Want to get into fish keeping business.. Tips?

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Alright sounds good thnx for the tips guys this is my passion and where I'm from everyone loves to have atleast a fish tank and the sad thing is the nearest good fish store from me is an hour away! I'm really into a point where I wanna make this a profession, it will be long hard work but in the end it will be worth it!:)


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You will first need to make a business plan and find out if it is feasible or not to make it in the industry. IMO the success in the industry depends on the market you are targeting. Other members already dished excellent points about the market and competition in your area.
Honestly, you may want to ask advice from people who have a feel in this industry. Contact the vendors in this forum or even check out Facebook (a lot of fish sellers are there to advertise their stocks and services). I'm pretty sure some of them will give you advice if you won't compete in their areas. There are different types of fish sellers out there and IMO, only a few are successful.

In short, don't quit your day job yet before jumping on this venture.


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My old man bred fish for a living for close to a decade.

Your profit margins are going to be extremely thin. My dad sold mostly common community fish wholesale to established stores in the Milwaukee area back in the late 80s early 90s. We're talking about literally raising thousands of fry at once and unloading hundreds of them at a time to a vendor for less than a buck a piece.

The way I see it is to either sell fish out of your house and be able to write most of your home expenses out on your taxes every year... or just do it on the side for cash. Operating expenses, insurance, and income tax are gonna cut way into any profits.

My favorite LFS is ran by an older guy out of his basement. It's a taxable business with a legitimate retail space. He gets to write off crazy stuff on his taxes, he has no commute, and he doesn't have to pay for two properties. He sells the common stuff for less than petsmart or petco. His stock is better and healthier, plus with a 2 week turnaround time he can order me just about anything I want.

He told me he stays away from aggressive cichlids and expensive exotics because of the demographic he deals with. He also said the sad truth is that he makes most of his money on repeat sales of "replacement fish" and that's just about true of any retail store. Customers won't listen and you get to sell them the same fish half a dozen times.

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joe jaskot said:
Don't want to burst your bubble, but this is probably the worst time to open up a tropical fish store. Long time established stores are closing left and right due to a lack of business, competition from the internet and big box stores, etc.

However, if you do decide to give it a try, you will have to register your business, get a NJ state tax ID (these are best done with the aid of a lawyer). Check with the municipality the store will be located in for any permits needed. Get insurance. Make sure you have enough capital. Ditch the idea of breeding your own fish (not worth it in the long run). If you plan on importing fish you will need an importer's license.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. You'd be making a terrible financial mistake. The hobby is shrinking faster than the middle class. So many people leaving the hobby and not enough young people getting into it. We have 93 million able working people in America that don't have a job and are considered out of workforce. Wages and disposable income for workers are falling, while health insurance and health care costs go much higher. It's a terrible time right now for retail and will only get worse. The good news is retail store space will be very cheap to rent in a few years. Good luck.
 
You might also want to talk to John, the owner of KG Tropicals. He has a really nice fish youtube channel with over 25,000 subscribers. He can probably give you a lot of advice. Unfortunately, he recently had to close his retail cichlid store that he was renting. He had to move his tanks back to his house to try to stay in business. He talks about it in this youtube clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAcCJiwkf0A
 
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