Lets open a fish store...

[DMD123]

We have all been to a fish store and maybe thought something was interestingly done or thought something was kind of dumb. But in today's little discussion lets pretend its your fish store. What are things you would want? What would you stock? Maybe a local store has something you really like and would copy... The sky's the limit here since its your store!

I will start with this, In my fish store there would be a display tank where the fish were not for sale. Something unique that you dont see often, inspiration was Aquarium Co-Op with the giant Mbu puffer. But in my giant display tank, my dream fish, an Australian lungfish.

Tell me about your store...

 

[fishguy1978]

Most likely I would not be stocking Malawian cichlids because of the inability to verify purity of species. Definitely no hybrids of any kind.
86 tanks with each species of corydoras and lots of other small community catfish.
My display tank would have a Trachycorystes trachycorystes which is a 14in black woodcat. A large school of various silver dollars and a pair of my favorite severums, H notatus.

 

[DMD123]

Wanted to add, Ive seen so many hokey Mom and Pop type pets stores where it looked like they put together the store with Craigslist finds. I would not do this. I would have uniform tanks and filtration. I would choose tanks that were readily available like 20L for smaller community fish, 40B, even up to 75g tanks that would be easy to catch fish out of and run a main airline with sponge filters in each tank. Some of these small stores mom and Pops had individual HOB filters for each tank, way too much upkeep when you are dealing with a lot of tanks.

Edit: my tank choices with the 20L and 40B are because they are lower tanks and no center divider so it is much easier to catch fish. As to the larger tanks, Ive seen stores run 55 gallons but in my store it would have a bit bigger cichlids so the wider 18" footprint would be my choice.

 

[DMD123]

@fishguy1978 great choices!

Open to everyone, but would you do saltwater at your store or be 100% freshwater? It seems like the saltwater hobbyist tend to spend the money more... tough choice.

 

[fishguy1978]

@fishguy1978 great choices!

Open to everyone, but would you do saltwater at your store or be 100% freshwater? It seems like the saltwater hobbyist tend to spend the money more... tough choice.

I like the Wet Spot model of fresh only. Salt requires a more affluent community.

 

[DMD123]

yeah, I would be freshwater only

 

[DMD123]

Some things I would not carry in my store:
No common pleco, Pacu, or Red Tail catfish. Seen way too many of these fish out there that become unwanted due to the massive sizes they reach and people are not able to properly house them. Likely would include silver Arowana on that list.

 

[sir_keith]

Most likely I would not be stocking Malawian cichlids because of the inability to verify purity of species. Definitely no hybrids of any kind.

Kudos to you for this, but it is still possible to find uncompromised lines if you look hard enough. So another option would be to make a big point of selling only genetically pure fishes. Problem is, as with many of our ideas, it's probably not a financially sound business plan, because most hobbyists don't care. And the hybridization issue is not confined to Malawians; people are doing it deliberately with Neotropicals. I'll be quiet now.

 

[fishguy1978]

Kudos to you for this, but it is still possible to find uncompromised lines if you look hard enough. So another option would be to make a big point of selling only genetically pure fishes. Problem is, as with many of our ideas, it's probably not a financially sound business plan, because most hobbyists don't care. And the hybridization issue is not confined to Malawians; people are doing it deliberately with Neotropicals. I'll be quiet now.

My signature on MFK includes the request "Don't by GMO."

 

[DMD123]

With the popularity of man made mutts it would be a tough call, if as a store owner, would I carry money making fish that I am not a fan of? Blood parrot, short bodied fishes, certain 'flowerhorn' species. I know I would not intentionally sell cross breeds, even though some are cool. Anything cross bred to a convict, Texas, jag or dovii, while super common, I wouldnt do it.

 

[lloyd378]

Each row of tanks would be 3 tanks tall.
The reason:

Top tank: breeding pair of said fish, middle rack, fish for sale, lower rack, fry not yet ready to be sold.

