Local Pet shop closed?

[coralbandit]

I have heard of Neds !
Maybe someday I will venture that way ..

[dornblaser]

I live in the greater Chicago-area and there a number of good local stores between here up to Milwaukee.

[Vinni Smith]

Every one here in Nashville is thriving.
You have to stand in line to pay.

I used to work at a tropical fish store in the 80's.
When times got tough and recession set in, out business would go nuts.
My boss said it is because folks did not have money for a big boat or a new house or motorcycle.
But they had for stuff around the house that would make them feel good.

Again, Our fish stores are thriving here in Nashville.
Not enough of them.

Believe it or not, there is a Pet Supermarket just down the hill from us about 3 miles away.
Right next to the famous Loveless Cafe.
Those girls really take good care of their fish.
Even the guppies that come from there are hardy and healthy.
I have never had a problem with their fish.
I have about 3 of their discus and they are THRIVING in the work shop.
No worries about those guys.

V

[Willie]

I serve on the Board of the Minnesota Aquarium Society and have worked with just about every single independent aquarium store within a 50-mile radius to figure out how to complement our activities. My visits have stopped since Covid, but we still talk via text or phone. The majority of them are doing the same or more business since the pandemic began. Their major problem has been to get fish and they're much more proactive trying to buy from local breeders now. I don't think any of them will close due to Covid.

[Vinni Smith]

Hi Kylie, are you a real person or a spammer?
Pat

One thing I really like about this forum is that when a spammer or a troll comes thru,
it usually turns out to be a good conversation about our discus fish.
The members here don't seem to get bent about it.
We just all turn it into a visit about our favorite hobby.

This place is great...

V

[Iminit]

Went looking for a pleco yesterday and checked out a few shops. Just sad found a albino bn pleco that’s now in qt. Only shop I went into with clean tanks and no dead fish. Saw on the net the other day blue phantom plecos. Great looking pleco. Walked into a shop that had a good looking 5.5” yellow discus. Price was good but in the tank with it were African dwarf frogs! And in one of the many ratty looking plants was a dead one cover in fungus. This thing had been dead for a long time . Next to my shock they’ve got the blue phantom. A young one of about 2.5” but it’s mouth is red from a sore and it’s top fin is in tatters. I just don’t get it! How can you keep tanks in such terrible shape. Nothing cheap or reasonably priced and the place is crowded. I just don’t get it. Well the albino is doing good so there that .

[Willie]

Most LFS' around have been doing huge business since Covid started, but they've been having difficulty getting stock. Many hobbyist breeder, including me, have been getting calls about what fish we have available to sell to them. The "we'll give you store credit" approach has been replaced by "sure, we'll pay cash".

Also, fish prices have been going up. Minnesota Aquarium Society is now running 8 virtual auctions a year and the prices keep rising.

[LizStreithorst]

My fish store wants my fish too. They have always paid me in cash. They sell me the stuff I buy there at their cost. I am very lucky. Unfortunatly none of my Rams sell well for them. Right now all I have that they want are my red rili shrimp and my BN. I have tons and tons of BN but they are all still too small. I was talking to one of the owners late last year. She confided in me that 2020 was the best year they had ever had. Imagine...there we were with the pandemic raging and they had their best year ever.

[Vinni Smith]

My fish store wants my fish too. They have always paid me in cash. They sell me the stuff I buy there at their cost. I am very lucky. Unfortunatly none of my Rams sell well for them. Right now all I have that they want are my red rili shrimp and my BN. I have tons and tons of BN but they are all still too small. I was talking to one of the owners late last year. She confided in me that 2020 was the best year they had ever had. Imagine...there we were with the pandemic raging and they had their best year ever.

