Allie

In the next 2 years we are planning to open our own fish store here in our town. We know what we want to do differently than our local pet stores with fish rooms and the other tropical fish store on the other side of town. We want to do what is best to keep our fish healthy and happy, & have them proper environment.

The problems we have noticed with our fish shops & fish rooms are:
~Staff has limited knowledge on the fish they are selling
~ Overstocked SMALL tanks with all types of fish
~ Filtration system is awful
~ They treat the fish right in the sale tank...should have a quarantine room to put the sick fish
~ Wrong common names of fish & no scientific name
~ No advice given unless you ask & most time they haven't a clue how to help
~ Dirty/messy fish rooms

What things would you want a fish store to have that they don't have know? How would you makes things better?
Thanks guys

MagpieTear

Good start to your list here...
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/ge...ould-know.html

Though, I will say, I have yet to see a sale tank that was not overstocked, anywhere. Elmers (my LFS) has display tanks set up properly with larger/mature fish which you can buy, but the general for sale tanks are horribly overstocked with teeny little fish. And they do have passionate salespeople who do know what they're talking about 90% of the time. but to be honest, you almost have to have it that way to be profitable. Sales profit on even 60 neons is almost nil after overhead. It's the related stuff we go gaga over (ornaments, plants, food, filters ect.) that you make money on.

I would recommend a good select on plants other than just java ferns and hornwort. That's my fish store pet peeve of the moment.

Chief_waterchanger

An overstocked tank at most petstores is a bit different than personal tanks that are overstocked. Most pet stores run sump systems, so yeah the fish may be in a 10g tank, but there may be 1000g of water running through the system (the better stores may even have a UV Sterilizer on the system.) So it is a bit different, but I understand the frustrations of the appearance.

COBettaCouple

i'd love to see bettas treated better.

Cody

sounds like you got some good plans the ..lfs by me has mostly 29 gallon tanks...and for there larger fish...like oscars and what not that people brought in ..and 55 to 75 gallons

susitna-flower

I wish you luck, from what I hear it is very expensive to set up a fish store. With lots of planning I am sure you will do a good job. One thing I feel all LFS's should be are experts in what they are selling. There should not be any bs by young fresh mouthed employees.....THAT in the end will drive away all the serious customers. Start small, but with room to expand as your business grows, and try to locate in an area where there is high traffic, but low overhead....Best of luck!

fishgirl

Have more info about each fish, not just common name...size...temperment. you could Have a book (3ring binder)with detailed info so that your customers can look up more info on the fish.
In the book list what other fishes each fish is compatable with. That way your customers can read up on the fish they are thinking of buying.

Susan

Dino

Have at least 6 months money to pay bills before you even open the doors.
Thats store bills, not personal.

Don't open while you are still setting things up.
Wait until you have everything in place.

sirdarksol

I agree, there is a huge difference between an overstocked personal tank and an overstocked store tank. My favorite fish store has a few extra fish in their standard 30g tanks.
One of the worst fish-specific stores in the area has something like thirty tetras (the bigger varieties, not the neons) in a 20g tank.

I would suggest starting out with the basics, as well as a few of the easier-to-keep oddities. Let your customers know that you're willing to order specialties for them, but you don't want to keep such things in stock, since they would be in the store too long and could risk being in the tanks too long.
This goes back to the difference between fish store "overstocked" and personal "overstocked". A fish store needs to keep fish healthy for several months. Their tanks are not usually set up to keep fish happy for a year or more, and stressed fish become sick fish. This is why I'd rather see a store that has a small handful of bettas than a store that has a stock of forty or fifty. Most stores won't go through that many bettas before they start dying out.

Chief_waterchanger

I would suggest a definate quarentine time not in the tanks the customers will be able to buy from, and prove that you quarentine... have a board maybe that says for example:

<specific strain> of Poecilia Reticulata/fancy guppy will be available <2 weeks from current date>

And realize that housing several strains together is not good. A female guppy has a life expectancy on average of 2 years. 18 months of possible breeding time, 14-16 months of good breeding time.. if 6 months of that is spent throwing a strain of guppy that is not what you are wanting (a half black throwing yellows, blues, etc) then you've wasted half that fish' breeding life just to make it easier on you as a store. Same with swordtail species.

I understand that most people buy them not to breed them, but to look pretty, but probably half your business will come from the small portion of SERIOUS hobbyists that come in.

Dino

What CWC is taking about is a business rule for specialty shops.

90/10, 50/50.

90% of your customers will have 1-4 tanks and will generate 50% of your money.
10% of your customers will have lots of tanks and will generate 50% of your money.

You need to make sure that you have products/livestock that will cater to both groups.

Allie

If we get betta they are going to be wild caught, not the ordinary kind. We'll try not to have too many betta at once so we can tend to less fish to give them more care.

We are hoping to get some people/friend& family to have tanks at their houses too. So we can have lots of space to take care of the fish ect..

Allie

Yup were are planning on having info sheet for people for when they buy fish. Also like a a fish "encyclopedia" What they can & cannot go with.

Allie

We also going to set up a second hand section for used aquarium gear...to help people get into the hobby at less of an expense. It's how we got started.

