Odering Fish For Lfs

[Nick16]

silver tip tetras

 

[shibby]

discus are big sellers at my lfs.

il try and get a run down of what i sell most of.... mainly tetras, neons, cardincals, rummeys, glowlights

pentazona, tiger and denisonii barbs do well as well. sharks rtbs, ruby, i dont find albino do as well .

dont try and make the tanks too comftable catching things in a furnished tank is damn annoying! i use piping for loaches makes them easier to catch!

 

[always4lora]

With the discus wouldnt it be better to do them for each order, so if someone asks then get them , saves having them sat around, my LFS is pretty small and has like 12 2ft tanks with little things in like juvi angels and gouramis but will order almost anything in if you ask him. Saves him having a massive shop and he's only given the customert exactly what they want

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Green Anus Corries

Dude, i gotta get me some of those


Edit: forgot to reply to the original post Like davo said, you have to get the bread and butter fish first. Tetras like neons, cardinals, rummynose, brass, phantom, etc. Basic livebearers, corys, loaches, dwarf cichlids are all good too. Instead of clown knives, try some brown knives because its really hard to find a person who can house clowns. Texas and flowerhorn are more specialty. Since the store is still new, you should see what the people want first before you start ordering them. Just be open to suggestions on orders if they ask you about it. It is also good to scout out other shops to see what they sell. Shops around my area dont do too well with discus because there is a shop that specializes in discus not too far away. Usually shops have a specialty, and everybody goes to that shop for that specific fish. All shops have the bread and butter fish though for the people who arent really hobbyists. The shop I worked at had a specialty in flowerhorn and monsters. Other stores had like a few just for those people who are just getting into it, but we dominated that market. Just keep in mind that a fish store is a business and you gotta get what sells. My advice would be to just get bread and butter fish for now and maybe one specialty fish just to wow the customers.

Ray

 

[kribensis12]

With the discus wouldnt it be better to do them for each order, so if someone asks then get them , saves having them sat around, my LFS is pretty small and has like 12 2ft tanks with little things in like juvi angels and gouramis but will order almost anything in if you ask him. Saves him having a massive shop and he's only given the customert exactly what they want

But, see if they see the fantastic Discus there, they will belike, man i want one, and after i find out what kinda tank ect. they have, they can get one. Not everyone knows waht a discus is.

^ Our shops specialty is Marine, they have anything and everything you could imagine. We have no specialty shops around here, just a petsmart and petco. But this store already has many clients.

 

[kevinthecow]

Where's the betta option?

Also, where are the invertabrates? ):


African Dwarf frogs,
African Clawed frogs,
Blue Crayfish,
Amano Shrimp,
Cherry Shrimp,
Bamboo/Wood Shrimp,

etc.etc.



Also, when ordering Swordtails/Platies, can you choose the type you want? If you have many types of swordtails, (blue lyre, neons, green, koi etc etc) it can attract customers from it's colours. (COLOURFUL TANK! )

uh, tetras are always fun. Is it possible you could do glow lights, neons, rummynoses, black, etc.?

Cory's sell pretty fast, IME at my lfs.
Krib, i forgot but where's your lfs located at?

 

[joecoral]

One thing I would say, is don't be too ambitious straight off the bat. Whilst you may be good at keeping fish in your own personal tanks, there are more things to consider when keeping them in a store
As said by Davo, you need to get stuff which will sell, not just things you think are cool.
Is it all one big system, or are the tanks individually filtered?
Another thing, also as previously said, whilst tanks full of plants and wood may look great and make the fish colour up, it is a major pain in the bum catching fish in a tank like that, and you'll rip up all the plants swirling the net around after the fish in no time.
I personally would go for:
tetras
livebearers
angelfish
rainbowfish
cory's
plecs
loaches
barbs
dwarf cichlids

Things like discus occupy a specific niche. Whilst people may come in and go "wow, they look cool, what are they? I want one!", they more than likely will not buy them as the discus will most likely not be suitable for the tank they already have

 

[kribensis12]

I dont plan on making it impossible to catch them. I mean, 2 plastics plants, a rock, and something to hide in isnt too bad. Thats what they did at a lfs that used to be open. I am getting things that sell. It isnt fair to the store to get things that dont sell.

KEVIN: Peoria, Illinois. Nowhere near you. We can chose all kinds of color varities.

