# starting a fish store, anyone have info or links



## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

me an my dad own a store front that we are thinking of converting half of it into a fish store. Does anyone have any links that talk about what all is required or any information on starting a fish store at all?

we would mainly do african's and then some tropical fish as well. we have an area 20 feet by 35 feet that we could use.

Do most fish stores have some type of battery or generator back up power in case the power goes out?

Also do you heat tanks individually or does the heater go in the sump?

how do fish stores prevent against diseases? Do they automatically treat their water for parasites?

me and my dad have about 40 years of combined fish experience. ALso does anyone have a rough idea of what small fish store start up cost would be? (under 10k?)

any info would be great.


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## bobberly1 (Dec 2, 2006)

Most stores heat the room itself, but if the other half's something that isn't conducive to 78 degree temps year round, I'd heat the sump. Some stores use a UV sterilizer in the sump to prevent disease. Use glass-holes.com for your glass drills, bulkheads, etc. I'd ask people at the stores you go to, in a way that makes it clear not not attempting to be competitive of course.


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## Intermision (Sep 14, 2007)

The best way to filter a lot of tanks is with a blower setup running sponge filters or UGs. This cuts out the chance of disease spreading. Honestly the best way to heat the tanks is to heat the room they're in. If you already have the store then startup costs would be minimal.


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

Yes we already own the store. We would be converting a section of it that has held dusty furniture and some collectables for about a year or so.

The UV steralizer sounds like a good idea but that would only work if you did a sump right?

What intermission recommended wouldn't require a UV Steralizer because all the tanks would be seperated anyway.

Are blowers loud? We need it to stay at a normal fish store volume.

Which method is easier for adding more tanks as we go? using a sump or a blower method?

Also if i wanted to have 8 diff species of mbuna that i would eventually breed would this work?

8 55g species only for breeding (or could i put more than one species in a tank?)
8 10g's & 8 20g's for growout. And then have a few 55g's for displaying the fish for sell. Or if they wanted smaller unsexed ones i could take them out of the 20g.

my dad wants to do tropicals and i dont have any experience there. He said he mainly likes livebarers, catfish, and he would also want common goldfish.


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## Intermision (Sep 14, 2007)

If your trying to make money off of this then it's best to buy your fish. It's not cost effective. If you have the blower in a closet you can barely hear it. If you need to add tanks on a blower system all you have to do is put in more airlines, which makes adding tanks really easy.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Intermision said:


> If your trying to make money off of this then it's best to buy your fish. It's not cost effective. If you have the blower in a closet you can barely hear it. If you need to add tanks on a blower system all you have to do is put in more airlines, which makes adding tanks really easy.


+1.

If you want a quiet fish store good luck! 

But like mentioned you could put the blower in a closet and just sound proof the walls with foam I suppose.

I would also experiment with the heating. I wouldn't depend solely on room temps and Im not sure if I have ever been in a fish shop that didnt heat the water some other way. You need to make the environment comfortable for customers. I deal with it but I hate going into stinky, hot, humid shops.

Central systems are great inventions but there is also a very big draw back. All the tanks in that system are subject to the same temps and parameters. UV sterilizers would work for disease and all but I have still seen many central systems spread sickness to tanks regardless.


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Companies like Marineland sell all inclusive set-ups like this. Pretty quiet. Not sure if you can find this stuff used, but it does pop up on Craigslist every once and a while.

Most money made comes from dry goods and food I reckon.

I think the tanks heat our LFS.... I made the mistake of dropping in first thing Saturday morning before the owner fired up the A/C. It was like a sauna in there. :lol:

-Ryan


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

so it would be more cost effective just to buy all my juvies in bulk and sell them out then to breed them and sell them at the same place?

that does make sense. it will be alot of tanks if i did all that breeding.

i like the idea of having all the tanks seperated so i am deff looking into the blower idea. I still dont know much info on blower systems so i need to do some researching on that.

i think yall are right that i would also need to have some type of heater on each of the tanks. (i dont think customers would like it 78-80 degrees inside the store when it is 100 degrees outside in the summer)

also what about back up power? do i need a generator or some type of battery backup at least to keep the filters running? in case of a power outage. which do happen regular durning our storm season.

thanks for all your input so far. My dad is ready to get this rolling so i do appreciate any info i receive.


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

whoops..double posted the same thing


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Are you looking to sell fish you've bred, or just sell "fish"?

My understanding of the "business" end of things, is to sell fish so that people have a reason to purchase dry goods: tanks, equipment, and *food*. I'm sure you'll want lots of the common fish like tetra's and barbs, etc.

-Ryan


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

sell fish. but i wanted to breed the fish in the store that i sold but that might take up way to many tanks.


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## Rockydog (Oct 21, 2007)

Check out http://swisstropicals.com/Index.html










and http://www.brianstropicals.com/basement.html










If your setting up a store you will get some great ideas from these two guys.