What kind of BN do you raise Liz?
I am looking for some more Longfin Albino BN

[LizStreithorst]

My long finned albinos have not yet started to produce fry although I've had eggs twice. I have short finned albinos and short fined standard type now. Check with Brian. I got my long finned albinos from him.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi Al,

Good question! Regarding the Seattle Area, in the last nine (9) years we have added three (3) new aquarium shops and lost two (2) (one aquarium only; one full-line pet shop) both due to building demolition. The three new shops are all aquarium only. Two are ADA shops Aquarium Zen and Aquaria LLC. The other new one is somewhat well known Aquarium Co-op.

Why are shops doing well in the greater Seattle area? I think the primary reason is we have a good overall economy with Boeing, Microsoft, and Amazon.com providing good employment and salaries.

A secondary reason is the support of the local aquarium club, the Greater Seattle Aquarium Society (gsas.org) and it's 300+ members. GSAS is a financially strong club which allows us to bring in national and international speakers such as Ad Konings, Gary Lange, Karen Randall, Oliver Lucanus (Canada), Chuck Rambo, Dick Au, Christel Kasselmann (Germany), Lawrence Kent, Ted Judy, Greg Sage, Ian Fuller (England), Mike Wise, Rusty Wessel, Juan Miguel Artigas Azas, Gazanfar Ghori, Luis Navarro, Barbie Fiorentino, Tom Barr, Rachel O'Leary, Cory McElroy, Greg Steeves, Rick Borstein, and A.I. Mazeroll. In addition the club hosted the 2019 Aquatic Gardeners Association International Convention. All our meetings are open to the public free of charge.

Since the 1990's GSAS has had a Sponsor Store program. Local aquarium shops (not big box stores) are signed up as 'Sponsor Stores' and offer a discount (5% - 20%) to local club members - the store determines the amount of the discount. In turn GSAS prints their business card as an 'ad' in the monthly newsletter. Once a year the club solicits the stores for a donation for our big annual General Auction. Donations are optional but if provided we mention the name of the Sponsor Store when their items come up for bid, won as a raffle item, or given as a door prize. Our GSAS Sponsor Stores are a good source of referrals for our club as well providing many new members on an annual basis. It is a very symbiotic relationship. We always remind our members at meetings how fortunate we are to have over a dozen local shops in the area and how important it is to support them or all we will be left with is Petco and Petsmart for fish, plants, equipment, and advice.....how sad would that be? -Roy

[LizStreithorst]

The big problem down here is there is no interest in either fish or aquatic plants. In all the years I've lived here I have met one other person who was seriously interested in freshwater fish or plants. It's just one of those sad facts of life.

[dornblaser]

I am in suburban Chicago and we have quite a few of the national chains and they all seem to do well. We have a two store local chain that carries a large selection of fresh and marine fish along with plants, coral, etc. And, of course, chicagodiscus.com which I plan on visiting when I can. There is another Discus dealer in the southern suburbs, I forgot the name, that I also will want to visit.

[dprais1]

I am in suburban Chicago and we have quite a few of the national chains and they all seem to do well. We have a two store local chain that carries a large selection of fresh and marine fish along with plants, coral, etc. And, of course, chicagodiscus.com which I plan on visiting when I can. There is another Discus dealer in the southern suburbs, I forgot the name, that I also will want to visit.

exotic discus.

There are quite a few local pet shops in chicaoland, tropiquatics, fish planet, old town etc. But then again the GCCA is pretty robust and Chicago is the third largest US city.

A few years ago I bought a bunch of rainbowfish from a Chicago breeder that got his stock directly from Gary Lange. I picked them up at his brother's really run-down hardware store/ pet store. Apparently the hardware/pet store combo was very popular at one time.

We are lucky.

[Iminit]

It’s sad being in the largest city in the U.S.A and I can’t find a decent fish store. You’d think with all these people there’d be a great market. On LI country critters seems to be the best kept place and they do have some odd hard to find fish. Though nothing in discus. 20yrs ago we had at least 20 local shops that had over 100 tanks. Now I can think of 3 and one was 10g tanks with discus and long dead frogs.