Ideas for Fish Store

Oh, DansMarineTank just gave me an idea.

Why not a cleanup crew for FW tanks? Call it a marketing gimmick, but I bet it would sell if you "package" them by tank size. Eg: post a sign with a listing of cleanup crews by tank sizes and a "sale" price. Eg: shrimp and snails for tanks under 10, cories and SAE for tanks 10-20g, and so forth.

I've not seen crews for FW tanks, just marine.

Just a thought.
 
I'm with B-Fan and Roan...especially if it's the type of store that attracts the hard core aquarium geek...lol....

Go with the unuasual hard to find stuff........but also have some of the types of fish that newbies need to start out with, like the guppies, swords and the like...but maybe try stocking unusual varieties of those......DONT forget the shellies, definitly shellies...all types of shellies....lol....and blue rams and bolivian rams are a definite must have...as long as you can find a good stock of blue rams...I have been hearing lots of folks who are having difficulties with thiers staying alive for very long.

I would also suggest a "fish of the month" type program...where you have a bullitin board or something with a nice big beautiful pic of the type of fish you want to promote and the type of environment they live in.....along with lots of interesting information about them and the type of water they do best in and species they can 'tank up' with...if any. And have one tank that you can have right by the board that is an ideal type setup for that fish...substrate and all.....I suppose that last part would be a bit of a pain to have to change that every month....lol.....but I think you would get people coming in just to see what "this months" tank looks like.

That would be a job that I would LOVE to have !! (designing tank layouts is my favorite thing about the hobby...MAN, what I would do if I didn't have to PAY for all the stuff I'd like to have for my tanks!) If you did similar species back to back you may not have to change it much EVERY month.....and using fake plants instead of live would probably have to be the rule in that one...but there are lots of very nice looking silk plants available these days.

I have been thinking of sharing that idea with a particular lfs in my area.....sure would like a job there....lol...!
 
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ttan said:
I always keep my eyes out for hetermorpha espei when I go to a fish store
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The kind of rasbora? Ironic, he had one in there yesterday.

I am helping him make it look more like a pet store... organizing etc. A lot of the fish are just all mixed up so yesterday I was working on seperating them and organizing them into species tanks. Next I'm going to ask him if I can put some gravel in the tanks, and ask about putting prices on the tanks.

He's really subjective, you go in there and ask about a fish and he just kind of thinks about it a second and gives you a price. I'm just afraid that price varies based on how well he knows you and stuff. I've known him for like a year since he opened, he's really casual and laid back, probably a little bit too much so. His marine section is beautiful though, he's got seahorses, sharks, big horseshoe crabs and lionfish and everything. But his products and his freshwater need help.

I agree bosemani, that's why I am trying to get him to open a brackish section, for all the oddballs out there. He's kind of a fish dealer, he travels all over the state and collects marine fish for his store. EMG- yeah, he sets up tanks for people. That's why he needs me, between his fish collecting and setting up tanks, he only really has one other person in there who runs the store (and now me, wooho).

I am super paranoid though. He had me reaching into tanks with nets and stuff, and I had just stupidly Naired my arms the night before, combined with my topical acne meds.... eek.... beforehand I was washing and rinsing and rinsing and I sat there smelling my hands and arms to see if I had any traces of the stuff, I think I washed sufficiently but I'm still paranoid that I intoxicated his water and killed all his fish :eek:
 
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Liz,

Before I put my hands in any of my tanks, I wash with anti-bacterial soap, and rinse REALLY well. Then I scrub my hands and arms with vinegar and a VERY soft brush. Rinse until you can barely smell it.

The vinegar removes all of the soap residue and the light smell also helps to remind you that you already washed your hands and "disinfected" :)

Oh, and because vinegar removes the soap so well, it also helps prevent you from getting dry skin or chapped hands.

