Caring for live aquatic plants can begin with a bit of a learning curve, but once your planted aquarium starts flourishing and becomes overgrown, what do you do with all the extra vegetation? Is it possible to sell your extra trimmings as an extra source of income? As with most side hustles, you need to determine how much time, money, and effort you are willing to invest. Some people are hobbyists who just want a little fun money to help offset their aquarium keeping costs, while others are more serious entrepreneurs who plan to compete against major plant farms. To address these different levels of commitment, let’s discuss three approaches for selling aquarium plants, in order of increasing effort and potential revenue.
No cost Aquarium Plants.
If you are producing more than your store wants to sell, the next step may be to try selling live plants through AquaBid, eBay, Etsy, or other e-commerce websites. To easily gain back any money invested eventually becoming profit meaning Yes.. No cost aquarium plants.
there are a lot more buyers on the internet than store customers, but prices may sometimes be cheaper because there’s also a lot of supply from other hobbyists and importers.
When you sold to your local fish store, they made things easier because they managed all the customer interactions. However, as an online seller, you must put on the new role of salesperson. Create listings that have appealing descriptions, attractive plant photos, a list of your water parameters and growing conditions, and clear explanations of shipping costs and live arrival guarantees. Another responsibility added to your plate is customer support if something goes wrong. Be prepared to promptly answer questions on what kind of lighting you use, why the plants are doing badly, and how to submit a refund.
Be clear about what you are selling and meet expectations. Start building a reputation for having high-quality plants that are healthy, come with roots, have no algae, are free of duckweed, or have other benefits that differentiate you from the competition. If you do your job well and customers have a good experience, they will come back to you for repeat sales.
Ramping Up Production Of Aquatic Plants
The main difference between being a professional versus a casual seller is scale. Instead of only selling plants that you already keep in your aquariums, now you are buying dedicated tanks and equipment to increase production. You are competing with a lot of large plant farms that primarily grow their plants emersed or out of water. Your main benefit to fish stores and online customers is that your plants are grown submersed or underwater, so you are saving the customer the time of having to convert their plants from emersed to submersed. This advantage allows you to charge more than the farms because (a) submersed plants have a higher likelihood of surviving in the customers’ aquariums and (b) stores don’t have to waste time cleaning out all the melted leaves that fall off emersed plants.
The key point when buying supplies is to spend the least amount of money as possible where it makes sense. Remember that you are also competing with other smaller plant farms like yourself who may have certain advantages like outdoor ponds, great weather, and so forth. They already have a leg up in terms of cost of production, so you need to save expenses in other areas if possible. Some items to purchase include:
Water containers: You don’t have to just use aquariums to grow plants, so consider cheaper, bigger options like plastic tubs, hydroponic racks, and outdoor cement bins. Taller tanks require stronger lights to reach the plants but are well-suited for stem plants that need to grow 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) tall. Shallower tanks can be equipped with lower lighting and might be good for smaller plants like anubias nana petite.
Carbon dioxide (CO2): When combined with appropriate levels of lighting and nutrients, CO2 gas is an important building block that helps plants to grow faster, which means you can sell them sooner. Depending on your budget and number of tanks, there are different methods for injecting CO2, each with their own pros and cons. The most expensive but reliable technique is pressurized CO2 injection using cylinders of CO2 gas, regulators, and manifolds to spread to multiple tanks.
Fertilizer: To make sure our plants have enough food or nutrients to grow, we add Easy Green all-in-one liquid fertilizer to our water using an automatic dosing machine. If you are experienced with plant keeping, measure your water to determine if certain nutrients are lacking and find the fertilizer that is most appropriate for your water.
As for which plants to buy and cultivate, this depends on which market you want to go after, what people in that market want to buy, and what kind of aquarium plants you are good at growing. If you want to sell to beginners, they usually look for easy and hardy plants like Anubias barteri, Anubias Nana, java fern, and java moss, (which is hard to find as a submersed-grown product). or even Brazilian Micro Sword The beginner market has a ton of buyers, but plants tend to go for cheaper prices. The high-end market, on the other hand, is interested in rare specimens like Anubias nana ‘Pangolino’ or newly discovered Bucephalandra species. These plants of course sell for higher prices, which means you will have fewer customers and potentially fewer tanks to maintain. However, be aware that rare plants eventually get picked up by the commercial plant farms that can produce them in much higher volume than you can, so you will constantly need to be hunting for the next new species to add to your inventory.
Our final tip for plant sellers is to avoid being “out of stock” as much as possible. If you have a rare plant but are only able to sell it every 6-8 months, then you are probably better off not selling it at all. You don’t want your website to be full of products that are out of stock because then customers may become frustrated or assume you are no longer in business. Instead, stick to a few species or categories of plants that you can mass produce and specialize in. If you decide to expand, make sure you can still keep your current offerings in stock or else buyers will look for another, more reliable supplier.
If you are interested in selling aquarium fish and invertebrates as well, check out our article on breeding aquatic species for profit for more information on the best fish to breed, what supplies to buy, and how to sell them.
