Advice for pet store aquarium maintenance! franchise

[Tomato Shrimp]

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. 

 

[Gator]

@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 

  

[Tedrock]

First off I have never run a fish store but this sounds like a daunting job full of super responsibility in the decision making.  I imagine this forum is helpful but you really need pros for this.  It is hard to offer suggestions without without knowing the timeframe.  Also what is the image of the store, clean and refined or family style/super casual.  These factors all might affect the tanks presentations.  These are just a few of the ideas to guide the process I am thinking of right now.  

Good luck, Ted K

[Guppysnail]

Be kind and be honest with folks. Being honest up front is kinder than having them have tank mate disasters. If they select incompatible fish simply say. …while those are both amazing fish they do not play well together etc or your fish is going to outgrow such and such tank. You care and that’s the most important thing even more important than being a fish encyclopedia. Google exists to help 😁. You will do wonderfully because you care. 

[Torrey]

On 1/5/2022 at 7:36 AM, Tomato Shrimp said:

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. 

 

I would recommend sharing the Aquarium Co-op video where Zenzo and Jimmy interviewed the store owner in California (I want to say the video was in the past couple weeks, and the store is in San Fran). He talks through why he went with deep substrate, and how much money he has saved.

Cory has 2 other visits to the same shop, so you can see the evolution of the store over the span of a few years. 

You are lucky to be getting in there to set it up right from the beginning. I, personally, am a fan of the zero water changes (he tops off every day to replace the water that leaves with fish he sells). I was unaware of some of the other benefits of deep water substrates, but the explanations make sense and remind me of my grandfather and his fish before we had widespread access to heaters, dechlorinators, and air stones in the hobby.

Congratulations!!!

[Tomato Shrimp]

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! 

[restrictionavm]

Does your pet store only have aquariums, or do they also have terrariums? I'm very curious about the difference between constructing a terrarium and an aquarium if both of these things are made of glass. My friend says the aquarium is just filled with water. But I believe the terrarium system itself is different from the aquarium. I want to get a chameleon instead of a clownfish. My Joey fish was already old and died of old age. I want to buy a chameleon and use the old fish aquarium for his future terrarium. Also, I want to make my pet one of the ESAs in the future. Please advise me on this in private messages. Thanks.

Edited June 1, 2022 by restrictionavm

[Hannah Parker]

How daunting and exciting. I'm sure you will be busy, but I'm sure the forum would love to continue to be updated on this progress!

I worked at my LFS for quite a while, and my best advice can be on the betta fish set-up. I would really recommend keeping a low number of stock for bettas. It can be easy to get overwhelmed and slack on their care if you have too many. The best and healthiest set-up I've seen is this Betta/Invert system. I know it's a pretty penny, but I think you would save a lot in the long-run by losing far less bettas because they have filtered water. You also wouldn't have to commit a staff member to daily water changes for your betta cups. I love what my local Petco does by keeping a small sorority of female bettas in a community tank (usually with tetras or cories), but this might also have unintended consequences by advertising betta sororites to beginner/inexperienced fishkeepers. Just food for thought. Good luck on this endeavor! 

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/5/2022 at 6:36 AM, Tomato Shrimp said:

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 definitely would not for "sale tanks" in any store.  That's sort of my own preference.  the advantage being that you get to see the fish, they are easier to catch, and you can focus on filtration, certain types of plants as opposed to trying to make each plant look "good".  It helps keep the tanks looking cleaner and it's much easier to show off the fish specifically.  I also don't think you need any gravel stickers.

I WOULD have a display tank for the store, as a talking point.  I would suggest having a few around the store that show off hardscape, plants, and varieties of substrate.

On 1/5/2022 at 6:36 AM, Tomato Shrimp said:

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. 

What if instead of substrate, every tank had a moss background?  Or, black backgrounds, and then you can do every other tank or a few tanks with moss backgrounds to break up the sterile aesthetic of the setup.  Rocks, Anubias, Java ferns, mosses, etc.  That would be what I would go to.

 

 

On 1/5/2022 at 6:36 AM, Tomato Shrimp said:

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. 

I think it definitely helps to have sections.  A nanofish section, or sorting the tanks in question by temperature. "pick anything from this column and they should work well with one another".  Something like cichlids and other "specialty fish" you can have information beside or around that area to explain how to setup a tank.  This goes back to what was mentioned earlier, you have to have some display tanks to provide a talking point for what might come up on the day to day.  As an engineer, we'd be working on a project and have drawers full of parts we could pull out for a meeting or on a moments notice.  This is a great mindset to have when you're trying to show off your knowledge.  Having something to talk towards diffuses confrontation and the customer has less of a chance of being confused about the proper care when it's right in front of them.

 

 

On 1/5/2022 at 6:36 AM, Tomato Shrimp said:

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: 

One of the ones I have seen, each "bank" of tanks is 3-4 rows high, and each series of banks is exclusive to one another. On the floor, each bank (a grid of 3x4 or 4x3 tanks) had what basically was seamless sumps for each "system" and the all operated independently.  The more breaks in the chain you have, the better off you are for minimizing contamination.  Each bank of tanks will need it's own net, gravel vac, and specimen boxes.  Having enough nets or having things go into sanitation containers every night is also a great method to have.  If you focus on the process of how to keep the fish, then the you just need to understand what makes it easy or difficult to follow. What needs to be emphasized.  The managers job at that point is to monitor the process and everything else simply falls in line.