Walmart.


----------



## PiccoloJr (Oct 14, 2013)

Phenos!


----------



## chopsteeks (Jul 23, 2013)

Hock said:


> Eureka Reds, Dragonbloods, Ngaras, ZRocks, Lemon Jakes, Lwandas, Fryeri, and Ruby/German Reds sell the best from what I've seen. Most Haps dont color til late which most ppl dont want.


Also, lots of beautiful Haps get quite large so lots of folks stay away from them as they do not have the tank size and/or only could keep fewer fish in their big tanks.

I purchased most of my fish from a seller in Utah. When these 2 fish become available, Lwandas and Lemon Jakes, poof it is sold out. As I purchased a good amount of fish from them, I will get a notification ahead of of time when this fish will be up for sale. In a day or two -- sold out.


----------



## Schticky Schnauzer (Aug 2, 2013)

I breed stuff that you cant find easily. If you are willing to ship, it opens up what you can sell a lot more. I breed yellow fin borleyi, and red fin, Aulonocara hueseri, lethrinops Mbasi creek, and paralabidochromis Chromogynos. The chromogynos always do well. Because the males and females both have color/pattern. IMO, about any of the Victorians sell well.


----------



## Schticky Schnauzer (Aug 2, 2013)

sorry, meant to say Cant find them locally. Moori blue dolphins would probably be a safe bet as well. *** hardly met someone that wasn't impressed with a moori in some way.


----------

