PlanetCatfish.com

Hello all,

I'm just now returning to the site after a nearly 2 year hiatus, and thought I would give an update. Most importantly, and soon to be remedied, is that I haven't had any fish since the fall of 2004. Most of my colonies were sold to local shops and breeders before I started on a very long move from Indiana to Missouri, and then to Arizona.

I've been working on a rack system for the past 3 weeks, on what little time I have off from work, and trying to find prospective breeding groups to fill the rack once it's complete. This first rack is intended to be strictly Hypancistrus, but I'm already toying with the idea of adding other warmth loving species. I guess you could call this indecisive, but I like way too many fish to be able to dedicate a rack to one genus.

Eventually, I'll be setting up another small farm here, but have to invest a lot of time in my current job. Anyway, it's good to be back.

Larry Vires

Welcome back and glad to have your experience on the boards again.

Glad to know your getting back into Hypancistrus!
Keep us posted.

Welcome back, Larry!
Amanda

Where abouts in Az are you? I'm in Tempe...
Interesting that you are looking into starting a fish farm... I've been toying with the idea of breeding fish for a living, but everyone says you can't make a living out of it, unless you actually set up a fish farm with ponds and what not... Not really exactly sure what I'm going to do just yet... It would be a very long time before I could actually afford to do anything like that (Not to mention another year of college to go before I can even think about working enough hours to save up much extra money). Would love to know if you needed a hand though, if you do set up the fish farm.
Do you have any tips/advice you could offer me?

Hello,

I have to say that I'm surprised to find another forum member in Arizona. I know it's a big state, but I've been kind of upset with the lack of fish shops and hobbyists since I moved here. Anyway, back to your question. I live in Florence, maybe an hour from Tempe. Most of my farms in the past have been one person operations, and have never had to resort to outdoor ponds to make a profit. Besides, both the soil and water out here would make it exceptionally difficult to maintain soft, or even medium hardness, tropicals in outdoor ponds unless liners were used. As for water hardness, distillation would be required for that volume of water.

I normally just start building central systems. Once one is complete, and full of breeders, start on the next. My last operation made it up into the 40+ species range before I had to close up shop for personal reasons. That took just less than 8 months and was completely funded by selling stock to local shops and wholesalers. It's possible, but you have to be very picky about what species you're doing. It's also not a good idea to count on fish being your sole source for income for at least a year or more.

Larry Vires

I agree, the pet stores out here aren't the best (not that I have anywhere to compare them to, lmao). I returned a sick cory to an LFS once, and they put him right back in the main tank right in front of me!
It's good to know that I can, even if eventually, make profit off of having tanks, and not making it a huge production with ponds. I'm thinking I want to just sell to stores. Don't really know if I ever want to expand and sell to hobbyists.
Thanks for the info, it's nice to hear someone say that it can work when everyone is telling me that you can only make enough for the hobby, and never profit from it.

Since I have the attention of a native, I have to ask where the real pet shops are. I've seen 1 or 2, but most are Petsmart and have the same stock regardless of location. I'm used to seeing a lot more locally owned shops and the occasional chain. In my experience, chain stores don't make the best customers and I can say this because of a few statements that were made by those when I lived in Indiana.

I had just started breeding zebras and was looking for shops to sell my stock to. Granted, this was the early 90's, but threw me for a loop anyway. I stopped into a local chain that only had 6 stores thinking that it may be good for business to connect with the chain. The owner of the chain looked me square in the eyes, said "a pleco is a pleco, and is only worth 75 cents." I haven't dealt with a chain store since.

Larry Vires

For variety, I tend to go to Pets Inc. at Mill Ave. & Southern, though this is the place that put the sick cory in the main tanks. They've got tons of tanks, and plenty of catfish. Last time I went they had 5 or 6 different species of cory.
For knowledge and some really good deals on equiptment, I go to a little shop in North Phoenix at 12th street and Bell Rd. (Pet Safari? I think?)
I found a very extensive list of local pet stores here:
http://www.arizonamerchant.net/scripts/ ... tegory=585
The only problem is that they don't give very much information on the places, so you have to actually search the web for their websites.
Zebra pl*cos for 75 cents, hehe, that cracks me up! If they sell them that cheap, I'm there!

Welcome Back Larry

Glad to see you back

Bill

Likewise step,

It's been a while, but I'm getting back into the swing of things.

Thanks,

Larry Vires