Some things I wish I could find all at one
lfs...
1. Bio-Spira
2. large selection of frozen foods
3. at least a moderate selection of live foods. (One
lfs near me always has a 10
gal tank of brine shrimp going, they keep it on the counter next to the cash register and sell 1-cup bags of the shrimp for 50 cents. I buy a bag everytime I shop there. Another
lfs near me sells live bloodworms, grindal worms, and...hmmm...one other kind.)
4. some nice chunks of driftwood--including some that does not need to be attached to slate in order to stay down
5. wide variety of live plants, marked in such a way it is clear what their light requirements are. (My
lfs does this color-code thing: name in blue ink means low light plant, name in green means moderate light, name in red means high light. And every so often they have a "key" that says low light = under 2
wpg, moderate light = 2-3.5
wpg, high light = 3.5+
wpg) (or whatever, my numbers might be off a tad)
6. fully submersible heaters, not these cr*ppy ones that have to hang on the side of the tank
7. peat moss
8. specialized substrates like Eco-Complete (my favorite), fluorite, etc.
9. ghost shrimp, amano shrimp, cherry shrimp, perhaps others
10. variety of cory cats, especially some pygmy/dwarf corys, which are about the cutest fish on the face of the planet. (Note: please never lump a bunch of different cory species into one tank and sell them as "assorted" corys! grrrrrrr)
11. large 5-gallon buckets for doing water changes. (Yes, I know Home Depot sells them...but if I am a newbie aquarium owner, why should I have to shop anywhere else? This way you can sell them a siphon and a bucket at the same time. If you want, just go buy them from Home Depot and then re-sell them lol.)
12. small tanks (2.5
gal, 5
gal) including lids for them
13. red claw crabs, perhaps even those electric blue "lobsters" (crayfish)--with appropriate "we eat fish" warnings. ADF's and perhaps freshwater newts.
14. breeder nets, tank dividers, java moss and similar "fry" hideouts
15. Aquarium starter sets that YOU put together yourself so they have quality stuff, but that the overall price is still less than buying all the components individually. I am a newbie to this hobby and bought a starter set-up (29
gal) from PetSmart, I think the price was $109 and included the tank (all-glass), hood (single 20W fluorescent), filter (TopFin
HOB), heater (100W by Aquarium Systems), and a small fish net. The problem is, the filter was a piece of garbage, so I ended up having to buy an AquaClear anyways, plus the heater is too small (should be 150W for a 29
gal tank) so I need to replace that too. Very frustrating! For someone "new" to fish, a starter kit already assembled is less intimidating to buy than trying to figure out everything individually, so if you could have starter kits that were of a high quality, I think it would sell.
A few general other thoughts...
1. The #1 factor in whether I will buy fish from a place is the condition of the fish in the tanks. Dead fish left in tanks is almost a guarantee I am not coming back to a place to buy anything, ever again.
2. Do not sell sick fish! At the
lfs I go to most of the time, as soon as an employee notices ich (or whatever) on one of the fish in a tank, the whole tank is marked "NFS" (not for sale).
3. If there is a local tropical fish society, make contacts there. Perhaps offer to donate a few items so they can auction them off, just ask that it get mentioned where the stuff comes from. If the society issues membership cards, perhaps offer a small discount (5% or 10%) for purchases made at your store for anyone who shows a membership card. Also, if the society has a lot of members who regularly breed fish, that might be a nice source of new/unusual fish for your store--offer to buy up fry from some more unusual species (various killifish, etc.)
4. Whatever and however you list the fish, I hate it when all a
lfs does is list the (common) name and a price. Please list the common name, the scientific name, price, and how long the fish gets at adulthood.
5. Do not sell dye-injected fish, and perhaps hang a sign explaining what dye-injected fish are and why you don't sell them. Especially if you are the only
lfs in the area that has taken that position, I guarantee you will get some extra business because of it.
6. Another factor that determines a lot where my money goes as a consumer is the quality of the employees. There is only one place (out of about 10 around me) where the employees are *consistently* excellent in terms of the advice they give. All other things being equal, that is always the place I go and spend my money. And the thing it, it's not a fish-only store even, but a complete pet store (mom & pop, though, not a chain) that sells dogs, cats, birds, etc. Yet the employees in the fish section are by far better than even the employees at several fish-only stores in my area.
Well, you asked for ideas...there are mine! Hope it's not too much.
(sorry i'm addicted to those -- my favorite fish) clown plecos, etc, various types of tetras like cardinals, rummy nose, etc etc.. For the fish, its just what is available. All lfs have the same thing like neons, cory cats, common plecos, goldfish, guppies, etc. Just get some more uncommon things and see how they sell.
