# Most Profitable Shrimp to Breed?



## Frooty (Dec 4, 2012)

First off I would like to say hi because I'm a new member  Anyways, I was wondering what the most profitable shrimp to breed is. I was thinking about breeding snowballs but I'm not sure if there's better ones to breed. I will hopefully be setting up my first tank, (Which is going to be a 10 gallon) in about 2-3 weeks, so I kind of need to do my homework on the type of shrimp that I will be getting. Thanks!


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

None. lol.

By the time you setup the tank, and get everything for that, buy shrimp, possibly kill them, buy more shrimp, factor in water, hydro, food, time you spend on maintenance, it's not really profitable. The more tanks you try and get going to get shrimp breeding to make more "profit", is the more tanks, water, food, hydro, supplements, you need. lol.

Have I sold over $1000 worth of shrimp from ones I've bred? Yes. 

Did I spend that much total on shrimp and supplies? Maybe. I got lots of tanks for free, built my own stands, light fixtures, etc. 

Including monthly hydro and water and getting RO, now have I spent over a $1000 in the last 1.5 years I've been in this including tanks and shrimp? For sure.

Does that $1000 cover the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours I have spent on forums, reading, researching. Nope.

Does that $1000 cover all the time I spend each week on the tanks, building stuff, the space I loose in my apartment. Nope.


Do I still do it. Yup, because I like to, not to make money at it. You need a well setup, fully automated tank rack, a good investment of initial shrimp stock, wait 6month to year to get your population going from that stock, etc to get to a point that they are breeding good for profit. 


This doesn't factor in not being able to sell them locally, because others are cheaper or the market isn't there, which means you have to resort to shipping. This opens up, time and money to package and go ship shipments, cover DOA losses, learn how to ship shrimp, loose money from paypal transactions that they charge you for each one.

All of that is based off hoping you don't get a simple bacteria infection if your tank, a bad plant, etc that wipes out a tank of hundreds of shrimp in a week.


I guess to answer your original questions, right now breeding high end taiwan bees like pinto bee's and other true breeding patterns, you can get a few hundred bucks a piece or starting your own pure line of crystals, that in 10-15 years when you have an established name for yourself as a breed, you can get $500 a piece for high end pure red line shrimp.


Otherwise, setup a tank with a neo species like snowball, yellow orange or fire reds and see if you can keep them alive first off. Then if you get them breeding, see if you can find a buyer and work up from there.


I just priced out a "if I had some extra money" what would I build kind of setup to breed shrimp as a side business, not to get rich by supplement my other businesses. To get 12 20 gal tanks fully setup, sump filtration, lights, substrate, etc and to stock the 12 tanks with a variety of 12 species I would want to keep and breed with 40 shrimp of each species, I am at about $7000. To get the rack build, tanks setup, plumbing done, tanks cycled for a good few, get juvenile sized shrimp in, get them settled in to the tanks, get them to breeding age, get them breeding and hope they like the water, nothing happens that kills, them, and get maybe 2 batches out of them that are of size to sell, I am probably a year out from the date I start. So that's $7000 in, plus hydro, water, time, etc for a year before I have some shrimp ready to sell and that provides nothing goes wrong.


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## StraightAddicted (May 20, 2012)

Have to agree with GeToChKn, this hobby will cost you more financially than ever being profitable. The amount of money you are going to spend for some rare shrimp species to eventually sell will take a while. Honestly, don't dump your money into a hard to keep shrimp. Spend it on the biggest tank you can get, and best equipment you can get as well. Having a bigger tank and better equipment will give you more room for error. This is extremely important when starting out. 
Honestly, not trying to be a mood kill, I wish you the best! I would start of with these shrimp species as they are easier to keep, and let you know if you doing things right or not - ghost shrimp, red cherries shrimp, or crystal red shrimp. If you want to see more rare species and prices, check out for sale threads for example, speedie408 has great photos of different species of shrimp. 
If you have any questions on anything feel free to PM me and I'd be happy to help.


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## Frooty (Dec 4, 2012)

I think I will probably setup a bigger community tank and then add some red cherries and see what happens from there. I guess I didn't realize that it is not profitable but no worries. A little extra money would've been nice but whatever. Thanks for telling me though!


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## cookymonster760 (Apr 30, 2011)

True if you dont know what you are doing it can cost you i would say go for the less demanding species like fire reds big money maker since they breed quick and look really good along with yellows i would say start with good quality sshrimp


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Few extra bucks here and there is nice but just think of it as that. Few extra bucks, if everyone breeds and does well, it's a quick few bucks if you need it. I needed $400 for something car related, sold some shrimp, got what I needed done. There is too much to go wrong and sometimes they just don't breed for a while, don't breed in certainly seasons or temps and you can't just say 1 female, 30 eggs each, 1 month to carry, 1 month gestation and figure over two years you will get xxx number of babies, because sometimes they will go 3-4 months without breeding, go 2 months between getting preggers, only have 10 eggs, etc.


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## Drewsplantednutz (Jan 25, 2012)

You got casinos there in Chicago. If so, then go gamble all your money on the first table you see when you walk through the door. Better chances there.


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## jake10 (Aug 8, 2012)

The way I see it is have fun and sell if your tank is over run. I'm getting RCS in soon and assuming nothing goes wrong I made a deal with my friend that I will sell him some once my stock reaches 70 shrimp. And I aim to make nearly no profit at just selling them at 50 cents each but as just being a teen lets say he buys 20 then I have $10 and a stronger connection and more things to talk about with him. If your in aquatics purely for trying to make a profit then I would recommend salt water frags but even that's very tricky.


