What Fish Would You Have in Your Ideal LFS?

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Wiggles92

Dovii
MFK Member
Apr 25, 2009
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As the title stated, what fish would you have for sale in your ideal LFS?

I curious about this subject because there seems to be a general lack of monster/cool fish for sale in the average LFS, so I'd like to find out what your opinions are. I personally would like to see more primitive fishes such as gars and lungfish in an LFS.
 
I'd say large koi. I'm a big fan but all you ever see are the small 3-5" mixed breeds in small aquariums or maybe a 1 footer. I've been to a few koi shows and these guys can be behemoths and I love large trophy koi...

In terms of slatwater I'd say rays or sharks... no one here keeps those in stock
 
there used to be a petstore in wichita called seadreams. They had an amazing selection of both saltwater and freshwater, but charged outrageous amounts for them (6 bucks for a small blue gourami for example). One of their centerpeices was a big indoor pond where they kept "monster" fish. They also had a big 1000 gallon aquarium with a couple of 4 foot sharks (not sure what type they were).

the store went out of business about a year ago. they were even overpriced in their "going out of business" sale. after they closed down, most everything they had sold for next to nothing at an auction.
 
Watonai goldfish..Because they are really hard to find outside of mail order from Rain Garden in HI.
At least if my goldfish ever have babies, they will be easy to re-home since they'll be rare.
 
A doradid, etc. wall. Nothing but the rarest, spikiest catfish in the world.

Also a betta wall of rare bettas.
 
every species of bichir :P
 
I would definitely not carry any hybrid cichlids.

Focus on mini-monsters for good movement of stock. People are usually afraid to buy gars, but offer them something similar that stays between 7" and 12" and you've probably got a sale. Remember that 55g and smaller is the typical tank size range your fish will go to. Cater to that customer by offering outlandish yet small species and you'll probably do well. Plenty of good ideas to stock in the Mini-Monsters thread.
 
A decent selection of rays
 
knifegill;4914719; said:
I would definitely not carry any hybrid cichlids.

Focus on mini-monsters for good movement of stock. People are usually afraid to buy gars, but offer them something similar that stays between 7" and 12" and you've probably got a sale. Remember that 55g and smaller is the typical tank size range your fish will go to. Cater to that customer by offering outlandish yet small species and you'll probably do well. Plenty of good ideas to stock in the Mini-Monsters thread.

I know that there are many LFS owners on MFK, so I was curious to see what their opinion was on the matter. I also figured that this thread might help out anyone who is looking to start their own LFS but don't know where to start.

Thanks to everyone who has responded so far!
 
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