Display tanks from work.

[Supernaturalist]

I work at a non-chain pet store in Florida. We had a crappy old Fluval Chi on display that had an algae infested ornament, some sick mollies and one very unfortunate Pleco. I offered to fix it up and well, no good deed goes unpunished. My boss wanted more tanks! I'm happy to take any suggestions on how to make these better!

This is my "Iwagumi inspired" Marina 360. The only plants in there right now is a marimo ball. I just haven't been able to get a hold of any low-light plants that stay within the scale I want. Things are further complicated by the fact that we don't carry any planting substrates, although I'm hoping to change that. It's stocked with a group of black bar endlers.


The Fluval V was impossible to get a decent shot of with my phone. The only place to put up our Christmas tree this year was right in front of my tanks. But I'm very happy with this tank! The Ludwigia is doing really, really well and the Crypt (not sure what kind) is also doing alright. It's stocked with two honey gouramis, 2 pristella tetras and 3 Amano shrimp. I would like to remove at least one of the gouramis I think the tank is to small for them but I was vetoed on that one. I think I'll probably just go ahead and do it anyway and replace the Pristellas with Neons or Cardinals if we can get in healthy ones.


This one is my favorite! It is a Tetra Waterfall Globe. It is stocked with about a dozen RCS, two of my male PFR culls (since the distributor only sends us females) and one Orange Neo. I know they'll make ugly offspring but having that burst of orange really makes the tank look less empty to customers since there aren't any fish in it. My co-workers are super excited about the berried female in there!

That Anubias is incredible! It looks kind of ratty but that's because it was left out of water overnight! It was in one of our sale tanks and it was forgotten after a water change. All of the leaves melted off, but I put it in this bowl and after about a week of pruning and fertilizer it popped out a new leaf! I love that thing!

[paybackranch]

I am hoping that your boss is open to the world of planted tanks as that is a whole 'nother world of profit / sales! Plant substrates, more specialized lighting, plant fertilizers, driftwood, stones, nano fish, etc...... Kudos to you on getting such a great start in your store. The Anubias will survive with that lighting and perhaps some mosses. I am sure that you will create lots of interest from your customers and that will help drive sales. :-)

Melanie

[Supernaturalist]

Originally Posted by paybackranch

I am hoping that your boss is open to the world of planted tanks as that is a whole 'nother world of profit / sales! Plant substrates, more specialized lighting, plant fertilizers, driftwood, stones, nano fish, etc...... Kudos to you on getting such a great start in your store. The Anubias will survive with that lighting and perhaps some mosses. I am sure that you will create lots of interest from your customers and that will help drive sales. :-)

Melanie

I am lucky that these tanks also get some sunlight due to the huge front windows we have on the store. I'm hoping the crypt in the bowl will do alright, I wanted something in there on the bottom other than just the sand. We do regular orders from Hagen so I've placed an order for a Spec III for myself (to replace the Ebi that I hate) and some plant stratum. I'm hoping that will get my boss' interest. She also wants me to re-do our 60 gallon hex that's back by our fish area. I'll have to use plant substrate for that (which means we'll have to carry it because we can't display something we don't sell) and I'm looking into what's available locally so we can carry something different, like Eco-Complete instead of something like Flourite that's available at Petsmart.

[GMYukonon24s]

Nice setups!

[zynniv]

I love the bowl! How's the light on that thing, will it keep the plants alive?

[bluestems]

Good job, I really love the shrimp bowl Definitely push your boss to give planted tanks a try.

Better for the fish too.

[Supernaturalist]

Originally Posted by zynniv

I love the bowl! How's the light on that thing, will it keep the plants alive?

It will do alright with low light plants. I'd recommend placing it in a sunny spot if you want more than moss, anubias and java fern though.

My boss does seem interested in planted tanks, she even told me I should go into business putting them together for people. I'm flattered but I'm still very much in the learning stages myself. If someone asked me for a high-tech tank with CO2 and ferts I wouldn't really even know where to start.

I'm hoping that I can slowly get our store to show people how nice natural tanks are and supply something other than neon gravel and plastic decorations.

[Supernaturalist]

I took some crappy phone photos of the Chi that got this whole thing started yesterday. I'm not really all that happy with it, I'd like something in there with a bit more height but It's a vast improvement over what it used to look like. It's stocked with gold white clouds, Amano shrimp, an otocinclus and a bunch of hitchiker snails.

[andrewss]

the spec v looks good, but ya i was thinkin overstocked as well