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

For me CRS is pretty profitable. It does take a long time to start breeding, but when they breed it just took off. At the same time sad to see CRS price going down to $3 each. So I might switch to bkk or new taiwan bees shrimp.


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## inthepacific (Oct 21, 2012)

are you a new member or new to the hobby? im pretty new too and if i were you id start with cherries because the others cost more and have a higher chance of dying on you which would be a pretty annoying thing for someone new. anyways once cherries start breeding they get pretty numerous so if you get some high grade ones you can sell them for a good price. i've seen people do 12 for $10 even on craigslist. their maintenance is not so bad if you know what you're doing.


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## Frooty (Dec 4, 2012)

So if I setup a 40 gallon planted community tank to start would that be a good idea for breeding CRS or RCS? And yes I am new to the hobby, also I am not in the hobby for purely money.


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## Frooty (Dec 4, 2012)

Also I know this is off topic but if I setup a planted tank then what is the best substrate? I was thinking some type of sand (Maybe pool filter sand) but I heard fluorite with gravel is best.


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

if you want a planted community tank its best to not have shrimp cause most fish will eat them and if not the adults for sure any babies they find. if you want to breed its best to have shrimp only tanks


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## Frooty (Dec 4, 2012)

Oh yea I completely forgot about that, thanks for reminding me.


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## ravensgate (May 24, 2012)

You can keep CRS and RCS together but you might want to look into a buffering substrate like Fluval Shrimp Stratum or Azoo Plant Bed Grower. Both of those will buffer to about 6.8 (FSS 6.8-7) and both species can breed in that pH. You need to test the water first before you figure out which shrimp to go with. But if you have hard water, neos might be the only thing that will work if you're going to use tap and something inert like sand or flourite. And even then you have to watch pH and not let it get too crazy high (like over 8.4) So, learn about the different shrimps and different parameters FIRST, then figure out which way to go. A good site for just some basic info is 

www.shrimpkeeping.com

Another is

www.planetinverts.com

And don't forget to check the stickies at the top of the Shrimp Forum.


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## Frooty (Dec 4, 2012)

ravensgate said:


> You can keep CRS and RCS together but you might want to look into a buffering substrate like Fluval Shrimp Stratum or Azoo Plant Bed Grower. Both of those will buffer to about 6.8 (FSS 6.8-7) and both species can breed in that pH. You need to test the water first before you figure out which shrimp to go with. But if you have hard water, neos might be the only thing that will work if you're going to use tap and something inert like sand or flourite. And even then you have to watch pH and not let it get too crazy high (like over 8.4) So, learn about the different shrimps and different parameters FIRST, then figure out which way to go. A good site for just some basic info is
> 
> www.shrimpkeeping.com
> 
> ...


I probably will wait a bit until I know more about the hobby before I get into breeding. I will probably setup a small breeding tank in late February and attempt and see where it goes from there. Thanks for all the info!


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## tomfromstlouis (Apr 2, 2012)

Very few people make money at what many consider a hobby. The problem is simply too much supply: many of us have a few extra shrimp we can sell for whatever they can fetch for us to defray a few costs. That person is not taking a business-like approach and does not require a profitable price. 

The person who develops a popular new line or can generate large volume at very low cost (the "Walmart" of shrimp breeders) might make a living, but for the rest of us it had better be fun.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

the most profitable shrimp to breed for sale are ones you can acquire by wholesale.

But this answer sort of applies to most things sold for profit. thought it might be worth pointing out the obvious...


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## EKLiu (Jan 14, 2010)

I suggest buying half a dozen blue Blue Bolts. If you can get the offspring to juvie size, you will get back your "investment" in the first batch you sell.


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## Debra70 (Mar 25, 2021)

GeToChKn said:


> None. lol.
> 
> By the time you setup the tank, and get everything for that, buy shrimp, possibly kill them, buy more shrimp, factor in water, hydro, food, time you spend on maintenance, it's not really profitable. The more tanks you try and get going to get shrimp breeding to make more "profit", is the more tanks, water, food, hydro, supplements, you need. lol.
> 
> ...


Hi...I agree...its a labor of love. I did pricing n time too....it is expensive. Youre right! But that aside....what breed of shrimp would be worth it?


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Holy resurrected thread from 2012, Batman!

Really - there is no truly profitable type of shrimp to breed unless we're talking hundreds of thousands. Not if you want to do it right and really take care of your critters. Just look at selling any extras you have as a bonus that you use to help sustain your hobby. Have fun and enjoy it.

I've been shrimping since the 90s and sell more in the average year than most people see in a lifetime. But profit? Haha, not remotely. Maybe in the short term but never in the long run. Because this hobby is a never-ending cycle.


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## Discusluv (Dec 24, 2017)

somewhatshocked said:


> Holy resurrected thread from 2012, Batman!
> 
> Really - there is no truly profitable type of shrimp to breed unless we're talking hundreds of thousands. Not if you want to do it right and really take care of your critters. Just look at selling any extras you have as a bonus that you use to help sustain your hobby. Have fun and enjoy it.
> 
> I've been shrimping since the 90s and sell more in the average year than most people see in a lifetime. But profit? Haha, not remotely. Maybe in the short term but never in the long run. Because this hobby is a never-ending cycle.


I totally got dragged into reading this thread and not noticing how old it was. Lol! An oldie but a goodie.


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