Growing and selling frags.. Is it worth it ?

[Reefman603]

Been thinking about this for a while now and looking for opinions, suggestions, or tips/ tricks.

Over the past year I've been off and on thinking about a future plan to setup and grow Soft corals, LPS and SPS to frag and sell and try to make a little side profit as a side business, worth it or no? Would the income from selling offset the cost of maintaining a couple frag tanks? If I was to do this I would start local but plan on setting up for selling online and shipping.. Looking for everyone's opinion on this and if its worth it or not ?

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

All depends on what you have available and what is sought after at that particular time. Also, if you plan on selling here, you'll have to become a Sponsor of the club seeing that you've already mentioned above. Maybe reach out to some of the sponsors that are already doing this and see what their thoughts are?

 

[Slombardi]

I feel like most reefers have had this thought. It is probably a lot more initial set up and overhead cost than people think. Between getting all the equipment, buying livestock, growing it out and maintaining it and even utilities seems like it might take the fun out of it and not much guarantee it will really make any money. Its hard to even make the hobby self sustaining, never mind make money.

Clearly people do it and make money, but not as easy as most people think. Then again, the sponsors here probably have much better feedback on this, just my 2 cents as a hobbyists.

I use money from fragging as an excuse to buy more frags

 

[srit1]

Like a lot of small businesses, I would bet you can likely turn a profit if you value your time really lowly combined with not fully accounting for all costs (like utilities to Slombardi's example).

 

[Lucas]

I sell a decent amount for a side hustle. There is profit to be made for sure but like everything you have to spend first. Not to be cliche you get what you put into it. The money I make on selling really just goes back to the tank. I could make more but I legit just sell to feed my addiction of buying coral lol. Feel free to shoot me a pm I’ve made some good documentation to keep my spending in check lol.

 

[Bandit13]

Definitely doable, ive found a good niche selling anemones and fast growing softies mostly, Occasional LPS frags all online. Made a few hundred my for my first year doing it, more than enough to cover tank costs. All frags were from overgrowth from my 65G tank/ sump. Kenya trees, fast growing zoa/paly/ RBTA have done well for me. Now that i know profit margins on common coral types, if i see a good deal on a easily fragable colony, ill buy it, frag it and sell, quick turnaround/cashflow.

If your investing time/money into it to turn a profit, find ways to automate or eliminate redundant tasks that can be automated. Tasks such as dosing/ timed lightning / water changes / feeding being automated save a lot of time in the long run. Automation frees up time to focus on other things like marketing / sales / product pictures / etc. Just think if you make $1000 in a month and spend 20 hours on your tanks, vs 15 hours you've effectively given yourself a $16/ hour raise

Remember you got a limited footprint so you want to maximize profit with fast growing / high selling / high cost / low time commitment corals, especially if your growing all the corals you sell. Also coral growth is exponential so larger mother colony = more growth = more frags = more profit. So if you don't have mother colonies you gonna have to wait for growth which is gonna tie up your cash flow.

I recommend going for it, especially if your in no rush start out with a small setup and make it profitable. Can always scale up and find a niche that works for you once you get your feet wet. For me im moving toward growing strictly BTA as its highest profit/ least work. BTA frag themselves and packaging for shipping doesn't require anything fancy.

 

[buddie]

Do it because your passionate about it first . After years in the hobby and countless local and national sales to fund your passion keep thinking about it. Make sure your reputation is spotless (very important). Make tons of local and national connections in the circles you want to deal in. Keep investing in your craft. If people start to find you to get what they are looking for you might be ready.
I always sold coral because I enjoy the relationships it helped develop. And wanted to keep the hobby moving forward.
When I broke down my system over 10 years ago I would say I had sales from $1800-$4000 a month as a single person selling out of my house. This was after a $70000 investment in the hobby . Probably north of $1000 al month in reefing related bills. With time invested I probably made 37 cents an hour.

 

[Weiveismart]

Planting coral is not a simple task, I hope you can succeed

 

[this is me]

Not my cup of tea.
Turning my hobbies into a business is the last thing on my list. Been reefing for 15+years.

 

[gobyvin]

I think to succeed, in terms of actually being able to pay yourself and help as well as turn some profit, you need to mix and match the farming / selling with other hobby related sales and service too. Sale of Dry goods, tanks/system components, and service contracts make money. Then you could bring in livestock. I say this because the only example I know of in New England is a legit business with employees and is growing some lately- OSA.

 

[gobyvin]

Have fun funding your own fun- that sounds like a better plan, if you have a job you like... otherwise, go for it, don’t pigeon hole into one aspect, try to conquer them all.

 

[N_E_M_O]

After 28 years in this industry, my only advice is

You need $2 million to make $1mil.

But seriously, I have seen SO many businesses and attempts at businesses (including several of my own) in this industry. And the # 1 thing most fail at, is not having enough start up capital. It is a HUGE investment to do this right, and the return on investment is not fast at all. And if you're not careful and know what you're doing, you will never see it. Plus as mentioned above the overhead and running costs to make it to a profitable level can overwhelm a new/small business very easily. Especially if you only focus on farming Corals. But there are only so many hours in a day, so you have to find a good balance.
And finally for me after this long I have achieved that perfect balance. But it sure was and is not easy at all.

 

[Reefman603]

Thank you everyone for the feedback! Great info!

 

[LaxFrags]

I am trying to kind of do what your saying, just wanted to make a little money on the side from it. One thing I’d say which some fellow reefers have showed me is that you want to buy the right things in the beginning. Just my 2 cents lol. Good luck!