 

[rabbut]

Right, I'd scrap the Discus for now ulnless you can garrentee that you can shift them within a few weeks. In a 1 month old system, they will flake and die if kept any longer than a fortnight probibly Hold fire on them untill their intended tank has been going 6 months before ordering them if there is ANY chance that they will be sitting arround. To do well with discus, you need someone on your staff that knows their stuff on them inside out, upside down and backwards, or people will loose interest quickly. By know their stuff, I don't mean the text book answer you posted above (no offence ment here ). Discus can't read, so you need to understand them and the many ways of keeping them, or they won;t behave as you would expect in a given condition. In many cases, the text books are wrong Keep modern tank bred stock in soft water in a shop and they will be nothing but endless trouble. Aim for a mildly basic pH and medium hardness, and this is all they will have seen since birth. Idealy, aclimate ALL stock to local tap water, excluding malawis, or it will flake over in customers tanks, and that is the shop's reputation down the pan.

Congratulations on you new job, you must come across as realy knowing your stuff if they offered it to you without asking

Just remember that you are not keeping fish at home anymore, and that must influence your decisions there If it won't make you money, don't do it, simple as. Presentation is key. Dress the tanks so they look attractive, but keep it minimal. Avoid hiding places. With 35 tanks in a large store, you cannot practically QT, so all fish in the systems must be on sale, or you won't be able to keep up with demand if the store picks up. With hiding places, you will miss bodies and early infections and raise complaints from customers are a result.

Look at it another way. If you have got your choice of what to stock correct, it will only be there about 2 weeks maximum once on-sale, so it won't have a chance to fully colour up before sale Where possible, light from the front, as it brings out the colours. Aim for Blue spectrum tubes, preferably with some red, again for the colour, and keep all backgrounds as substrates dark again to showcase the washed-out colours in the best possible way.

Finaly, your supplyer is key. If the stock turns up poor, or goes over fast in your customers tanks, it's time to switch Well bred fish will easily take the stress of being moved fast without going down with anything IME, and if it doesn't, there is no quality in the stock. You are your customers will benefit from a change

A point overlooked regularly is that of sterilising equipment across tanks. Copper cure overdosed in a central buket, into which all equipment is dipped between uses is an ideal way of doing this, but all staff should be aware that the solution is Carecionogenic (sp?)

Compaired to hobby fish keeping, the retail environemt is a real shock to the system. Back room processes in many "well respected" fish stores is likely to upset many on here. To keep the shops reputation and maintain animal welfare cost-effectively, some things must be done differently to how they are done at home. I can garrentee that at some point you will find a conflict of interest between your hobby and job Find a way of entering that situation prepaired... In the highly likely event that you enjoy your job though, even at 15, you can make a realy good go at the store and drum up a large an loyal cutomer base with far better than adverage knowlage

Sorry to end on a slightly ominous tone

All the best
Rabbut

 

[kribensis12]

^ We werent planning on getting the Discus right now, they are for later. We were just throwing the idea around. They have a 120 gallon tank for any sick fish, and every 8 or so tanks runs in a differnet systm, to avoid contamination. He is going to run copper in most his tanks, and i will tell hima bout a bucket of Copper for the nets. I will have to think carefullly over what im doing, but right now, i just wanted idea's of what we needed and ect. We are getting them from good suppliers, im also trying to source some local breeders.

 

[orange shark]

i'd say the best selling fish are:

Neon Tetras
Guppys
Platys
Mollies
Cardinal Tetras
Rummynose Tetras
Dwarf Gouramis
Red Honey Gouramis
ADFs
Albino corys

 

[rabbut]

I will have to think carefullly over what im doing, but right now, i just wanted idea's of what we needed and ect. We are getting them from good suppliers, im also trying to source some local breeders.

That is a good approach to take. You can't go far wrong with that

All the best
Rabbut

 

[paul123]

maybe also a few Bronze Cory's

 

[kribensis12]

^ To True. They sell well also.

 

[Davo86]

^ To True. They sell well also.

I realise that you say you will be using the 55 for Discus, eventually but for now you could turn it into a 'wow' tank
i.e. take some of the slightly rarer species, like 1 Tetra shoal, cory group, few pairs of bigger fish etc.. and make one well decorated tank where you can talk customers through things such as top,middle,bottom swimmers, compatibilities etc ect.
you could also decide to show in this tank beginner plants such as java fern, Give the customer an idea of what can be achieved within their aquarium.