Stocking Questions :)

[danielcp]

Howdy, well I've still yet to be offically hired but I've pretty much parked myself in the store during free time to maintain the tanks and assist customers etc...

Right now the tanks have the following (I've re-arranged a few and have yet to update the tanks)

I also have a total of 4 of the 25 gallon sections free... I'll be adding some Clown and Royal pleco's to the lineup shortly but aside from that I need suggestions. Here's what I've got so far.

I also just picked up some Oto's for myself and I do believe I will be stocking those as well and tossing the CAE's.

From the looks of the tanks the Australian Rainbow's aren't selling either so their gone, also the Large Cichlids are gone as well... mainly because the fact that there's less than 1/2" difference between the mediums and larges... not enough size difference to be worth selling the larges.

Tank 1: Large Cichlids Assorted
Tank 2: Medium Cichlids Assorted
Tank 3: Small Cichlids Assorted
Tank 4: Snails, Dragon Fish & Ghost Shrimp
Tank 5: Convict, Pink Convict, Jewelmouth, Firemouth, and Texas Cichlids.
Tank 6: Australian Rainbow and Clown Knifefish.
Tank 7: Jack Dempsey
Tank 8: Assorted Angelfish
Tank 9: Assorted Gourami and Kissing Gourami.
Tank 10: Zebra, Gold Zebra &White Cloud Dianos.
Tank 11: Bloodfin, Serpae, Glassfish, Pristella Tetras
Tank 12: Flame, Redeye & Bloodfin Tetras
Tank 13: Clown Loaches, Black Fin Sharks, Red Belly Pacu, Albino & Rainbow Shark
Tank 14: Assorted Mollies
Tank 15: Albino & Bronze Cory, Swordtails, Silver Hatchetfish, Yoyo & Hillstream Loach
Tank 16: Small Goldfish
Tank 17: Blackskirt & Blind Cave Tetras, Silver Dollar
Tank 18: Empty minus a few pleco’s
Tank 19: Green, Tiger, Cherry, Albino, and Tinfoil Barbs
Tank 20: Blood Parrots.
Tank 21: Albino, Black, Red Tiger and Red Oscars
Tank 22: CAE’s, Neon Tetra, Harlequin Rasbora, & Guppies.
Tank 23: Assorted Platies
Tank 24: Feeder Fish
Tank 25: Lionhead, Comet and Ryukin Goldfish
Tank 26: Larger Fantail goldfish
Tank 27: Assorted Koi and Black Moor.

 

[Allivymar]

Coupla thoughts/suggestions.

Can the clown knifefish and the pacus and make em special order; most folks won't have big enough tanks to house those suckers.

Take one of the empties and make a shrimp tank! Cherry shrimp, bamboo shrimp, all the more unusual shrimp that are usually hard to find in LFS; they're pretty cool and should do well.

 

[Endgame319]

A shrimp tank sounds neat, I wish my lfs sold more than just ghost shrimp

 

[Madame_X]

Can the clown knifefish and the pacus and make em special order; most folks won't have big enough tanks to house those suckers.

One of the stores here in town had a tank FULL of baby redtail catfish over the weekend. Literally DOZENS of them. That one worried me--they were so cute (about 3 inches) but they get enormous.

The store is pretty good about at least asking people what kind of tank they have, but I doubt they would refuse anyone who wanted to buy one even if their tank was too small.

That's one of those fish that shouldn't go in anything smaller than 150 gallon tank.

 

[Allivymar]

Omg; even a 150g is too small in the end. Those puppies get HUGE! I know I've posted this pic before, but this time take a close look in the backround. The redtail cat back there is actually almost twice the size of the pacus in the front; he's just in the back of that enormous tank (btw, don't carry redtail cats either daniel *grin*):

 

[TankGirl]

Where is the pic? I don't think I have seen it before. I must wholeheartedly agree about the RTC and I don't think they should be kept in aquariums at all. I was drawn to them a while back when I saw one in a tank at PetsMart, because the colors were so striking, but thank me lucky stars I googled it first!

What about some dwarf puffers? That is something that people seem to want and can't always find. Correct me if I am wrong, but is this the shop where all of the tanks are on the same water system? I was going to suggest a brackish selection but if it is not separate then you can't do it. How about plants?

 

[danielcp]

We've got a small variety of plants but nothing too fancy, not enough lighting and the supplier the place uses doesn't carry a lot.

Yah unfortinuately its all on a shared water system which limits what I can get as well.

I'm not too worried about the larger fish, the store's smack dab in the most affluent place in AL so some of the shoppers indeed have 100g+ tanks.

 

[AdamsZoological]

Seeing redtails in fish stores is just sick. I doubt even 1 in 1000 people have a tank even close to large enough for those things. you're talking a 4ft+ fish, which means, a tank in excess of 700 gallons just to give them enough room to turn around, and thats hardly a comfortable life for a fish. Personally, I think redtails are one of those fish that need bans placed on them being sold in retail stores. How many people have you met in a pet store that have a 700gal tank, or bigger, that are willing to devote it to one catfish?

 

[danielcp]

I wasn't refering to the catfish The biggest fish we sell is the clown knife, and the one I sold was going in a 200g and their max size is clearly marked on the tags so no mistake on how big they get for potential buyers.

 

[AdamsZoological]

I wouldnt trust those tags, Considering the fact of what I see most people label as max size for Irridescent Sharks...8", come on now, Irridescent sharks get in the area of 48" long. I'd be interested to know what the labels say as max size for Clown Knifefish.

 

[danielcp]

40 inches, although most resources say 3 feet, and generally 2-2 1/2 in an aquarium setting.

 

[AdamsZoological]

Ok, thats pretty accurate, I've seen plenty that have been way off though. I always like to tell people to check with a second source, just to be certain.

 

[danielcp]

Yah, I always investigate the fish on the net before I buy, so I take that same attitude with these fish, and most of the employee's are good about pointing out sized.

 

[AdamsZoological]

Definately very good to hear, and the store you go to, may very well be an exception, if so, consider yourself very lucky. I've just come to be very distrustful of any info either listed in any fish stores, as well as advice given by their employees

 

[danielcp]

Thats very understandable, and thats why I'm investing so much unpaid time into this store, is because of all of the fish stores around here that was the only one with a decently educated fish guy, so after spending as much money as I have at that store I'm not about to let the fish goto waste because my fish guy left.

Nice thing is the manager doesn't care what I do as long as the fish stay alive .

 

[AdamsZoological]

Sounds like a great situation there, should taek full advantage of it. Can definately use an opportunity like this to be sure people get properly educated