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I am considering setting up a business selling L plecs. I am going to use some Juwel 180 tanks. The plecs I am contemplate selling are L66, L134, L204, L201, L260, L333 and others of a similar size

Question 1

How many plecs can I keep in tanks of this size

Question 2

Filtration - Undergravel with Power heads or internal filters

Question 3

What is a reasonable time to keep them before selling them on. I was thinking on 2 months.

Do you have a supplier that would be able to get you Rio180 tanks for reasonable prices then? I would have thought for commercial purpose, simple all-glass tanks would be much more economical...

Most commercial installations that I've seen use external filtration with a communal filter for multiple tanks, either using a sump-tank or a big external filter (not the kind you get in your LFS, but made specifically for large installations).

The filtration and water change will be what's limiting your stocking level in the tanks. You can probably keep a dozen or so 5" fish in a Rio180 tank - more if your filtration and water change is very good.

Are you planning on this as a method of increasing your income or as a hobby to help others get fish? If it's the former, I would strongly suggest you do the math on how many fish you need to keep in stock to make money. If you quarantine for two months (which is a reasonable suggestion, I think), and you sell on average 2 fish per day, you'll have on average 60 fish in quarantine. Of course, selling 2 fish per day will not pay your rent/mortgage (not if you have to pay for the fish, electrics, feeds).

Also bear in mind that you probably will have to buy at least a box of each fish from the exporter(s), which is anything from 25 to 100 fish of one particular species (or at least what the exporter thought was the species - mixups do happen, and you usually get very little in return when you paid full price for a box of L260 and it turns out to be something much less attractive when it arrives).

Do you plan on selling these by mail-order? What's the cost of shipping, and how much are you going to charge the customer?

These are just a few questions you should ask yourself...

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Mats

I have about 10 Juwel 180s that have been given to me. They will do to start with. It is only being to subsidise my fishkeeping hobby. I currently have two breeding colonies of Zebs, one of QA's and one of L333 so I could always sell these. But the Zebs would be with me for about 1 year before selling on.

I would not consider selling fish by mail order because it is nothing something I would buy.

Have you got any 180's spare to your requirements? If so are you selling them?

My thought too - sell the 180's [assuming of course that they are in good condition] and buy some cheaper stock-tanks from another source. They would be better for what you want, and the 180's should give you some money to spend on better things.

Unless of course you have 10 RIO180's scattered around your house, and thus need to have stylish tanks.

Don't get me wrong, Juwels RIO tanks are great. I've got a RIO400 myself, and I'm 100% happy with it. But if you're keeping them in a fish-room or some such, I'd say that they are a bit OTT.

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Mats