Everyone who has a successful start up business, big or small, did the same two things. They identified an opening in an available market, then they filled it. Before you spend a dime on equipment or livestock though, you will need to make a business plan if you are even thinking about turning your hobby into a business. Even if you are not planning to hit up your local bank for some venture capital (very difficult to find in this industry without a very good track record in the field), the business plan will help you organize your goals as well as your thoughts.
Just in case you haven't noticed, and you probably have, there is a huge move on in the United States and Canada, as well as other countries around the world, to ban the export and import of wild caught fish, corals and live rock. At the same time the market for these products is rapidly expanding. With the expansion of the available science, techniques and products, larger numbers of people are getting into reef aquariums because the odds of having a successful marine reef tank are very good.
How many times have you been into an LFS that either had no quality live rocks or corals because "they are too hard to keep" or had only a few because, "I can't find a good supplier." There is your open market. The LFS that thought they were too hard to keep can be educated. The LFS that couldn't find a good supplier is a potential customer just screaming for a quality product.
While you are at this LFS take a close look at what they have in the tanks. Ask the LFS owner(s) what they are looking for the most - decorator live rock, corals, etc. Try to get an idea of the price of the products in their tanks. Ask them how much they are willing to pay for the product. If it is half of what they are asking for the product, don't be surprised or offended. They are in business to make money just like you. They have the overhead of the store, paying the hired help, the electricity bills, taxes, saving college funds for the kids, and other expenditures to take into consideration.
While you are researching your new venture, while online you might want to explore selling corals or live rock through the Internet. One of the great advantages of this is that you don't need a store front. You can work right out of your living room, garage or extra room (all tax deductible) in just a few minutes per day. Check out the potential and pricing by visiting other sites on the Net that are selling. This will give you a feel for the pricing of your end product. A good place to start is our Livestock Sources Index. J & L Aquatics, as well as the many other livestock suppliers listed, have good listings of both Fiji and Indo corals to look at.
Next you have to compute what your potential output will be for a given tank space. Here is an outline for a rack farming coral propagation room design from GARF that uses 55 gallon tanks for small scale coral farming, that you can build and add one at a time. This design incorporates using plug racks made from acrylic for propagating and storing approximately 200 frag cuttings. Another grow-out rack design has three plug racks with 60 holes each, and includes an extra plug rack that can be added to the front of the tank to increase the number of plugs to 240. There is still room at the bottom of the tank to grow decorator live rock at the same time. This is probably the highest potential per square foot of tank space. The reef plugs are what you will be mounting most of your coral frags on, and these fit into the plug racks. Research plugs (near top of article under Research Racks section), reef plugs, or egg plugs are easy to make, or you can purchase them from a supplier.
