General maintenance and interest at fish stores

I pulled out the needle and thread for that. Made my own intake pre filter socks from polyester sheets. I also bleach the socks and filter pads. Saving a small fortune right now.

 

I go to west pack and buy an roll off that onion bag material R60 for 100m I'm still on my first roll.

 

Only thing I did DIY was my lighting setup for the exact reason as you said, LED lights in SA is a rip off !!! Its been a short while for me using it so I don't know how effective they are but so far it seems to do the job ok. As for the filter side, I guess I will need to do some research on this. Setting up a planted aquarium can be very costly in SA, 12 liters minimum of amazonia soil depending on the tank size, about R1400, simple canister filter for example Dophin, Easy R1500, tank, well I haven't bought one in a year and a half but its also close to R1000. Then we need to look at hardscape and light. That can be costly. After all of this we haven't even mentioned the plants for this or the actual fish as prices has sky rocketed in the past year !!!

 

Just my 2cents on the topic. So pet shops mark their livestock up with 100% (the lowest probably) if not 200-700% (have seen an 700% markup on fish I personally sold to the shop, angels that I sold for R10 was sold by the shop for R80). Now, if you have such a huge margin, why not take as much care to protect said margin? I know there is huge risks involved with livestock/fish but its manageable risks. Why not get great filters, UV sterilizers, water monitors, better husbandry etc etc to protect the margin? It will pay for itself by preventing deaths.

The risk is even less on plants. So why not use decent light, ferts., etc.?

The owner of the same shop that I sold my angels to said that, he suffered the most losses on his livestock. Because he (they) do not protect their margins.

Equipment wise. I like Eheim products in general, and bought Eheim strip LED lights from overseas as that is what I wanted. Now, Daro, the importers didnt even know that Eheim makes LED strip lights. So we are stuck with minimal decent products but also not that much of cheap stuff....

 

An even better idea, I like that @Barry Roux

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@Little Nicky , I fully agree with you on all you said. I also happen to know all the actual cost prices of the live stock that most of the local suppliers/importers are charging the trade and the first time I saw this I almost fell off my chair. Its actually quite sickening and for this very reason I much prefer to support local hobbyists on TASA and am happy to network with them and share all my ideas as well.

I agree also on the distributors as mentioned that dont know about what is actually available out their. Like why can't we find never clog air stones in SA so easily if ever. Why is it so hard and seldom to find a LFS that sells large sheets of sponge media of varied density that can be used and cut up to any size to fit into a filter. I mean has anyone ever tried to purchase replacement sponge for a Fluval FX canister. Not easy.

Why is it impossible to find Ziss fluidized filters in SA. They arent expensive and are cheap to run since they run of air pump?

I also agree if done properly the risk on live stock can be managed to a certain degree. I have purchased many fish from many different LFS sources over the last 25 years and I think I have enough experience to know when I have made a mistake or not and certain fish end up dead the next day. Try going back to LFS and complain and see how they react. I never even bother because they are not going to do anything about it (its clearly stated in every LFS in SA that I have ever been to. No guarantee on livestock what so ever.) I simply just never went back their again.

Its really sad, I do understand that everyone has the right to earn a living but I honestly feel its just all purely about money at the end of the day and nothing else.

However its not all doom and gloom and I do see a very small percentage of LFS in GP that have been around for 20 plus years especially some only concentrating on aquatics and if they have managed to last that long in retail then they must be doing it right.

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Always good to read that nothing has changed in the last 12 plus years.

That said I seldom do LFS crawls anymore - since literally the hobby has stagnated in what is new. We now have access to so many brands, products even livestock and plants .... gone are the days that a bit of moss would excite you and it would cause a stampede to an LFS if new plants / substrate / brands arrived.

Later Ferdie

 

David, I buy those 45x45x4 sponges and cut then up. Aqua Empire has a really large sheet (probably 2m x 1m) that they cut up for people.

Think I have seen Ziss filters at one place but will let you know if I spot then again.

 

Thanks I will give them a try, I did manage to get some at Wild on Pets in greenstone so its a start but wont be enough for my FX5 I will try AE.

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