One will not make money in most cases raising guppies or other fishes at home anyway. In our killifish club we decided to put a minimum bid of $5 on any pair of killies in our meeting's mini-auction. That is mostly a symbolic gesture, because even there, unless those fish are really young, one is really not getting back what they put into the fish in terms of paying for a 1/20th or 1/10th portion of the house, the water, electricity and heating bill, fish food and aquarium equipment. So for most it is kind of a hobby business.

My bride does a home merchandising business. Same thing, for most people into that, it is a hobby business. At best she earns a little pen money.

You, for your part, must be able to guarantee to the shop that your guppies will breed true. That seems unfair because so many shops mix the guppies which come in. If your guppies, however beautiful, will not breed true, then they are common guppies, one step above feeders. Would they bring much? It has been a while since I went looking. Would about $3 each sound likely? Shops would get fish wholesale probably 1/3 to 1/10 of what they sell for. Most of the other expenses are to cover losses, wages for employees, utilities for the store, maybe $1,000 rent a month for a very small store, rarely fish food and paying off the five or six figure loan made to equip and stock the store. Most stores lose money on livestock even with that mark up. If they can't sell enough dry goods, they are out of business.

Oh yes, and then there is liability insurance in our lawsuit crazy country. Or as in the news today, of the meatpacking company with tainted meat, one big case and they fold.

Even a fish club meeting in (renting) a school room is asked to carry a minimal policy covering a million dollars liability these days. No policy, no room, because the schools don't want to/ can't take on that liability either.

There are a lot of great reasons, if one is a shop keeper, to buy locally raised fish. (And corporations are so locked into their own wholesale operation that they order their people not to buy from locals.)

The fish are far less stressed coming from your house than flying crowded in boxes from Florida or the Far East. Your fish are accustomed to the local water supply and there shouldn't be losses to chemical shocks. If you have been properly quarantining all new breeders and treating them for parasites, your fish should carry less disease.

In buying fish from an accomplished aquarist, you also keep a loyal customer. It sometimes is handy to have experienced people hanging out at a shop. And surely there are more good reasons to buy locally.

Notice that your comment was answered down here. Think of how many times I have asked you to respond to a comment by replying AFTER the item you are commenting upon. Don’t think that you have yet done that. :)

If that is your approach to raising, buying and selling guppies too, perhaps that is one of the reasons why your parents are hesitant to give you free reign on purchasing and selling. Pirates never were much into accounting. ;)