Fish Stores – Why not?

[Fry]

It is even hard to find proper common Cichlids such as Midas

What are you talking about? I'm in Queens and Midas/RDs are everywhere, as are Convicts, Firemouths, Jack Dempseys, and no store is ever short of Oscars of course. Gold Saums and Jags are around half the time too. Other Cichlids are a once in a while thing. I've never seen a lot of monsters in NYC though like Dovii, Umbee, Cichla, Emperor Cichlids, Grammodes, TSNs, RTCs and the like.

In Chinatown, Manhattan there are tons of Discus, and Chinese fish stores usually carry huge silver aros too, I've seen one over 3 feet but kept in a 18" wide tank , what i hate here is the massive amount of blood parrots and flowerhorn

 

[Vitaliy]

What are you talking about? I'm in Queens and Midas/RDs are everywhere, as are Convicts, Firemouths, Jack Dempseys, and no store is ever short of Oscars of course. Gold Saums and Jags are around half the time too. Other Cichlids are a once in a while thing. I've never seen a lot of monsters in NYC though like Dovii, Umbee, Cichla, Emperor Cichlids, Grammodes, TSNs, RTCs and the like.

In Chinatown, Manhattan there are tons of Discus, and Chinese fish stores usually carry huge silver aros too, I've seen one over 3 feet but kept in a 18" wide tank

Since I am in Brooklyn I generally do not go to a fish store in Queens or Manhattan, usually stop by places in Chinatown just because they are on my way to wherever I am going.

I see all types of Cichlids in these stores on regular basis, including Midas, and there is barely anything that will catch your eye. I did not see a true Midas’ in any of the stores here, yet alone some verity from reds to stripped. I do not care about the cheap 30 Firemouth’s in a 20 gallon long tank.

That is what I am talking about!

There are two stores here in Brooklyn that have Silver Arowanas that are over 2 feet long! Because they simply do business with people who walk off the street.. they have the Aro’s for quite some time, and I am sure they are not selling them any time soon. If they would bother being a little more involved, even a basic member in a place like MFK they would be able to sell both of them in under a month!

 

[fishnutham]

Once in a while Ill think about opening a fish store, and generally think about how I would go about the setup, and the type of stuff I would like to accomplish. There are a couple of things that really bother me about all my local fish stores (being in NYC there are quite a lot), there are not many fish stores that I can think of that actually do it right.

For example the stocking lists are horrible.
I can never find a store to carry more than 6 Discus at a time, why not have a couple of tanks?
Only once did I see a stingray in the store, was years ago and was alone! Why not carry a couple?
Why is it impossible to find a Datnoid in a store?
It is even hard to find proper common Cichlids such as Midas.
Why don’t you ever find a bunch of cool Pikes in stores? Colony of Frontosas? Etc… etc… etc..
Why not have special orders open to the public?
Why not also sell online?
Give out bunch of prints out about starting a tank and the cycle process?
Have informative tags on tanks?
etc.. etc..

I mean if I had a fish store I would be with DavidW and Jeff Rapps on the phone tomorrow!

I am not saying that stores should stop selling all the common stock lists, what I am saying is that you should have a couple of tanks of stuff that would actually keep a hobbyist’ eye open and want to spend some money in your store. Am I missing something major about the whole business or do all of these fish stores really suck because the owners do not know better?

I'm glad your're on the other side of the border because my future plans are for a high end fish store specializing in hard to find fish and equipment with out a doubt if you go ahead and start your own store you will do well we need some more high quality retailers in this hobby.

 

[ewurm]

Wow, crencichla are cool. I take back all the crap I gave to peanut power.

 

[loach43]

About a coupla hundred $ each cool.
Worth every penny though if you just happen to have a grand layin' around for a mini colony.

 

[Fry]

I don't go to fish stores in Manhattan much either, but every time I do it's awesome because they have such an impressive stock. Only a few species favored by Chinese people but very impressive nonetheless. Firemouths are pretty underrated, I think I will do a species tank with Firemouths or a tank with mainly Firemouths when I have room. Never seen those fishes in the pics here, don't think I ever would, maybe in California you would be more likely to see them.

 

[Vitaliy]

I don't go to fish stores in Manhattan much either, but every time I do it's awesome because they have such an impressive stock. Only a few species favored by Chinese people but very impressive nonetheless. Firemouths are pretty underrated, I think I will do a species tank with Firemouths or a tank with mainly Firemouths when I have room. Never seen those fishes in the pics here, don't think I ever would, maybe in California you would be more likely to see them.

Rapp's is in Jersey.

 

[Fry]

Rapp's is in Jersey.

he doesn't count!

 

[ultimatejay]

I think the main reason you don't see a bunch of Discus and stingrays and other rare fish is because 1. alot of them are delicate and expensive. and 2. There is not a large market for them. How many people that come in off the street into a fish store is going to plop down $400.00 for a stingray? And then you have to worry about the guy who has no idea what he is doing and kills the fish and you have to deal with it. That's why most fishstores carry the common cichlids and community fish because they are cheap and hardy and thats what the general public wants. Running a fishstore is a very tough business. You don't see fishstore owners pulling up in a Ferrari, right? I wish you the best of luck if you do try it though. Just for your info. too the majority of the profit from fish sales is in saltwater fish. People like the brilliant colors of saltwater fish over fresh. Ask any owner, they'll tell you..

 

[fishboy]

im opening up my own aquatic store in 2 years. i work at a lfs that just got sold to new owners that are new to owning there own business. i have definitly seen a drastic change in the icome we used to recieve with the old owners and the new ones now, there has been talk about bankrupcy with the new owners but hopefully things will turn around. i will be 21 when i open up my store and i am directing it towars the oddballs and monster fish. i want to carry lots of freshwater rays and aro's and archerfish etc. the only problem there is with stores not having these fish is because, first off a lot of the shops dont have adaquite aquariums for such large fish, second , they are paying a lot of money to buy the fish and they are afraid it will die or wont sell. and a lot of the times its extremely hard to find fisheries that carry these rare fish. its definitly a risk but the old owners had 2 lfs and they made over a million dollars a year in profits alone!!!! and these are just small mom and pop stores with everyday animals you see at all the other pet stores. its all about location too. i also have my own aquarium maintanence service and all these rich ppl want huge custom aquariums in there homes because they see the celeb's with them. id say go for it!!! what have you got to lose besides everything