Pre Matured Filter

[Alasse]

I run a spare internal filter in my 5ft...that way if i need it or just some of the media for another filter i have it redily available ( i run all internal Ottos)

 

[Aqua Tom]

I run a spare internal filter in my 5ft...that way if i need it or just some of the media for another filter i have it redily available ( i run all internal Ottos)

Great idea. Now if a lfs did the same but on a huge scale, big tank with lots of filters, dosed daily with massive amounts of ammonia, they could sell you a filter & then charge you an extra £15 or so for the mature filter media to go in it (i would pay that). Ta Da instant cycled tank.

 

[mbsqw1d]

The whole "doctor fish" thing is a side issue, we seem to of got sidetracked, my main point was about selling a pre matured filter & what a good idea that would be.

oops! It's a top banana idea. Unfortunately it will never happen

Places such as P@H are the supermarket of the lfs and taking over just like your Tescos and Asdas etc. P@H make money from the fact that peoples fish die due to the advice they received from P@H in the first instance. (Such as, fill your tank, leave running for 3 days and then add fish). I'm sure someone high up who's running P@H is aware of cycling etc, its just that they dont care, because animal welfare laws don't provide enough legislation for the correct treatment of fish. Its sad but true.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with mbs, by now Tom you are a rare bird. Someone could walk in to 20 homes with tanks, including yours, and you might be the only one out of those 20 that actually understands what's going on inside the filter on the tank. Having the patience to keep fish at all is rare, actually understanding what you're doing is much rarer still.

For every one of us, the number must be huge (30? 50?) of people who come in to a shop, buy equipment and fish and go with it for a short period, only to turn around and sell it or give it away after the initial interest fizzles. These are by far the main customer group. I don't think we knowledgeable customers respresent the -least- profitable group (since we do a lot of repeat business) but we would probably be closer to the bottom than the top. The top profitability groups are the wide-eyed customers being handed bacteria in a bottle and medications and lighted decorations. The top executives know that and are focused on the "margin" from all those bottles and proprietary filter media packs, not on things that increase labor within the individual store I think.

From time to time I've even read threads of individual stores that actually did a version of what you're describing - after all, many independent LFSs are basically started and run by nut-case hobbyists similar to ourselves who often have little clue about business but love the hobby (it's just that there are so few of them that happen to have the kind of cash it takes to start and run a business!) Who knows? Someone may eventually find the right formula for doing a Pre-Matured Filter business!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

The whole idea of a pre-matured filter seems like a good idea to me Tom. I have seen several threads over the years that suggested that fish could be used as a way to remove dead skin from people in some kind of symbiotic method.
Although I have no experience of such a method, if the fish are maintained in a healthy environment by having appropriate water conditions and feedings, I have no objection to people being allowed to place their feet into the tank that holds the fish. What people can expect from doing so strikes me as immaterial to the fish's welfare. As long as the fish are well cared for, why not allow people to add their feet to the tank. My own fish will pick at my fingers if I leave them in the tank after a feeding so I doubt that similar circumstances will harm fish in a commercial setting. Although it may not address the original concern, I doubt that having fish present in a basically commercial setting is itself a problem.