Local Fish Stores

new reef retard · 11-02-2006, 01:38 AM

What would you want from a local fish store?
Now that I work for somthing fishy. I want to have more of the local club members frequent the place. What would it take?

I am working on an idea of selling frags from local venders and at a resonable cost i don't know if it will fly as yet but i think i can make an effort anyway.

I have had bad experences at most shops myself. I take every loss of life seriously I dont have a ton of money to spend on my hobby but I make it work anyway. So when I have the money for a expencive fish or coral and it dies in short order I get mad at the stores too. what could be done to make it easier on the consumer as well as the owner.

Man am I opening up a can O' worms or what...

AL

spazz · 11-02-2006, 02:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by new reef retard

What would you want from a local fish store?
Man am I opening up a can O' worms or what...

AL

yes this is the preverbal can of worms. along with that there is some inherient probelms to overcome.

(1) how to guarrantee the frags are pest free LRB's, AEFW's, and red flat worms.
(2) in doing so the store will want to make a proffit.
(3) how to gain the reputation back that was lost in the last year.

i use to go into something fish when i was in that area. they use to have a nice selection of fish but not a great selection of corals. but in the past year things have gone way down hill. that is hard to gain back if the store owner is not willing to put in the investment to gain back his lost customers. i dont know what happend in the last year and i dont care. but those are a coupel of questions that need to be answered before you can really do the thngs you want to do there.

these are just thought not concrete things that need to be done or looked into. just my idea of what might need to be addressed.
good luck hop things work out and conditions get better there.

rihanssu · 11-02-2006, 02:58 AM

start selling stuff that people in the club actually use! i called there the other day asking about metal halide bulbs and all they had were 90+ dollar hamilton bulbs. maybe some people in the club use them but i think radums, ushio, XM.

how about ice cap ballasts?
stuff made by a company other than coralife

gogregerson · 11-02-2006, 09:10 AM

Have one on the East side of town. I don't like to go to SF because of the location. How about all of us on the far east side of town?

eswebster · 11-02-2006, 09:39 AM

I would start using UV on the tanks to rid parasites, I like OD because they have fish and corals in the same tanks so you know that copper is not being used, this is easier on the fish which i would think would translate to a lower mortality rate not only in-store but after a customer buys a fish. Also I think that the fish look really sickly lately, i was in a couple of days ago getting some food and the blue tangs were almost white. I think ridding the systems of copper may help with the fish coloration aswell. I think colored Zoas would be a plus too... really all thats there are brown ones. Well thats my $.02

ZEKESTER · 11-02-2006, 09:46 AM

Petunia · 11-02-2006, 10:51 AM

did you read this post?
http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86547

I, personally, have had decent service and good luck with my purchases from SF. But, I can say that I shop around... I don't buy anything that I know hasn't lived in a fish stores tank for at least two weeks. I haven't bought any coral from SF - so, I don't have any opinion on the coral selection. I have bought my metal halide light there and have good luck with that. They do have a nice selection of fish products and live rock, other than that I don't have any opinion on their live stock. Most places are always a risk when you purchase live stock.
Good luck with your new job and congratulations.

new reef retard · 11-02-2006, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petunia

did you read this post?
http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86547

I, personally, have had decent service and good luck with my purchases from SF. But, I can say that I shop around... I don't buy anything that I know hasn't lived in a fish stores tank for at least two weeks. I haven't bought any coral from SF - so, I don't have any opinion on the coral selection. I have bought my metal halide light there and have good luck with that. They do have a nice selection of fish products and live rock, other than that I don't have any opinion on their live stock. Most places are always a risk when you purchase live stock.
Good luck with your new job and congratulations.

Yes i did read that posting.
I am brinning it to the owners attention. That is why i did this posting to see if he will try and regain loyalty amongst the community again. He does have his own way of doing things. But I think if he is willing to listen thenthere is a start to a better LFS.

David Grigor · 11-02-2006, 11:58 AM

I suspect that not much attention has been made to making good/new connections to higher quality wholesalers for corals over the last year or so. I rarely go anymore some because my budget has changed but mostly because selection/quality is way down on corals. Even if I saw a nice SPS acro, I would most likely pass becuase I have seen the redbugs crawling.

canit0 · 11-02-2006, 12:25 PM

I have lived in the area for a long time and even worked at something fishy back when I was a teenager (too long ago). and I must say that some of the stores have strained away from quality to quantity and profit. Someone famous once said if you build it they will come! I think this store has nothing to loose its been around long enough and should try to get their lost customers back by bringing in more quality products, one being better lighting systems (rihanssu) and more coral selection. Good luck bud!

-Ace- · 11-02-2006, 01:22 PM

My vote goes to a complete coral overhaul- alway's disapointing. The only nice coral there is in the display tank, but - CORALS NOT FOR SALE-. I see those display tanks as advertising to show someone the beauty and what they can have or achieve, aka BUY, but when you go to the coral tanks, it's mostly all brown and unattractive.

new reef retard · 11-02-2006, 02:43 PM

Yeah, I see my share of the brown as well. Most the time it's from a someone toppling a coral and not righting it again.

Soltaker · 11-02-2006, 05:23 PM

Way to nail it Ace. Excellent point

It's tough to purchace a coral from for sale tanks when they look nothing like what's in their display tank. SF needs to take some cues from OD. Get frags and colonies and make them available for purchase. And if they can keep them healthy and bug free, sell them at a REASONABLE price. Charging eleventy-billion dollarsfor a rock with a dozen or so brown zoas isn't going to cut it.

patent · 11-02-2006, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by new reef retard

Yes i did read that posting.
I am brinning it to the owners attention.

I emailed their website the night I posted that thread. Assuming they check their email, they should already know about it. (I don't care to talk about them behind their backs).

patent

smeese · 11-02-2006, 08:17 PM

I will second David with ridding of the red bugs....and getting in better corals. I understand this is probably not your fault but hey...you asked and maybe you can discuss it with whoever can help there. I will say that living in mankato I do still manage to frequent your shop plenty. I got a sohal tang there a couple weeks back. Wish I could say it was still around but that is definately not your fault either.