Aquarium Advice (take 2)

[Caesar]

Ok, Sorry first post probably a little bit confusing. For those who are just reading this, It is my intent to open my own Aquarium in Newcastle NSW in Nov 07.

I am developing my plans and would like any comments, to confirm my plan.

So instead of asking large all consuming questions I will break it down a little.

Firstly, What foods do you like? What do you believe is the best selling products and Why?

Secondly, What products do you use and would consider using again. Are there any you have had problems with.

Thirdly, When you walk into an aquarium do you like big open spaces? Or do you like to nice neat rows of fish. Issue here is floor space. I am considering using the row method (three tanks high) to ensure I can provide excellent quantity, and range of fish.

I will leave it at that for this post. Any comments would be appreciated.

Ave

Jason

[taksan]

Your opening a shop very close to one of the biggest and cheapest shops in Australia.

[Robdog]

From my experience the Sera and Seachem products are by far the best for setting up and regular maintenance.
I love the Fish Fuel frozen dinners, Hikari frozen worms and algae discs and a company called Posaqua for BBS, BS and mysis shrimp among others.

As far as aquarium layouts goes, it doesn't really bother me as long as there's enough room to move around. Having all the different locality fish(Sth Americans, Africans, normal crap tropicals, and goldfish in order of importance :lol: ) in their own clearly marked areas. Also makes filtration easier aswel.

[Proteus]

Having worked in the aquarium industry for some time now I can offer these suggestions in relation to product range.

If you want lots of repeat general business Sera liquids are good, however if you want to secure the business of those in the know, make sure you stock Seachem chemicals. (Sera chem's are very weak overall, i.e. Aqutan = 5ml per 20L, Prime = 5ml per 200L).

In regards to foods there are a lot to choose from, I would suggest picking 2-3 and sticking with them, maybe Hikari, HBH & Omega One. I would steer clear of foods like NLS as there is minimal margin, and in all honesty the food is all hype (they even need there own forum to bang there drum, that is how insecure they are aout there product)...

Products - a good range of high end and general products. Bear in mind to start you wont have the discounts that the big retailers have so chose wisely, try and build a good rapport with 1-2 suppliers then build from that.

I read in your previous thread you want to have approx 200 tanks, personally for start up purposes that is to many. Being that I have had almost daily experience in regards to maintaining a large amount of tanks, 200 tanks would take 1-2 people a minimum of 4-5 hours per day to maintain. Water changes, algae scrubs, feeding, other regular maintenance etc etc. I would suggest starting with 100-120 tanks, and leaving the space for more tanks.

Aside from keeping the bread and butter stuff (Livebearers, Goldfish, Tetras etc) to succeed you will need some specialist fish such as Discus, Marines and maybe some oddballs. In regards to cichlids this is a funny area, as most shops in Sydney dont allocate them much tank space. Why? because if you read around on some other cichlid site, they are generally very much in favour of buying privately or through auctions, avoiding the retailer. heck, even the admins on a particular site throw water on the faces of there own sponsors and advise members not to waste money on products such as bio-media and the like recommending kitchen sponges instead, saying products such as Matrix, EhfiSubstrat etc are a waste... DIY is good, but be weary of where you get your advice from as some of these people couldnt care less about the retailer out there.

Oh, and as Taksan has mentioned, you are setting up in a region which has one of the largest suppliers/wholesalers in the country, so lots of planning will be needed to ensure you hang round.

good luck

[Proteus]

Aside from the opinions here, another good place to get a feel for what the customer wants is the MASA website.

http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB2/index.php

Like most Discus keepers, Marine enthusiasts arent afraid of spending there cash and do have a preference for high end quality product. At the end of the day, if you pay good money for what is in the tank, you want the tank to work as best as possible, so saving a few dollars to cut corners is not usually entertained.

(this may give you an idea of target markets as well)

[Caesar]

Your opening a shop very close to one of the biggest and cheapest shops in Australia.

Which shop are you talking about??

I lived in Warners Bay for 20 years and head back there every year for holidays. Which shop are you talking about??

Thanks

Jason

[Phlipper]

I came close to going down that road a few months back here in Sth Adelaide............the competition is fierce in this line of work, and the work hard, repitiious, long hours, no weekends for not a huge amount of money.

200 tanks will be so difficult, and I would suggest you employ about 4 staff at least to keep it operational, and nothing puts off customers more than seeing dead fish in tanks. Apart from cleaning and serving customers, the phone is always ringing and if you dont give shop customers, phone customers and reps 100% of your time........they wont appreciate your shop.

Sorry to be so pessmistic, but it's a big undertaking, and if you have competition nearby it makes it twice as hard. :( As far as stocking the shop goes and layout, my opinion is to have as much variety as possible to cater for the enthusiast and the kiddies pets for all kinds of budgets. To keep ahead of the competition always have the shelves and tanks full to capacity to keep the customers browsing, again empty shelves and barren tanks do not look inviting. Put your best fish in tanks at eye level, and nothing over 6 foot up if you can avoid it, most fish are sold from tanks that are easy to view, not down at your feet or up near the roof.

It's a big money outlay with no return for a couple of months while tanks are cycling and trying to establish customers, not to be taken lightly in any way..........good luck 8-)

[dcarmau]

I was gonna say that I hate the feeling of having tanks obscuring my view totally, my breeder has 4 tanks high at his storefront, in one "aisle" I'd prefer the "aisle was either widened, or they opened a second aisle and put the top level fish there... (it should be noted that I understand why they've done what they've done, the store's also their breeding site, so they want all the space they can get. I'm just saying that it makes me claustrophobic. Another shop I buy from has lower tanks in the middle with high tanks on the walls, and this I like much better. I don't get the feeling I'll bump into a tank by stepping back a touch like I do at the breeder's.

One thing the shop with lower tanks has is chem displays above their display tanks... which is a point, they also have some fantastic display tanks with some huge marine and Tropical fish. I think he has 4 6x2x2 tanks as displays which you walk past as you enter his fish area... (he sells pet products for dogs/cats/birds too, means he survives as a business... Launceston is <100K people and we have 6-8 Tropical/Marine Fish selling places around that I'm aware of... who knows what else is around here...)

good luck, and I hope this helped!