So from what I am getting out of this post is that I HAVE to sell the same old crap you find in petco to make money? I do not find this prospect to my liking at all. My plan was to offer all "crispy creames" as much as possible. In this area there are at least 10 petcos and 5 small lfs's. One I like the most is speciallized in livebearers. That store always has them for 3-5 times what petco does,BUT they always live when you get them home. It is this type of quality I am looking to bring to the area in regard to plants. NO-ONE around here has plants worth feeding to koi let alone putting in a display tank. It is that nitch I am looking to fill. Also it is impossible to find shrimp or good healthy fish. Most of the fish around here are so sick they die within a few weeks no matter what you do. This is why the guy selling the livebearers is still in business-the fish live. HE-or-SHE I can't tell which also breeds the fish they sell. They have no problems selling them. Actually they run out often.
PETCO---WHERE THE PETS GO TO DIE. Fish don't like being moved 5+times
I would rather not be in business then follow that immportation method of stocking the store. Oh and I never said I wanted to sell filters and equipment by fighting with the online suppliers.
What is so wrong with setting up a mostly high-end store? One where the locals here can get things most of the lfs's here won't stock. Granted they will have to pay more---which they CAN and DO for top quality.
ONE more thing you telling me to use a sump--I am going to have 2 sponge filters per tank all running off one big air compressor. Why do I need to run pipes and wiring (big $) when I can just run airline tubing? I am looking to keep each tank on it's own system. This WILL keep one fish that is sick from getting all the rest of the fish in the store sick. It is the people who IME run many many tanks off a sump that kill the most fish. EXAMPLE pet-co runs at least 9-15 tanks off one sump. The result is most of the fish are always sick or DEAD!!
Thanks for posting your thoughts Robert,however I am not going to follow your advise. I think I owe it to my customers and fish to have a store that only sells healthy stock. Regards TOM
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