Very efficient setups. You could literally do water changes on 50 tanks in about 20 minutes and for a lot of tanks very inexpensive to operate.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

GaFishMan1181 said:


> *so it would be more cost effective just to buy all my juvies in bulk and sell them out then to breed them and sell them at the same place? *


You could do exclusives. Like find a fish you are good with and invest in a a1 breeding pair maybe. Breed them and maybe a few others that are hard to find in your area but dont attempt to breed your whole stock. It just dont work that way.

Its really only a good idea for those of us that breed fish at home and dont need to support a actual store and its supply and demand.


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

ok so here is what i am thinking so far.

Start out slow and small just to get a feel for it so i will do:

6 x 55g for african cichlids with 20-30 juvies-subadult-adult in each seperated by species. let them grow some and also sell some if customers would like juvies.

3 x 55g for larger africans. Maybe two species in each aquarium, but still clearly labeled so the customer will know which fish is which.

then i would have an area with 10g, 20g (not sure the exact number) for any holding females that i find

then for the tropicals maybe 10 x 20g for common types.

i am still unsure about what filtration would be best. thats always the toughest part for me.

also please tell me how you could improve upon what i have as an idea so far. thanks


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Dont start off thinking you can do mostly Cichlids. I would do more common types of community fish as well as Gold Fish and Pond fish. You make killings off of Pond fish and dry goods this time of the year. I knew store owners that did more on Pond stuff and of course the customers that come in for pond stuff but have other fish this time of the year than in the off season. That also depends on where you live.

I would actually start with more of those and then work in your Cichlids as you educate more customers and gain the knowledgeable clientele in your area. I can name a few shops in my area where the owners eat sleep and dream Cichlids but dont carry a huge variety. Its what the customers want.

I would do a big display tank to get the average not so advanced customers eye.

I cant tell you how many people there are out there that want saltwater just for the colors and have no understanding of it what so ever period. They weight out the common enthusiasts of course. I always pushed them more towards Africans in the end. Displays only tanks help them decide.


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

on ebay if you look there are used marineland shop setup's relatively cheap!!!


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Just a warning on those systems.

They have the poorest mechanical filtration I have ever seen.

My local Wal-Mart is remodeling and had one setting out for trash. I thought about it for a second and ran away.


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

i woulda grabbed it.. then worked on the filtration.. geez.. i just cant pass up any free aquarium/glass even if leaky and covered in doo...


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## jstntlvr (Apr 20, 2009)

I couldn't possibly give advice about running a LFS but I do manege a Steel company and my piece of advice is Don't use Quick Books for inventory control. It works well as an accounting software but IC sucks

and Good Luck I hope it works out for you :thumb:


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## jfly (Feb 17, 2009)

<<<agreed on quickbooks.. independent insurance agency owner


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

I worked with ones before. Thats how I know how crappy they are.

If they are out of Marinelands warranty they are useless, trust me :lol:

Even at that it takes them days if not weeks to come out to the store for replacements or repairs. Also, they dont even allow you to replace a UV sterilizer bulb or the T5's that come in theml et alone any other repair. If you do they dont hesitate voiding the warranty. All you can do is change the media which has very low inefficient surface space for mechanical considering what they are used for.


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## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

JWerner2 said:


> I worked with ones before. Thats how I know how crappy they are.
> 
> If they are out of Marinelands warranty they are useless, trust me :lol:
> 
> Even at that it takes them days if not weeks to come out to the store for replacements or repairs. Also, they dont even allow you to replace a UV sterilizer bulb or the T5's that come in theml et alone any other repair. If you do they dont hesitate voiding the warranty. All you can do is change the media which has very low inefficient surface space for mechanical considering what they are used for.


But if you are getting it free or buying it used/cheap out of warranty who cares about any of that. DIY it to meet your needs.

Not rocket science.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

under_control said:


> JWerner2 said:
> 
> 
> > I worked with ones before. Thats how I know how crappy they are.
> ...


*********, Whats the point when you have busted up leaky glass?

Rocket science? So when its all said and done what do you end up with? You end up "DIYing" everything and replacing everything why not start from scratch?


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## AfricansRule (Aug 25, 2008)

> smart alec, Whats the point when you have busted up leaky glass?
> 
> Rocket science? So when its all said and done what do you end up with? You end up "DIYing" everything and replacing everything why not start from scratch?


You never mentioned anything about busted and/or leaky glass before. Even if you did have to DIY it some or replace the glass it is still free. i woulda took it without thinkin twice.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

> Even if you did have to DIY it some or replace the glass it is still free. i woulda took it without thinkin twice.


Well if thats the case I have a bunch of trash also if you want that for free. Even tho you would end up replacing just about everything :roll:

I didnt need to say anything cause _I _know what they are like and _I _knew the problems they have. All the system have leaks at one point of time. Every store I knew that had those systems had and still do often get leaky tanks.


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## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

Piss and moan. Thats all I am hearing any more.

Why you are taking something so personally is comical though. Don't get all whiny when we point something out and then you forget "details" about things YOU "know".


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## myselfdotcom (Sep 19, 2006)

YOu have to sells dry foods, dry goods, feeders and a lot common tropical fish too. But distinguish yourself with others is your african selection


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