I’d also offer a row of adoption fish….being that my bread and butter are cichlids. I would take in unwanted ( healthy) fish for store credit I probably do 5 in store credit per fish and then rehome them for 5 dollars to a good home. This would not be the money maker but could afford people the option to easily move fish when they move ( think military).

Finally, I’d also do a very large display tank with some monsters in there… like silver arrowanas and sting rays.

My store would be freshwater only. I would also have the store divided into sections like basic every store fish, and fish typically only purchased online via importers.

I’d preferably offer cichlids ( both new world and old world), community fish, and a section for the oddballs.

Of course I’d offer a monthly discount to fishbox members of 20% off total purchase price.

I may have given this some thought before as dom at AP told me he’d sell me his store? But I don’t have the cash to make that transition ( to business owner from teacher) successfully.

 

[DMD123]

An aspect that I think was a basic idea of Aquarium Co-Op was to get fish from local breeders. Ive seen some people who regularly post fish for sale on Craigslist that could become potential suppliers. Ive seen some really awesome looking angelfish, various bn plecos, a couple fancier plecos, various cichlids.

I know there are the ‘bread and butter’ things that you must carry which generally is the fare you find at your Petco or Petsmart but I think I would like to provide some other alternatives. Maybe oddball community fishes, interesting smaller plecos, cory cats that are not the typical ones you see all the time.

A lot of times I think an issue are the wholesalers where most local stores are buying their fish from. Seems like the all are ordering from the same place. Most of us who have been around awhile know where Im talking about since you see stores unboxing their inventory shipments in plain sight. I would be looking for other suppliers so that I would not carry what everyone else has.

While I love the big cichlids I think I would avoid selling the ‘tank busters’ like umbee or dovii. I think that I would look at having a nice selection of small to mid sized cichlids besides the typical convict you generally find.

 

[DMD123]

Bringing this one up because of recent visits to Sierra in Renton and past visits to Midway. Of all things that can be done as a store owner of a fish store? CLEAN THE GLASS! My last visit to Sierra was great in that they had the fish I wanted but the tank obviously had not been serviced in a while. Front glass covered in algae. Also sponge filter so full, I really could not see how it was working. The employee had popped off the air hose to the filter when he was catching the fish and he did not reattach it immediately at that point but walked away to bag my fish. It would have taken a second and they likely will forget about it. lol, rant done...

 

[sir_keith]

I have several friends that who have owned fish stores in the past (yes, past), and all I have to say is that doing what you suggest is fine for a handful of tanks, but not so much when you're keeping 200+ tanks.

 

[DMD123]

I have several friends that who have owned fish stores in the past (yes, past), and all I have to say is that doing what you suggest is fine for a handful of tanks, but not so much when you're keeping 200+ tanks.

In a retail environment where people see the fish they pick out there needs to be a certain level of cleanliness. Front glass cleaned off is not that much when you consider they should at least be doing water changes with a gravel vac unless they are dealing with some closed filter system. If this was done every two weeks there should be at least a halfway clean front glass. My visits to Sierra were spread out over a one month period with three separate visits buying fish from the same tank. It obviously hadnt been kept up in that month of time. Midway is even more filthy.

I will commend Aquarium Paradise in Lakewood for how well you can see the fish in the tanks. They keep the glass clean enough! I feel the same about Aquarium Co-Op, Bridges, and Pet Works. These are all stores where you can see through the front glass.

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Older thread, but since the last post Eurofish opened.

I'm gonna say that layout / building.

But for stocking I'm sticking with that old building and going old school. Classic strains of hardy guppies, angel fish, swordtails, tetras etc... Bettas in larger bowls or the flattened circle tanks with goldfish tubs in the center of the store with different strains. Set up some classic aquariums and fountains for show tanks that double as breeding tanks for the live bearers.

Simple bare bottom tanks to sell fish from. Nice tanks and ponds to draw people in and want those fish.

Obviously I would need to be selling drugs out the back door to turn a profit lol But it would be a nice place to shop for fish