If you had an aquarium store, what fish would you prioritize?

[CassCats]

I like fishorama's idea. I'd have it so if you can prove you've got the right setup I'd allow special ordering of larger species, but the readily available stuff would definitely be a lot of nanos and I'd also try to cater more towards the local tap water parameters as well.

My area had a new lfs open up and before opening they took a consensus with the aquarium club members and others from local groups of what everyone would want to see in store in our area. And he has delivered that and has been really good over working with his customers--even special ordering harder to find fish. I feel like that's a good approach and it's been awesome watching his store take off as well as it has, considering all our previous lfs closed down during pandemic. We were left with just chain stores for awhile until this new one opened. I feel he has opened in a smart way and has had good quality fish.

 

[anewbie]

I wouldn't be allowed in your store? Gee.

Well maybe....

 

[fishorama]

Many people in my area live in apartments & don't have room for a big tank, hence the 4ft tank limit. Shrimp & plants would be in separate sections as would easy care & nano fish. Locally bred fish, shrimp & plants would be nice...except for the pestiferous overbreeding kinds. Some apistos, some rare, but only sometimes. Ideally I would have separate areas for Asian, SA & a few riverine Africans.

Since it's my store, I would have many smaller loaches & catfish, lol. I don't want to keep them all, but I do want to offer them & enjoy them while they're for sale...Well maybe just a couple more tanks at home...OK, that's why I can't have a store, LOL.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Well maybe....

You could let him in, but I advise keeping a close eye on him. He gives off suspicious vibes.

 

[GaryE]

Reading you guys, my store is going to cost me a lot of fantasy dollars. I'll have to add a plant section, and maybe even some shrimp. With plants beyond the basic low attention needed species, I have a green thumb if turning things into compost can be considered green. I have kept a number of rare fish, including some never before kept or bred in aquariums, and am willing to take a risk with fish. With plants, I am cautious and tend to narrow my possibilities given my low commitment to making them work. I'll work really hard on a fish, but plants? Nah. They must be there, and I have a lot of them. But I choose easy there.

So I'll have to hire a plant expert, and move the shrimp out of the live food aisle.

 

[seangee]

For the making a living part, I'd mostly stock hardy, colorful, interesting fish that are fairly difficult to kill. I suspect those are the ones that pay your bills. Keeping adaptable, smallish-tank-oriented fish would solve a lot of problems.

And that's where it all falls down.
Paid a visit to my local MAQ this morning and wish I hadn't. Haven't been in there since pre-covid.
I live in an area with rock hard water (20 dGH+), yet 90% of their stock is soft water fish. When I asked the reason was that customers find the hard water fish boring and they don't sell.
I tested the staff member I asked to help me (he was cleaning tanks and did not look like a weekend student) by asking if they had any nannostomus marginatus. To his credit he took me straight to them - even though the tank was labelled dwarf pencilfish. I explained that I had 3 and was only checking stock as a backup in case the 3 I have put into a breeding tank turn out to all be the same sex. I then asked if they were in soft water and he said they were in 50/50 tap/RO water. This is still too hard for the species but an improvement from when I bought mine, in those days they simply "conditioned" them by putting them into tap water and selling what did not die within 2 weeks. While we were chatting lots of people were asking staff around me (in the soft water area) for fish. Not once did anyone mention hard or soft water or question when someone asked for one or two of a social species - they were happy to just give the customer what they want.
Most purchasing decisions were based purely on appearance (ooh that's pretty can I have one) and I never heard anyone explaining the charactertics or needs of the fish they were happily bagging up.