Operation: Pet store stocking

[skiweeangel]

What kind of filtration is it going to be? Every tank with a hob? I've always wonder how bigger fish stores filtered there water.

I asked the woman trust at my LFS petco to show me their filters. She was about to do some maintenance on them and she showed me everything. Then we proceeded to geek out about different types of filters for and hour. She recommended asking about multiple tank filtration and cross contamination anywhere I went to buy fish. Most of the time I just go in ahead of time to scout the tanks before I even think of buying from a place. I've seen some nasty store around here. I bet your store will be beautiful though!

 

[NYgiantsRP]

How did petcos work?

 

[skiweeangel]

How did petcos work?

This store has a room of tanks and their equipment is old but the woman made it work well. 4 15 gal tanks running to one sump under all of them and then pumped back up to each. Pros: easier to maintain one sump than 4 individual HOBs. Cons: If one tank comes down with something all 4 tanks are contaminated. They have about tanks set up like this plus a similar setup for larger tanks right outside this room.

Their feeder fish tanks are right in the middle which I hate to see and that tank is divided into three with individual HOBs. They have a large waterfall circular divided tank with its own sump for plants which they have FINALLY stopped keeping snails in.

 

[jetajockey]

What kind of filtration is it going to be? Every tank with a hob? I've always wonder how bigger fish stores filtered there water.

The small 10-15's are all individually run on corner sponge filters. We do have a saltwater display that has multiple overflows to a central sump also, but that's in storage for now.

That's how bacterial colonies are transferred. I do it all the time in lab. You could do the same thing in your home.

One more thing I thought of today is possibly some kind of fish compatibility chart.

Yeah, the key to the bacteria boosters on the shelf is they claim to have a shelf stable version, so somehow they get the bacteria to go dormant, or slow way down to increase its shelf life. I haven't the slightest as to the merit of those claims.


I actually ordered a fish compatibility poster that has pictures of most of the popular fish and also a chart to show what works with what. I'm sure it's not foolproof but it's a good start and a simple reference for the employees to reference to.

 

[skiweeangel]

Awesome! You're think'!

 

[lpn4]

I would like to to see healthy guppies.

I couldn't agree more. The male guppies in my lfs never look great, the day after shipment, or a few days after shipment. They all mingle at the top of the tank, not really swimming around....maybe fighting for air? Very sad.

 

[emerald76]

So how does it look now? I just came across this thread

 

[tropicalmackdaddy]

SHRIMP
Ive never seen any shrimp besides ghosts. Maybe RCS, tigers, yellows, amano...........

 

[jetajockey]

Eh. It was okay at first, made a few initial stocking orders and all went well, but the owner was kinda all over the place, had way too many projects going on so he couldn't focus on one. In the end I just kinda stepped back and last I heard they are relocating or possibly shutting down. It's a hard business and it just doesn't work without a solid business model.

 

[tropicalmackdaddy]

Eh. It was okay at first, made a few initial stocking orders and all went well, but the owner was kinda all over the place, had way too many projects going on so he couldn't focus on one. In the end I just kinda stepped back and last I heard they are relocating or possibly shutting down. It's a hard business and it just doesn't work without a solid business model.

Bummer