sumpnfishy
Aquarium Advice Activist
I was wondering if anyone had insight on dealing with selling to a LFS. I've been testing the waters (pun intended) on raising fish to sell to local chains. So far I've been getting the hang of breeding and raising Angelfish fry. One local chain has been willing to buy from me in small quantities, but at a steady pace.
Nothing to get rich on but to offset the costs and maybe someday figure out a way to make a profit.
So here's my issue. There are 2 locations close to me and I've been selling them the fish pretty cheap ($1) and they sell them for $4 to $5. Since I'm getting started it's more about establishing a business relationship than money.
The problem is that my fish are living a healty life in my 55 Gal grow out tanks with no fish loss at all. I sell them between 15 to 25 fish and everything seems fine. I check the next week and they say they lose several fish after a few days, but not always. In some cases the fish losses were at least 10 days after I delivered them.
I've worked with them on their water parameters (it's hard city with a pH of 8 or more) by conditioning my fish to live in that range, again with no fish loss of my own.
Since they are my customer, how should I approach this? I tossed in some free ones on one of the last orders to help them out. I'm just not sure if there is more I can do as they must not lose that many from their regular supplier.
Any insight from others who sell to LFS or LFS owners/managers would be appreciated. There is another local chain I can approach but these stores are real close to my house so I would like to get this worked out with them first before I expand. I hope to breed cories as well and maybe grow plants to make this someone profitable. But I need to decide if this is an issue I can address or is it just their inability to maintain their tanks?
Nothing to get rich on but to offset the costs and maybe someday figure out a way to make a profit.
So here's my issue. There are 2 locations close to me and I've been selling them the fish pretty cheap ($1) and they sell them for $4 to $5. Since I'm getting started it's more about establishing a business relationship than money.
The problem is that my fish are living a healty life in my 55 Gal grow out tanks with no fish loss at all. I sell them between 15 to 25 fish and everything seems fine. I check the next week and they say they lose several fish after a few days, but not always. In some cases the fish losses were at least 10 days after I delivered them.
I've worked with them on their water parameters (it's hard city with a pH of 8 or more) by conditioning my fish to live in that range, again with no fish loss of my own.
Since they are my customer, how should I approach this? I tossed in some free ones on one of the last orders to help them out. I'm just not sure if there is more I can do as they must not lose that many from their regular supplier.
Any insight from others who sell to LFS or LFS owners/managers would be appreciated. There is another local chain I can approach but these stores are real close to my house so I would like to get this worked out with them first before I expand. I hope to breed cories as well and maybe grow plants to make this someone profitable. But I need to decide if this is an issue I can address or is it just their inability to maintain their tanks?