Would a "Whole Foods" Pet Fish store work?

Hello,

I recently set up an aquarium and have been overwhelmed by the knowledge that you can find on these forums!

I mostly bought supplies from walmart and petco.

I also visited a mom and pop local shop...left pretty quickly. It was awful just looking at it.

Anyways, I have been thinking. the conditions in Petco were the best of all of those, but it still left some to be desired I felt. The fish were kept in pretty cramped spaces. The bettas especially were ill-treated, being put in those tiny little bowls and stacked on top of each other.

What if you could create an aquarium store that was kind of like whole foods? create better conditions for the fish, breed them onsite as much as possible, have it be a place that people go for fun just to watch fish like a public aquarium, have giant tanks from knee height to above head level filled with swimming fish.

Have a selling point being that fish kept this way are healthier. Part of the plan would be to entice people with this setup to want their own custom installations in their homes and offices.

There probably are really good fish stores around...thoughts?

 

Imo, business is centered on money. No matter what we may think or dream about, owning our own fish stores, giving all the fish appropriate space and having beautiful clean setups and only knowledgeable staff, with all the right products, its always money. Money money money. You will end up having to either cramp some fish or not have nearly as much stock as you'll need, which may lower customer income if you don't have a large variety. Individual cycled filter tanks are not easy to maintain when its a fishstore(though, lol, there are some members on here who have TONS of tanks, and do this stuff daily).

However, I do believe that some stores could certainly do better, much better. Being that I produce tilapia on the farm, I know what its like to WANT to give the fish more space, but knowing its out of range. I don't want to have 50-200 1-4" fish in a 75 gallon tank, however, that's how it is at times. Atleast in fish stores, the cramped spaces are only ment to be temporary right?

 

I agree - everything costs money so you would have to recoup the expenses some how....

 

+1 to above posts

 

Hello,

I recently set up an aquarium and have been overwhelmed by the knowledge that you can find on these forums!

I mostly bought supplies from walmart and petco.

I also visited a mom and pop local shop...left pretty quickly. It was awful just looking at it.

Anyways, I have been thinking. the conditions in Petco were the best of all of those, but it still left some to be desired I felt. The fish were kept in pretty cramped spaces. The bettas especially were ill-treated, being put in those tiny little bowls and stacked on top of each other.

What if you could create an aquarium store that was kind of like whole foods? create better conditions for the fish, breed them onsite as much as possible, have it be a place that people go for fun just to watch fish like a public aquarium, have giant tanks from knee height to above head level filled with swimming fish.

Have a selling point being that fish kept this way are healthier. Part of the plan would be to entice people with this setup to want their own custom installations in their homes and offices.

There probably are really good fish stores around...thoughts?

It's a wonderful idea, however like other people mentioned it comes down to money. But I'll take it a step further being on the other side of the coin. When you lay out that money that means you have to have higher prices to recoup your overhead. When you sell X fish for Y amount and Petco/PetSmart sells that same X fish for Z, which is less than your X, more often than not people are going to buy that fish at Petco. Yes you came here to investigate your purchases, arm yourself with knowledge, etc. But for every one person on this board there's at least a dozen others who are casual keepers and won't go that extra mile.

People say a lot with their mouths, buy American, quality over cost, etc but when it comes down to it, their wallets speak louder and the truth. Especially in this economy.