Couple thoughts:
"i'd like to know as well, because im debating which clowns to breed." IF your intention is to breed for "profit" (at least to cover some % of expense) then just consider that you cannot possibly raise too many ocellaris, you can sell every one you can grow out. IME this is not true with tomatos or gsm's, those are the only three species I've managed in any quantity so far. I can't even come close to meeting the demand for ocellaris while I have too many of the others. I am desperatley trying to aquire more osc pairs.
"Best bang for my buck has been "selling them to the store for store credit." I really could not possibly dissagree more, you shouldn't be paying retail for much of anything if you are breeding. As a breeder you should be buying in bulk either directly from wholesalers or through online suppliers at close to wholesale prices. Most stores are gonna give approx 1/3 of the selling price, which you are then gonna use to buy something at retail that they paid 1/3 of that for. You are getting 1/6 of the value of your fish !!! Then you are gonna pay sales tax on top of that, usually based on the full retail price of the product you bought. IMO it's a terrible deal. If a store wants to "trade" I will trade retail for retail or wholesale for wholesale, but certainly not take wholesale credit for my fish and then pay retail for their products, that is just nuts. If they don't want to buy them I move on, fortunatley for me So Cal is a huge market
"Most hatcheries... they sell from 6.50 and around 6 or 5.50 if you buy lots. " That is the same pricing as all the Los Angelos wholesalers.
"What is the retail price in your area? " $20-$25 USD In one store my fish are side by side with ORA's. The price is $20 for ORA and $25 for mine. Mine sell out before theirs do
Last comment: I thought the biggest thing I had going was color, I am lucky to have gorgeous fish. That is not what the stores like, what thrills them is that there is no loss. They sell every one they buy, and that is not true for fish from any other source. No matter how strong fish are when they get bagged, there seems to always be loss from shipping stress or some other factor. So the store gets a higher return when they buy from me. Also they have no shipping costs, so I am a better deal all around. You should bring up these points when negotiating with your lfs.
) it will be a different story