My 2 cents
Roan
 
You might try lemon juice if you don't like the vinegar smell...:D
Does the same thing. If you do that, you may want to lotion up when you leave work. I could see that drying your skin over the long term.

I have a great lfs I go to. Some things he has are the rainbow fish, I got my Bosemani's there, and he had a few others too. clown loaches, kuhli loaches..bristlenose plecos...discus...knifefish...a nice selection of cichlids and gouramis. He has a freshwater ray once...I felt sorry for it becasue the tank was rather small. Instead of actually stocking some of the oddballs...he might be better off to develop a list of ones taht he can get for people...and post with pics. then he won't be stuck with an expensive fish. Just a thought. A list with a pic and a description of the size of tank it should have...:D
 
Thanks roan, I'll do that next time, that is if I still have a job and didn't kill all the fish... I used a little dish soap and then rinsed and rinsed and rinsed some more. Then after a few minutes I went back and rinsed again. Haha.

Nursie- haha.... I love the icon thing... I recently got out of an institution thing (on thursday) and we had a nurse there I called Ratched. I don't think anybody else got it, but it amused me, and that's all that matters when you are locked up...
"hey Ratched, I need my drugs please kthxbye"
 
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Lemon juice. Hrm, I shoulda thought of that :)

Oh, just thought of something. Rainbows are great fish for beginners that want a larger tank. They grow from 3" to 5", depending on the specie, schooling fish, and are pretty hardy. If someone comes in with or wanting a 29g+ tank, you could recommend them. Could stock different specie depending on the size they grow to. Something for every sized beginner tank.

Roan
 
African Cichlids are the hot commodity for alot of newer fishkeepers these days. I'd suggest a African section, not just a tank of "Asst'd Africans :mad: "
I too will suggest stocking species that the other LFS's in your area don't normally carry and hard to find species. Make a name for the shop locally and regionally as a shop with quality, healthy hard to find species.

Don't sell dyed or hybridized fish.

Meticulously maintain tanks and have a specific qaurantine section.

Have a "Foster Fish" area or tanks available, many people want to get rid of large fish or buy large fish. Sell these fish for the cost of your upkeep.

Be willing to special order customer request, customer should be required to place a conditionally-refundable* deposit on special orders.
*Refundable only if the fish don't arrive healthy and as ordered, I would go so far as to have a legal 'contract to buy' or pre-pay on expensive species or large orders.

I love the idea of a board listing "Janitorial crews", for various tank sizes, with a big educational caption on the bottom saying something like,
"There is no fish that eats POOP! Cleaning POOP is your job...
Check out our selection of Pythons and Gravel Vacs and other asst'd maintenance supplies."

I would like to see a board listing the steps necessary to keep healthy fish, something like,
(1) Have a idea of what fish you want, and purchase appropriate equipment.
(2) Fully cycle the tank, understand the Nitrogen cycle and importance of test kits.
(3) Buy your stock and acclimate properly.
(4)Have a regular weekly tank maintenance schedule.
ect ect......

My store and employees would provide sound advise and education.
 
ChileRelleno said:
Have a "Foster Fish" area or tanks available, many people want to get rid of large fish or buy large fish. Sell these fish for the cost of your upkeep.
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What an awesome idea! A lot of pet shops have a dog and cat adoption area, why not fish?

Roan
 
He does the foster fish stuff. He keeps fish for people when they are moving or cycling a tank or whatever, and he's basically a fish dealer.

I'm only 16 and his business is kind of rocky but he said I have carte blanche in his store because he thinks I am making it look more like a pet store. He says he can use me like 8 hours per week, on weekends.

Thanks for the suggestions. I definately want to get some information available on the freshwaters (he doesn't know much about them), as well as more of a variety. Right now, he only has prices on a few of the tanks, and only a few of the freshwater tanks have gravel and the inconsistancy bugs me, so I definately have some basics I need to bug him about...

Also, I did not kill his fish, so I am happy. But I will definately do the vinegar stuff next time.
 
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