[Advice for pet store aquarium maintenance! franchise]

On 1/5/2022 at 12:45 PM, Gator said:

@Tomato Shrimp; You're still going to need to cycle the entire system before adding any fish.  I highly suggest bare tanks for the ease of catching fish but adding artificial plants will make the fish feel more secure and keep the snail infestation down. Keep the water temps at about 85 degrees to keep diseases down, trying to medicate the entire system at once would be cost prohibitive, and the stresses of transportation will cause the fish to get sick. 

Google "Columnaris" and scroll down the page until you find an article from the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources (MNDNR) and read it, that article will say to raise your water temps to about 85 degrees to prevent diseases in your tropical fish. Of course, this would not apply to Goldfish which are cold water fish.

It's interesting to note here that the MNDNR recently removed 5,000 pounds of live Goldfish from three lakes in MN.

Set up a 55 G tank for plants and cycle it as you would any other tank, place either 6 Clown loaches or 6 Yoyo loaches in this tank before adding plants. There will be snails and snail eggs on your plants and these two species of Loaches love to eat snails and their eggs, but you'll also need to feed them.

Sure, there are ways to discourage people from buying Cichlids and Guppies together, just say, "I'm sorry, but Cichlids will eat Guppies and their babies," or "I'm sorry, but a 10 G tank isn't big enough for even one Goldfish." Say instead, "May I suggest a male and female Guppy of the same color and two Bronze cories, the Cories will not eat the Guppies or their babies." Say, "It's highly recommended that an aquarium of at least 29 G be used for just one Goldfish." If they must have a fish with a bright color to it, suggest a Betta and two Cories, Bettas will eat baby Guppies.

Call United Pet Group at 1-800-526-0650 to get informational pamphlets on fish, what common fish diseases look like and their treatment, you're going to want a lot of each for your customers. This place owns Marineland, Tetra, Jungle, and others, and is located in Blacksburg, VA, on the opposite side of 460 from Virginia Tech, which is the Land Grant College that has the third highest ranking Fisheries Biology Dept., so United Pet Group gets their info first-hand. 

Contact the Service Committee of Retired Executives (SCORE), they should be listed in your phone book. They will advise and assist you and your friend with advice on how to run a successful business, remember always, Please and Thank you go a long way toward making a business a success. Word of mouth advertising will do more for a business than paid advertisements, if you don't have happy customers, you're not going to have a business for very long.

I want to convert a 95,000 square feet former K Mart building into a fish only pet shop, the likes of which nobody around here has ever seen. I sponsored a sit-down lunch at a casual dining restaurant to discuss this with three people who had previously owned small fish only pet shops, one of which who helped me set this up was someone I used to sell Guppies and Angelfish to.  All three of them liked my ideas and are on board, now we're trying to form a workable partnership. 

Good luck and best wishes, keep me posted.

Sincerely 

Gator 

  

Thank you, this is incredible advice and great information. The 55gal with the loaches seems like a great way to store plants and i especially appreciate your advice of how to keep bare bottom tanks with removable structure as well. Im certain that it will result in quicker and safer catching of fish. the theme of the store is certainly more refined and organized rather than mom&pop, with tons of stock diversity. I really hope you achieve your goals with that project you mentioned with the old Kmart, if that ever comes to fruition and you need a hard worker whose passion is aquariums please reach out, lol. 

Thanks again for your response and sorry to reply late, its been a busy week! 

[Advice for pet store aquarium maintenance! franchise]

Good morning all! I’ve stumbled into what i consider to be an exciting opportunity. I got a job at an opening-soon pet store! What this means, thanks to a super receptive Manager and owner, is that i have a chance to offer valuable input and help sculpt the beginning of how fish are cared for here at the store. I believe that it is extra-critical here at the very beginning in order to not create work that will need to be re-done later. 
 

So here is the setting: all of the tanks are currently running empty with no fish nor substrate, in typical pet store heavy duty racks. I haven’t seen the entire system yet, but so far i can tell that there is a large tray sump on the ground that is currently empty of bio-media, that is fed by a huge drain spout that runs through a few layers of course filter floss. That water is then pumped back up to be re-used, and im assuming there is auto-water-changes done with the pumps in the back room containing the QT area. Any and all advice is extremely appreciated by myself for taking care of this system, and id be happy to reference your comments to the owner and my manager. In addition to any tips you have, there are a few prompts id like some reassurance on: 

Currently there is no substrate nor does the manager know if she should add any. Its just glass bottoms with gravel-stickers. Should we add substrate to all/some of the tanks? I’ve never had success with bare-bottoms but i don't know if there are any major advantages that should be considered before i suggest we add any. 

live plants. I’m a huge proponent for live plants. I couldnt imagine running one of my own tanks without a few. But in a store-setting, is it more appropriate to keep all the live plants in one tank with no fish? this way the hard-scape can simply be removed from the tank for easy fish collecting. Personally id rather deal with moving plants, but personal advice is appreciated. 

