Your dream fish shop?

So I was wondering what kind of store would truly make my aquarium hobby better

For me personally a store that may be in an inconvenient area that is perhaps in an industrial area but due to the shop being a literal warehouse. The shop would be like an experience and have a broad array of freshwater fish available ... with marine in a completely different section(nothing worse when you get to the end of a shelf and it suddenly all becomes marine and you have to awkwardly turn around). I feel many stores have a small offering of fish in either what sells or what their supplier gives them. I think it could be practical to offer a giant array if you cater to every niche of the hobby.

Anyways , would be interested if you guys have an idea of a perfect LFS/fish store?

 

i have always felt more shops should specialize
the hobby is so varied and feel shops should be too.
thou it would be great to go a monster fish only shop where everything is sold on large scale bulk foods, huge tanks, filter media sold in 10kg bags, and large enough pumps with a few options in one place.

 

For me, a shop whose sole focus is aquascaping. Everything that you'll need, from A - Z. I hate having to go buy different things from different shops...a one-stop shop that is fairly priced is what I'm after.

 

A shop that has prices on all the products. One huge peeve of mine is when every second product I look at doesn't have a price on. And having to check online for every single price is even worse. I want to see prices at a glance, and know they're accurate.
I would also love a really good selection of fish, in the same store that sells fish meds, aqua scaping products, and basically everything you need for your tank.
But not just the fish for sale - if they could have a few display tanks showcasing adult versions of the fish, or what types of fish go well together in a community, that would be super awesome (so like have rasbora, tetra, rainbows, corys etc for sale in their sales tanks, and then a few nice big tanks with adult full sized versions of all of those swimming together in a community (obviously types that do well together). Showcasing them in a planted tank would be even better.

 

Most definitely agreed! Dare I add 'labelled correctly'

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Any fish shop that when I get to the counter they tell me they are having a sale and I get 75 % off all my purchases

 

For me, it would simply be any LFS with consistency. Not necessarily in live stock, but at the very least in dry goods. I have never been able to be loyal to any LFS due to this.

I go to a LFS, I am impressed on my first visit or even second. Then on the third visit, they dont have or dont keep that product any longer and then I am on the hunt again to the next LFS and so the cycle has repeated it self for the last 40 plus years.

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Where the staff is informed and put the wellbeing of the livestock above making the sale. The worst is when they sell fish to someone and they don't ask the basic questions. Do you realise how big this fish will get? How big is your tank? What's in there already? Do you have a planted tank because this fish will rip it all to pieces?

And they should have the guts to refuse to sell if they know it's not in the best interest of the fish. Oh, you're buying it for your three year old and you're going to keep it in a flower pot? No sale.

I'd support someone like that, even if they're a bit more expensive.

 

i really believe that responsibility of fish purchased is on the client, if you are going to go buy a living animal, you really should do some research and be informed yourself as to how to care for the fish.

 

I agree with this. When I see a fish that is new to me and I don't know much about it, but like the look, I will literally stand there in the shop googling it no matter how silly I look. But I do agree that it would be so amazing to be able to ask an employee about it and they can tell me at least basics of it.

There is a shop in Stoneridge where the guy there won't sell a fish if he isn't confident you have the set up for it, but sadly he has such a small inventory of fish.

 

I honestly dont get why shops dont just pay the extra few rands to print these out. Basic info at minimum so that casual fish keeping customers at least have a starting point. ALSO SCHOOLING SIZE! seen people buy like 2 tiger barbs with some long fin fish... they're only gonna be shredded in such a small school. Perhaps minimum purchasing amounts if you dont already have the fish... seems like a scam to the average consumer but really makes a difference in the long run (plus more sales).

 

I believe that anyone who takes fishkeeping seriously will do his/her own research, but the reality is the majority of people who walk into a store doesn't know anything.

I've personally witnessed a salesman at an lfs catch out 10+ fish then casually asked the customer the type of filter he was running and if he had a heater. The salesman just added both to the list of items to sell. When you're working with livestock you as a company must take that responsibility seriously. That's how you'll keep more customers as well in my opinion.

 

I agree , I bought some fish a few months ago that looked very similar to another species. The worst part is the LFS didnt even know what species they were. Ive been to a few LFS that dont even know the exact species they are stocking .. so how could they expect customers to know. Also when Im looking for a particular fish , a store sometimes has a completely new fish that I can fit in a tank...and Ive never researched so I need some guidance from staff

 

I would love stickers like these on every tank of fish for sale. I Google fish day in and day out, and have like a kind of running tally.of ones I like going on in my head. But that doesn't mean I remember all the details exactly, all the time.
So like I might go in looking for harlequin rasbora, and then see they have lemon tetra for sale. Then I remember I Googled it once (or usually three or four separate times), but I can't remember if it was in the list of "it works perfectly", or if it fell into the list of possibly maybe, or if I Googled it before/after I got xyz fish which have lower temp tolerances than some of my.other fish.
Same With cories. I've Googled probably 10 different types, some Of them numerous times. But then I step into a shop and can't remember the exact temp/pH requirements of every single one offhand so to stand and google each one again to make a decision takes a lot of time.
If these stickers were up on each tank with that basic info the it would certainly help to jog the memory of things I've Googled and checked out previously.

 

And I forgot to add some reasonable consistent pricing for dry goods would also be nice. Seems that most LFS pick and choose the price they feel is correct for said product. No pricing consistency has ever existed in the aquarium trade.