At what length do I collect the BN fry for sale?

[andywoolloo]

I was just wondering. Cause I purchased a small female (Hopefully) albino BN last night. She seemed bigger in their tank, but when I looked at her at home she is the size of some of my babies in the BN tank.

At what size do I catch and sell these little peanuts? And the length you tell me, is that head to tail?
Thanks all.

I still think they are all too small to go personally. From head to tail I have one (my first) which is 2 inches or just about, the next hatchings (10-13 of them) are an inch and a bit over maybe 1.5 and the last of course are wee so no worries they are staying they are a little over a half inch.

I was just curious as the albino BN i bought yesterday is about 2 or almost 2 like my own teenager.

[Richard B]

I've seen BN's for sale many times at 1" TL.

[Holey_Rock_of_Texas]

i sell mine at 2" total length.

[drpleco]

I used to sell mine at 1.5" tl, but once I stopped selling to the lfs, someone else sold theirs at 1" tl. The 1"ers were still hardy, but bigger fish sell faster. I would sell mine for $3 each and the lfs would sell them for $6. At 2", it'd be $5/$10, but it took long enough to grow them from 1.5" to 2" that it was more profitable to sell them at 1.5".

[andywoolloo]

thanks alot you guys. So I should ask for $3 for the 1.5 and $5 for the 2"s? That was my next question.

Also I just paid 12$ for my little albino one. She is 2"s at most, maybe less. But I think that fish store has major mark up. That's where I paid $90 for a L066 and got a discount to $70 on the second.

[PlecoCrazy]

I think they are high priced. You should be able to get at least two L66 for what you paid for one.

[andywoolloo]

yeah I agree totally. But I have never ordered a live fish on line so it's kinda like you know you ll pay more and its hit and miss with whatever he gets in and you really wanna jump on it you know? He has a tiger L002 right now for $60.

[MatsP]

Meaningless post alert: Isn't it funny how the fish tends to shrink on the way home from the shop.

--
Mats

[andywoolloo]

It's true! The albino BN did look bigger in their tank. Isn't that funny!

[Richard B]

Meaningless post alert: Isn't it funny how the fish tends to shrink on the way home from the shop.

--
Mats

Meaningless? i never heard a truer word.

[Bas Pels]

Meaningless post alert: Isn't it funny how the fish tends to shrink on the way home from the shop.

--
Mats

It even works the other way around: fish which did look not that big at home, looked humongous in the shop

[apistomaster]

I feel BN should be 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inches TL when sold. Smaller than 1-1/4 inches have a greater risk of dying and over 1-1/2 inches takes too much time and expense to raise to sell at wholesale prices. My buddy is selling them to the LFS at smaller sizes but they just pay in store credit and I only accept cash. Only albino long fin BN continue to be worth my while to raise once in awhile due to saturation of the market with so many home grown fish. The normal color, short fin, wholesale prices in my area are only about $2.50 to $3.00 wholesale.
It costs at least that much to raise them to the above sizes. The LF Albinos are still selling for about $15 each retail so they wholesale at about $5.00 each, the lowest price I'll sell anything.

The minimums I have seen them spawn at is 2-1/2 inches TL and 8 months old.
Sexing a 2 inch specimen is possible for some males but only a guess with regard to females.

[andywoolloo]

thank you all very much.

personally I'd like to keep them all, but that's not possible , unless they stop for awhile, spawning. But my oldest male, biggest, most bristles, his name is Bruce, had one girl then another in his cave last night so here we go again.

Maybe if I get them into the 75 gal once i put those fish in a bigger tank maybe then I could keep them all? what do you think?

But they all continue to grow by leaps and boonds so the 40 gal breeder is fine so far.