breeder survey

Mr.Firemouth

Mr.Firemouth

FIREMOUTH WIZARD
Nov 29, 2002
510
0
0
57
ST.Louis Area
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I am currently line breeding Firemouths for red coloration. After five years I am growing out some very colored fish. My question is "what would you pay for super red firemouths and is $100 U.S. fair for my albino firemouths. I also breed tiger shrimp and cherry shrimp. I breed on a small scale of less than 200 fish per year. I am also bidding on zebra plecs because the wholesalers said they would pay top dollar. Does anyone think that $200 U.S. is fair for the plecs. For fun I breed killies and barbs. Please be honest about the opinions of the prices keeping in mind the limited availabilty and the work it takes to breed albinos and the plecs.
I have only sold fish to stores and wholesalers. I am considering selling retail over the internet. This would require a web page and digital photo equipment. I need to know if this will be worth the extra effort before I invest the extra money.
 
I might pay $10- $15 for a normal juvie Firemouth from a well established breeder promising exceptional color/finnage.
I wouldn't pay $100. for a Albino Anything...
That said, I've never seen a Albino Firemouth, do you have a pic?
I did a couple of quick searches to no avail for info and images, I cannot begin to estimate what I think would be fair market value without more info.

I think you'd get your best price for Zebra Plecs by either Auction or direct online sales, most LFS's have washed their hands due to the astronomical cost to acquire stock.
I can see you easily getting $200.+ at auction or online.

Now all that being said, if your entire breeding operation is what you currently show in your tank listing and growing slowly then you have a way to go before I would contemplate buying from you.
I think that that your breeding and conditioning tanks are too small,
I'm not a big fan of line-breeding as it is often overdone to the point of detrimental in-breeding, without some proof/references of prior breeding experience as a breeder or working for one I would think you could stand some seasoning, you need to provide verifiable customer references with recomendations and testimonials and pics or even video of fish prior to sale.

These are just my personal opinions, just my $0.02.
I'm not nocking you, just being forward.
 
Good feedback so far. I have 15 years of experience breeding fish for wholesalers in Chicago/St. louis. A good linebreeder always infuses with a new fish every 3rd generation to avoid problems with inbreeding. Because almost all common fish sold in pet stores are commercially bred, colors can be dramatically enhanced by 4th generations. Tank posts was from 2 years ago. I have many more tanks now and just finished 2 more stands that will hold 12 more 20g.
 
Your reply and answers to my remarks are soothing, you should update you tank spec's/listings to show your current breeding operation.
I would love to read about it and even better see them, a well setup fishroom is a pleasure to behold.
The camera equipment would be necessary IMHO, I would'nt buy without a E-Mail with attachments showing the exact fish I was purchasing when buying a fish for more than say $40.
If your looking to purchase a camera may I suggest some helpful articles,
http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=photography&sp-a=sp1002682c&sp-p=all&sp-f=ISO-8859-1
 
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I think you'd make more money in the long run if you were to sell them @ $25/single fish...$40/pair for the firemouths.
 
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