How much does it cost to raise a baby clownfish?

[Lou Young]

I have been slowly researching clownfish breeding and have bought equipment and a few pairs. I think am ready, but then I hear and learn something new everyday and feel like I need to learn more. At this rate I may actually never start, but I feel I am ready.
The one area I have not found very much information on is the actual amount it cost to raise a baby clownfish. I wonder how much it averages out to per fish raised to market size. Anyone done a study or kept detailed records?
Thanks Lou!

 

[ernieq]

Depends on economies of scale. It is cheaper to raise 100 on a per capita cost, than it is to raise 1 fish because you have to overcome fixed costs. If you want to do this "for profit" you have to plan a certain capacity and try to stay within that capacity. Obviously, the rarer the breed of clown you raise, the more profitable it becomes. My variable costs in raising my 260 clowns at this point is around $1.25 per fish, not including the equipment I already had, about 140 are what I consider to be saleable for me which is 1.75 inches.. This includes basically food (rotifers, phyto, NHBS TD-OTO, NLS, Cyclopeeze), salt water, electricity and consumable parts (Chlor-amX, and other additives). It is worth noting, that the fixed costs (larval tanks, growout and associated equipment) will eventually be fully depreciated and other than replacing worn or consumables parts, your costs will decrease after that time. So for the first few batches and depending on how you want to run your depreciation tables, your costs over time may decrease over time depending on rising costs of the variable stuff.

 

[USAFReefer]

I asked a friend of mine who raises a few batches every year and gives them all away for free and he said it cost him about $300 and gets around 250-300 clownfish, so it would appear ernieq's cost in the post above fits right in the ball park of around $1.25 per fish.

This is what I was told were the cost involved. $100 for rotifers and RGFeast, OTO A/B1/B2, and spectrum small fish pellets, a couple $10/10G tanks and a $29/29G grow out tank (Petco $1/Gallon sale going on now), a couple heaters, air pump, and sponge filters. He said one of the biggest costs is actually salt due to having to do so many water changes.

If he were doing this for profit/large scale and designed a breeding system accordingly, up front cost would be about double, but long term cost will be much lower.

 

[AliciaP]

I'm glad you are asking this question! I am getting ready to start catching fry to raise. I have been learning for over a year and waiting until they spawned. They finally did it and now I am preparing. I have to keep my costs as low as possible, so this is my plan: I am plumbing a tiny acrylic tank I made with $5 scrap acrylic from the shop nearby into my main display. It will be siphon fed with airline hose like you would "drip acclimate". The hose will cost $5. Made a tiny overflow so water will trickle out (tested and seems okay) as water drips in. This makes for constant water changing in the fry tank. A starter culture will cost $30 (not sure about shipping price) and I will use the starter culture is two (or possibly more) 5 gallon buckets to sustain my own population (...hopefully). When I catch my first batch of fry, I will be in $40 by then but I do not know how many fry I will gather or how the system will actually work.

 

[temper76]

You forgot their food get a breeders kit( tdo )otohime 59.??+ shipping it will give your fish nice color they have the none (tdo) otohime for 45$??

 

[somosomo]

it depends whether you are putting money away for their college or not

 

[oceancube1]

IMO.. Breeding is very fun, it's a very long process and takes up alot alot of time and money, remember you have to feed the pairs, you have to feed the babies ,feed the rotifers, raise bbs and phyto, plus feeding the juvis is the hard part cause they eat so much... Ive learned that is not even profit its just basically making your spent money back, and i raise nothing but designers.. thats why you see alot of people try it and then bam there done after a month or so.. not a money maker, lots of people think it is but they got another thing coming.. Ive been doing more trading then selling these past few months and it helps me not to spend money on my reef, but thats about it... you wont get rich or become wealthy raising clownfish, if you want that go to college and become a lawyer and or doctor.. again this is from my personal experience and ive been breeding clownfish for a while now!!!

 

[Lou Young]

Thank you for the input Oceancube. At this point in time I would like to know how much it costs to raise them, not really whether there is a profit to be made or not. I am sure that will come with time and experience. Can you share some of your cost and your opinion of how much it cost to raise a clownfish from birth to 6 mths? Thanks Lou.

 

[oceancube1]

well, cant give an exact quote and i would probably lie by saying a lower number, im sure my wife would love to chime in and she probably would tell you the truth and say something like " he spends all his money on those clowns" lol .. it's basically another job and more mouths to feed times 10... kinda like having a newborn but imagine having alot of them