Allie

The store we frequent, their filtration system is terrible...all the tanks , sick ones too run on the same large filter/sump. It's stupid, it's a small fish room so it could not be hard to run a few smaller sumps/filtration It seems to me the sick tanks' water is going thru the healthy ones. It seem that the tanks that are sick in our store are all in the same section at the same time. There is always sick fish being treated. My bf asked the fish room manager (whom we've come to know) about how the filtration worked. He said, no wonder they have sick tanks tall the time.
I don't under stand all that stuff completely...so it's a good thing that when we open the store open that I'll be taking care of the fish, not the tanks. That is my bf's and other's jobs.

Tom

I think one of the most important things would be, do you want FW, SW, a mix, tropical, coldwater, live plants, equipment(i.e. tanks, test kits, gravel, food, water conditioner, etc.).
Tom

Allie

We are going to have a mix of every type of fish, plants even drift wood...natural decorations, food...and the store isn't going to be crowded. Our lfs is cramped & hard to move around. I am always scared I am going knock down something...plus the men that work there are snobby.
I'd like to be able find out what people in our area are interested in...it seems that cichlids and fancy plecos are very popular around here. There is a select group who only want odd fish, like sting rays, wolf fish etc...all the scary fish BUT will pay the amount needed to expensive rare fish.

Allie

That is definitely a good idea about 6 months worth...we'll start saving that after we move.
We are making sure all the tank are cycled first before adding fish & that the fish are healthy...not like Walmart.

Tom

Where are you moving to?
Tom

Allie

Across town...where we live now is a low class area...we are moving to a nicer, better class of humans. When we first moved here we didn't have much $$$ but things have changed so we decided to get the heck out of this horrible place. It's a shame...the apartments are huge.

MagpieTear

Best of luck with your place, do as much homework as you can, pet stores are shorter term than pizza joints around here. Do keep in mind though, what you and your SO like may not be what the customer is looking for. And the customer is always right, even if they are idiots.

Maybe while you're preparing to move, start questioning your potential customer base to see what you need to stock, what they want from a LFS, and more importantly what they dislike about your competition. Research will give you an idea of what the market is like and even better, will give you ammunition when going to the bank for loans for more display tanks, better computers, a truckload purchase of bubbling diver decorations you got a deal on or whatnot. Bankers love paperwork. They're sick individuals, but they have what we want and need, so we have to play by their obtuse rules.

And it is a business, which by definition is to make a profit. The fact it is your passion and hobby as well will give you a slight edge, but it is still a business. And the secondary definition is the total loss of your time, running a startup business in retail demands 12 or more hours a day from you for the first few years even if you're only open evenings. You're trying to build reputation, find good employees (Never hire friends or family possibly an exceptional spouse whose talents compliment yours but are not the same.)

Not trying to scare you away at all, but speaking from the perspective of someone who failed miserably at being self employed the first try. I will do it again someday, but approach it with a totally different set of expectations instead of plunging in headlong with little more than a dream.

Marc

Keep in mind you make the majority of revenues from dry goods rather than livestock. If you plan to stay in business there are lots of ways to use that WITHOUT pulling a PetCO or "I make money off of sales" kind of deal. Things like varying food - and using fresh food - being GREAT for fish health. Just like changing filter pads regularly, and of course, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc... tanks. Every person you give MTS helps keep your store open.

swords3711

well id love to work for ya but im sorta out of the area

make sure with livebearers to keep the color strains seperated unless you are like me and love cross breeds

Allie

Thanks for the tips all.
I think I am going to get some of our friends who are actively involved in our aquarium societies to check out what other fish besides cichlids are popular in our area. Maybe do up a survey for them to complete.
We know what types of fish sell quick at our lfs and LPS.
We know that we want to try to start our cichlids with wild caught or F1 parents. F1 babies are so beautiful, they all are but F1s color stand out much more.
We won't let any hybridization happen...if they do they will be sold for a much cheaper price than the lfs do here.
There is not one single fish store that is solely fish on this side of the bridge in our town so we have lots of choices for locations. The one on the other side is mainly about marine fish and the men who own the place are snobby. We have started selling fish from our apartment the beginning of this year, and people are responding to our ads. They are willing to come here to buy fish and it's not the nicest of areas (moving soon) so if we have a fish store in a better area people may be even more willing to come and see the fish.

Allie

Thanks...I know that there is a greater possibility of failure, than success. Which is why we are taking a few years to plan it all out, make sure that we have enough money to cover it all and make a profit. One of our fishy connections just closed his fish store after 5 years...he was accepting fish for fish, trading...in the end he was only making enough to barely cover the cost of keeping the store and fish going. We won't be doing that with our customers...unless they have something that someone else is looking for, or something rare.
My boyfriend is the one who is going to be in charge of things...taking a business course as we speak. I am the creative side, he is the mechanical/brains. He is a people person, I am not.
We are only hiring people who are our apart of our fish world. We call them our fishy friends/connections. People who have knowledge in fish that won't make it look like we are like all the other lf/ps.
You won't see our Betta in little jars...or these stupid things they have hanging on the wall in our lfs. They slide in like the filter of a coffee maker. They change the water by holding the Betta in their hands while filling the cup back up with water straight from the tap. There is like at least 50 cups side by side on the wall.