Golden tank mates! Im deathly afraid if when folks will inevitably come in to select a guppy, 2 different cichlids, and a gold fish. Are there any great and personable conversation tactics that i can use to steer folks into the right direction? personally i think im comfortable doing this, ive helped several friends and family get started and i know what its like to not know any better, but if theres any tips id love to share them with my manager for training. 

 

Anyones personal accounts are also greatly appreciated, Im anxious but excited to get started and i love shaping things for the better. This seems like a great place to make an impact on new hobbyists. 

 

[LarryTAngler here...]

welcome to the forum! 

[Long time Coop fan, finally joined the forum!]

Afternoon! Ive became more and more uninspired by the reddit aquarium scene and have always referenced Aquarium co-op as my "gold standard" for information, until i became comfortable enough to make my own inferences. Im big into experimentation and i don't believe in enforcing "rules" around the hobby in order pigeon-hole us into never making a mistake. Of course, the comfortable lives of my shrimp, fish, and snails come first. 

 

Look forward to contributing to the pages! 

[Driftwood Species (Conifers)]

On 1/2/2022 at 11:40 AM, Gator said:

@Tomato Shrimp, @T. Payne, and @Levi_Aquatics; I personally do not have any experience with Cypress in any of my tanks, but I do have Oak in one of my tanks that is from a dead limb I picked up off the ground in my back yard.  After reading your posts and several yesterday, I wouldn't be against going where I know there are Cypress trees, breaking off a dead limb, as opposed to a green limb, bringing it home, breaking it down further to fit my tanks, and dropping those pieces in. It may take several days for the Cypress to soak up enough water to sink, the Oak took a week, but I wouldn't boil the pieces before I dropped them in because I want the tannins in my tanks for my blackwater fish. A friend of mine in Orlando, FL. breeds Angelfish and the wood she uses in her 55 G breeding tank is Live Oak and the Angelfish lay their eggs on that limb. A historical fact, the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) is made from Live Oak.

I would be perfectly comfortable using Oak in any of my tanks, and same goes for most hardwood species of wood. My only remaining concern is the natural anti-fungal and pest deterring properties of Cedar, and how they might be toxic to fish and especially shrimp and other inverts. 

 

I do believe that it would be cool to use dead cypress branches and sticks, and where I'm from, we have no shortage of such woods. the wood I'm using now was felled in 2018 by a cat 5 hurricane that hit my home town. I collected 2 cedar stumps + roots while river fishing to be used as table legs, and had all the interesting roots and pieces that were cut off to make the feet of the legs flat. These were found dry, but have obvious signs of a few years of being submerged in the river. 

[Driftwood Species (Conifers)]

I subscribe to that thought process as well. Very well, seeing as my situation might prove difficult to soak for extended periods, i thing im going to try boiling. Ill take a few standard measurements and photos of the boiling pot, and the tank if all goes well. If its interesting then ill create an update. Thanks for the reply. 

[Driftwood Species (Conifers)]

On 1/2/2022 at 10:42 AM, T. Payne said:

I have used cypress and cedar driftwood in my aquariums for years. My wood has been collected from the banks of a beaver pond on a private farm that I hunt during the winter.  I have never boiled it, but I do let it soak in one of my many outdoor ponds for a season before I use it in an aquarium.  Using this method, it does still create minimal tannins and little to no effect on water parameters.

Thats great to hear. I’ve also had success with cypress as well but my fear was that it could have been because it was reclaimed from the bottom of a lake and nearly a century old since it was submerged. Ive got the 3 year felled cedar in a container soaking already. Do you think i could expedite the soaking process by boiling the wood? or is the natural way just that much more important? Im not so fearful of the tannins as i am the potential for the actual anti-fungal and pest-repelling nature of the wood to negatively impact the fish and invertebrates i plan on keeping in the relatively small water space (compared to a pond, of which i have none) 

[Driftwood Species (Conifers)]

What is everyone's opinion on using Evergreen or Coniferous species of wood as driftwood in your tank? Specifically, I have some nice pieces of root Cedar that have been washed into the flood zone of a nearby river and I'm considering using them in a new endler breeding tank. I understand a few of the generic risks as opposed to typical hardwoods. The main cons seem to be: 

• Potentially significant drops in the pH due to the nature of using a soft-wood, that will decompose and release tannins much faster than typical species. (allegedly)
• anti-fungal and possibly toxic properties of the cedar-sap, that normally set this wood on a pedestal for use in chicken coops and rodent enclosures to mitigate the animals bug and disease risk

My question is, do you think its possible to mitigate the risks here? i know you can boil wood to release some tannins, but could i also do this to release the sap and oils in the wood? is there a better way to prepare to wood, or to test to see if its going to be my downfall? the core of these pieces is still red in color, despite being dead for several years and spending lost of time in a river or on the bank.

 

Let me know if anyone has used any conifers or soft woods in their tanks before. Ive used completely cured sinker-cypress before in my shrimp tank and its still doing great, so i know its not impossible to use a conifer, but im still weary. Thanks!