Fix the big box LFS stock list

[SpruceGruve]

3rd: add some casual aquarist-friendly stock. mainly the galaxy rasbora/celestial pearl danio. a tiny fish that looks great and will better fit the 10g tanks that most customers have. also, zebra nerites for algae control (we can't seem to keep mystery snails alive in our tanks...)
.

One LFS in Edmonton,had the same problem with their snails and shrimp,couldn't keep them alive.
Turns out they had very old plumbing and copper was leeching into their tanks.
Now they keep some purigen in their invert tanks and everything is well.

I doubt it but it might he the problem. how old is the plumbing in the store you work at?


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[Glabe]

wow, that letter is pretty awesome. i've only fantasized about writing an impressive letter like that. but it may be time to do it =P

I don't know how old the building/plumbing is. the whole area seems like it can't be much more than a decade old. However, I have had a few competent-looking guys come in saying that the API super strength conditioner is the best thing for Chandler's crappy water. It's the kind that detoxifies heavy metals. then again, you'd think the store's giant fancy filter would get that crap out...

[esoepr1976]

I used to work for a big box store. We had to carry the fish corporate told us to, no wiggle room at all. Bleah. Sometimes I would cheat and make the computer think we had certain fish (brackish) in stock when we didn't, so I didn't have to keep getting them in only to have them die in our freshwater system (or go home to a freshwater tank, only to come back dead to be replaced and/or eventually refunded). As for the mystery snails, they need to be fed. They are not great for algae control, although they may eat some algae. But, really they need to have their own food if they are to live and survive. Any kinds of sinking pellets (a variety is best), and fruits and veggies are good for them. Also, if you salt your system with freshwater aquarium salt, that is not good for them. (they can handle small amounts of salt as long as they don't come directly in contact with it). In our store, then only animals that actually turned a profit were the fish. They were sold for many times the buying price. We actually sold most of our other animals for a loss.

As for popular fish that would do well in little tanks,

the glowing danio's suggested earlier are good--normally I don't advocate fish that have been tampered with, but these were done at a genetic level, and now breed true, they haven't been injected with dye
dwarf platties are also good (they sold well at our store and were soooo cute. They were nice to have for the people who had the littlest tanks of 3-6gallons too)
Dwarf and/or honey gouramis (if you don't already carry them)
cherry barbs are pretty and colorful. They'd like a little more room, but can handle smaller tanks. I'd usually recommend three males and two females for 10g (then the males would have someone to show off for and be much redder) (of course you likely already carry these too)
We would sometimes get clown plecos in as an opportunity buy. They had a cool pattern and didn't get huge. But, they were expensive.
Any of your dwarf cories would be good too. The pandas are great. We carried them for a little while and they were very popular. Even the regular ones that don't get too large are good.

Emily