12" or less! LOL

[sharkbait08]

I def have to say Thorichthys... in all my online searching, I really like the Thorichthys I've seen and am slightly bummed that Preuss' doesn't have any of those. (Not like I need more fish though!! LOL)

 

[TimTheBadass]

A. Lyonsi
C.Sajica
H. Pearsei
N. Grammodes
N. Tetracanthis
P. Loisellei
P. Motaguensis
P. Fenestratus
V. Zonatus
V. Regani

 

[orbit]

Are you stocking a Fish store? Just get a few of each. Get a larger amount of the Bread and butter fish and get a minimum order of the rest on conkels list. It's hard to tell what would sell in your area. People tend to not get fish that they aren't familiar with. Rare fish aren't always as flashy as common fish. It would be hard to convince your average customer that a drab fish's higher price is justified over a common and brilliantly colored fish simply because it is rare. This is assuming you are stocking a LFS.
Fish that I know I'm always looking for or like seeing:
RTM
Dovii (even though i don't buy them I'm usually impressed when they have them)
Vieja's
Festae
other Parachromis family
Easy sells are the colorful dwarfs Like HRP, Thoricthys etc

Yes! Its for the store I work at in Lansing MI. Called Pruess pets. They are a huge fish store. They want to go after the American cichlid section since there is now a few of us working there that love them!! We're trying to get into some of the smaller, large cichlids. We put up pics of all of the fish of what they look like full size, it does make a difference and does help.

What is the store you work at Orbit? or at least what city is it in? Get some BlackNasties, Istlanum, Festae, Gymnogeophagus Balzani, RedTigerMotaguense, Grammodes, Trimacs, Cryptoheros Sajica, Nandopsis Tetracanthus (cubans), Vieja synspilum or other viejas... Let us know what you decide on!

Its Pruess pets in Lansing MI. Great selection of cichlids but a few of them are big hitters.. I think most of our clients have 55g tanks so I don't want to here of guys with a huge Jag in a 55g tank that I sold... I hate that! LOL

Earth Eaters!!! Gymnogeophagus rhabdotus, G. Labiatus, G. Balzani, Geophagus surinamensis, G. altifrons, Satanoperca daemon, S. Lilith, and more!!! However they need to be bigger/older before they color up, juvenilles are pretty bland

We have a decent selection of eartheaters! In fact we sell them pretty well too! I like the Balzai's for sure! Thanks for the tip on other ones though. I'll compose a list of some we don't have!

Orbit works at a huge pet store called Preuss in Lansing Michigan. They don't sell new world cichlids very well and don't like to stock fish that get 2' long if they are not going to sell very well. They have so much stock to chose from they always have something. I took some amphilophus sagittae up there so they do have some oddball monsters but they don't usually tend to stock gigantic new worlds.

Jesse I'd suggest cryptoheros and thorichthys species would be good. They always tend to sell nanoluteus and other stuff well don't they? Maybe pick up a balzani or something weird too. Do you know if Conkel has sajicas? If he does get some of those for sure. They should sell really well. Maybe buy a few sexed pairs of fish to put in their own tanks and sell as a pair or bring in some cheaper wild caughts just for the fact that its wild caught. Aside from that ask Rick if he'd like to get in on a good flowerhorn fry buy with me I want to get some more fry from Julie. I'm sure you wouldn't mind selling quality fry to people if you had them in stock!

We always have the Meeki's instock.... Great fish but really common. However I could always recommend other species of them!

Fh's... Biggest problem with them is our customers do not know a good FH from a not so good one. In order for us to sell sweet ones we'd have to buy them really cheap to sell them cheap. Customers just don't understand the extreme strains produced these days. LOL I'll still add them to the list though!

Awesome list...these are the ones I'd go with. You should also try to find some good pics online to print out to have at the store to show customers what the fish will look like as adults. The reason a lot of the rarer CA cichlids don't sell well at lfs is because the common hobbyist goes in looking for something pretty. They see these little grey fish not knowing what beauties they will turn into. C. nanoluteus is another good one and they show color from a very young age.



