That is a sad tale. In my area there are about a dozen shops, and I only
patronize one regularly, and two infrequently. The fish that surprised you
are always available at my favorite store. Every week the owner brings in
fish that I have never seen before. His idea is that he wants to sell fish
that maintain HIS interest in the hobby. He has 4 or 5 pencils in right
now, even one undescribed species called Nanostomus sp. "red arch". It is
an incredible red fish. He also has espei pencils in all the time! It is
an amazing store!
Norm
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The Greater Portland Aquarium Society
www.gpas.org
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The North American Native Fishes Association: over
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----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Littlehale <littled_at_cris.com>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2000 7:36 AM
Subject: LFS WAS Re: NANFA--thatpetplace.com
Moontanman_at_aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 12/1/00 9:55:27 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> normane_at_edelendoors.com writes:
>
> << I tend to disagree with you. The area I live in has seen an amazing
amount
> >>
> You may be right, I want to start my own shop but I see all privately
owned
> shops going the way of the dinosaur and it scares me. I can't even
remember
> the last time I saw something really interesting in a fish store.
I think variety is the key as has been stated previously. The stores that
seem to
do the best are those that have a selection of fw fish above and beyond your
"bread and butter" fish, a selection of marine fish, corals and a good dry
goods
area. In these stores the fish are correctly named and will order just
about
anything for you.
Here in the NJ suburbs of Philly there are 5 fish stores. In 4 of those I
could
probably name about 85% of the fish they have in stock right from home. The
5th
one, my favorite, has a much better selection of fish which are correctly
ID'd.
I went to all 5 stores in one day searching for the flying fox for my
planted
tank. I left my favorite for last hoping they would be able to save the
day. The
other 4 had the chinese algae eaters which left me scouring those tanks
hoping
that maybe some were mixed in accidentally and for the most part the people
working in these stores are "fish catchers". I purchased two that looked
promising. The last store had them and they were actually labeled as such.
Imagine that.
I went back a couple of weeks later looking for some fish for my planted
tank. I
didn't know what I wanted; all I knew is that I didn't want any of the usual
fish
that every store has. I was pleasantly surprised. I came away with 6
Threadfin
Rainbowfish, Iriatherina werneri; they are in this month, Jan 2001, TFH, and
6
Celebes Rainbowfish, Telmatherina ladigesi. Unless I need something in an
emergency, this is the store I will patronize from now on. I will
occasionally
check the others just to see if I can be surprised. I've already inquired
about
ordering pencilfish which I've only seen in one store in DE about 4 years
ago.
If I were a shop owner I would approach it differently. Since I've never
been in
this position I don't know how feasible it is, but I would invest time in
educating my customers by giving seminars on a variety of topics e.g.
beginning
fw, planted aquaria, salt water aquaria, corals, breeding fish. The store
would
have display tanks on all these topics as to entice people to enjoy other
aspects
of the hobby. The necessary equipment and associated dry goods would be on
hand
to further encourage participation. Just a thought.
Dave
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