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Best Aquatic Plants for Tetras
Java Fern
Java fern is one of the most popular plants in the aquarium hobby.
This plant is very easy to care for, so it is a good choice if you are a beginner.
Besides, this plant is extremely hardy and it is very cheap as well.
As Java fern is popular, it is widely available in local fish stores and online.
Why Java fern is the best plant to keep in Neon tetra tank?
Java fern can provide a lot of hiding places to Neon tetras.
Besides, the ideal water parameters range of Java fern is quite similar to that of Neon tetra. So you can easily keep them together.
Substrate requirements
Java fern doesn’t have real roots. Instead, it has rhizomes.
So you don’t need to plant it in the substrate of your tank.
Water conditions requirements
The ideal temperature range for Java fern is between 68° to 82° Fahrenheit.
Its pH tolerance range is between 6 to 7.5.
And its water hardness tolerance range between 3-8 KH.
These water parameters are similar to that of Neon tetra. So you can easily keep them both together in the same tank.
Light requirements
Java fern is not very undemanding when it comes to light.
You can keep it under low-to-moderate lighting conditions.
If you’re using fluorescent light then you should provide it light anywhere between 1.5 to 2 Watts per gallon.
If you are using LED light then you should provide it light between 35 to 50 micromoles.
Fertilization requirements
Java fern is a pretty hardy plant and it can do well without any additional fertilizers.
However, for faster growth, you should regularly supplement with fertilizers.
Java fern absorbs nutrients through its leave. So supplement it with liquid fertilizers.
What’s the best place to keep Java fern in Neon tetra aquarium?
You should keep Java fern in the middle ground or background of your Neon tetra tank. It will provide hiding places to your Neon tetras.
Check the price of this plant at Amazon here
Water Lettuce
Water lettuce is a floating aquarium plant.
This plant is a bit tricky to keep in a home aquarium because it requires humidity to grow.
However, if you provide it with the ideal environment, it can grow pretty fast and easily overtake your tank.
Substrate requirements
water lettuce is a floating aquarium plant, so it doesn’t require any substrate to keep in aquarium
Water conditions requirements
The ideal temperature range for water lettuce is between 70 to 80° Fahrenheit.
Its pH tolerance range is between 6.5 to 7.2.
And you can keep it in soft to moderately hard water.
Light requirements
Water lettuce does well under moderate lighting conditions.
So if you have fluorescent light then you should provide it light between 2 to 3 Watts per gallon.
If you have LED light, then you should provide light anywhere between 35 – 50 micromoles.
Fertilization requirements
Water lettuce is a pretty hardy plant, and it doesn’t require any additional fertilization.
What’s the best place to keep Water lettuce in in Neon tetra aquarium?
Water lettuce is a floating aquarium plant, so keep it floating in your Neon tetra tank.
It will block the light coming directly into your tank and create the ideal environment for your Neon tetras
Check the price of this plant at Amazon here
Amazon Sword
Amazon sword is one of the most popular plants in the aquarium hobby. It is also one of the few flowering aquarium plants.
This plant is very easy to care for, so it is a good choice if you are a beginner.
Why Amazon sword is the best plant to keep in Neon tetra tank?
Amazon sword grows pretty tall. And it creates forest-like effect in your tank, which provides a lot of hiding places to Neon tetra.
Besides, the ideal water parameters range of Amazon sword is similar to that of Neon tetra so both can thrive in the same tank.
Substrate requirements
Amazon sword is heavy root feeder aquarium plant. So if you plant it in a nutrient rich substrate, it will definitely benefit from it and grow faster and healthier.
Just make sure the substrate is at least 2.5 inches thick so it’ll have space to create root structure in the substrate.
Also supplement it fertilizers through root tabs.
Water conditions requirements
Amazon sword can tolerate a wide range of water parameters.
It can tolerate temperature as low as 60° Fahrenheit to up to 82° Fahrenheit.
Its pH tolerance range between 6.5 to 7.5.
And its water hardness tolerance range is between 8 to 15 DH.
These ideal water parameters are similar to the ideal water parameters range that Neon tetra requires. So you can easily keep them both together in the same tank.
Light requirements
Amazon sword does well under moderate lighting conditions.
So if you are using fluorescent light then you should provide it light anywhere between two to three Watts per gallon.
If you are using LED light, then you should provide it light between 35 to 50 micromoles.
Fertilization requirements
For healthy, faster, and vibrant growth you should regularly supplement Amazon sword with fertilizers.
Amazon sword is a heavy root feeder aquarium plant, so it will absorb nutrients to the substrate through its roots. So you should provide it fertilizers using root tabs.
Amazon sword can also absorb nutrients through its leaves, so you can also supplement it with liquid fertilizers.
Best place to keep Amazon sword in a Neon tetra aquarium
Amazon sword is a fast growing aquarium plant.
And it can grow pretty tall. So ideally, you should keep it in the background of your tank. And it will provide a lot of hiding places to your Neon tetras.
Check the price of this plant at Amazon here
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