Because they grow over 12" ...just like dovii, jags, trimac and many of the others that were suggested


btw, if I went to an lfs that sold istlanum I would possibly never leave lol

Yeah we post pics of allof the adults fish. It makes such a huge difference as to how they look.

LOL the Dovii, Jags etc are the ones we try to aviod cause of size. Sweet fish but big hitters! Most of our clients have 55ish sized tanks...

Istlantum's... I'd never leave! LOL

 

[japes]

H. Pearsei
N. Tetracanthis
P. Loisellei
P. Motaguensis
P. Fenestratus
V. Zonatus
V. Regani

Over, Borderline, Borderline, Borderline, Over, Over, Over.

Eartheaters
Thorichthys sp.
Archocentrus sp.
Cryptoheros sp.

 

[RMac]

Tell you what Orbit, you can't say that all your customers only have 55 gallon tanks so we will only buy small fish to sell. If you want to draw people in from other areas and make it worth a drive to draw them in, the way to do it is by offering fish that other stores in their areas don't offer, not just the standard boring stock. Lots of people are tired of looking at the same old thing ... the actual reason I don't often make the 2 hour drive to Preuss, but if you get a good order in from Conkel, I will definately will travel as would a lot of other people from other cities who have larger than 55 gallon tanks, and you will also sell more fish food too! Bringing in constant new selections of fish is what will bring the people in. Let me know when you get your order. I would probably be interested in a nice flowerhorn as well if it came from good stock.

 

[Mudfrog]

Grammodes all the way.

 

[RMac]

P.S. Buy a few Black Nasties and Festae, and guaranteed I will buy some of them... I doubt they will be sitting in your tanks very long 'growing out to max size'. Just don't go crazy and buy a boatload of each species..., maybe like a dozen black nasties, festae, argentea, etc... see how they sell, then you can always go back and order more, but if you order some big boys, just get smaller quantities of them, not "none at all". Can't wait to become one of your regular customers!

 

[Camphilophus]

There is too many asians in lansing not to sell flowerhorns lol. I

If you gave me $50 I could probably get you 7-8 quality fry. You could sell them for $20 or 2/30 or something. Just tell Rick people have been asking you and you can get them.

 

[orbit]

Tell you what Orbit, you can't say that all your customers only have 55 gallon tanks so we will only buy small fish to sell. If you want to draw people in from other areas and make it worth a drive to draw them in, the way to do it is by offering fish that other stores in their areas don't offer, not just the standard boring stock. Lots of people are tired of looking at the same old thing ... the actual reason I don't often make the 2 hour drive to Preuss, but if you get a good order in from Conkel, I will definately will travel as would a lot of other people from other cities who have larger than 55 gallon tanks, and you will also sell more fish food too! Bringing in constant new selections of fish is what will bring the people in. Let me know when you get your order. I would probably be interested in a nice flowerhorn as well if it came from good stock.

P.S. Buy a few Black Nasties and Festae, and guaranteed I will buy some of them... I doubt they will be sitting in your tanks very long 'growing out to max size'. Just don't go crazy and buy a boatload of each species..., maybe like a dozen black nasties, festae, argentea, etc... see how they sell, then you can always go back and order more, but if you order some big boys, just get smaller quantities of them, not "none at all". Can't wait to become one of your regular customers!

I agree with you that not all of them have only 55g tanks. I did buy a Pearsei for the store and he sat for quite a while until a guy called and asked what rare we had in stock. He had a 300g tank! We were happy to see him go! Especially to a great home!

Anyway, I say majority of the clients do have a 55g or less set up. For some reason people think that is a huge tank... That is why I asked for recommendation of what to stock under or at 12".

I will have FHs added to my list of what to stock! Also the Festae, maybe but not likely the Black nasties. If im not mistaken they get huge! I will add Aregentea for sure! I want one bad!! LOL

 

[orbit]

There is too many asians in lansing not to sell flowerhorns lol. I

If you gave me $50 I could get you at least 10 quality flowerhorns. You could sell them for $20 or 2/30 or something. Just tell Rick people have been asking you and you can get them.

I might just take you up on that! When you doing the order?