What do you wish your LFS had told you?

Hey All!
I have a LFS and used to consider myself a reasonably smart person... then a customer talked me into starting a 'small' saltwater section in my already very small pet store/fresh water fish store. That was about 3 months ago. Now I have my first tiny little coral in my 55 and the addiction is already set. What my question is... before I get too far into the reef end of LFS...

What do you wish the LFS had told you or taught you before they sent you home with that first coral?

I've worked hard to gain a good local rep in all departments of my store... getting good information to people about everything from thier reptiles to their tropical birds and ferrets. I don't want to loose that in my reef dept to be!

At present if someone asks something I don't know my answer is always simple.. "I don't know, BUT I bet this forum I go to has an answer... it's called 3reef.com"

Help a newbie out? there are no other LFS less than about 100 miles from my north woods location so there is a lot of interest/pressure from customers to do more reef/salt water fish.

I gotta try,
Thanks
GreyBeard

 

Proper nutrition.

Combatability.

Minium Tank Size.

Now I know it is a business, but if my LFS was more honest with the basics I would probably a long term customer.

Not being a beginner I would appreciate the correct names for corals, but is just me. I know designer names can be totally worthless but if you do a search sometimes you are more likely to find more hits with the designer names. This is especially true of zoanthids and acropora.

 

When I was a lot newer to SW I wish the LFS would have told me how to take care of the coral before I purchased it. I wish that they would give out a little care tip sheet that told the lighting requirements, temperature and paramater ranges, flow requirements, how and what to feed for the corals if needed. Now when I dont know I dont buy.

 

i would say the most important thing i expect the lfs to provide is the correct name of fish, invert and coral. i usually ask about how to care for specific item but i never buy anything b4 researching the net. with all due respect i don't trust what they say.
the other info i expect the lfs to provide is the origin of each item, (wild caught or aquacultured) and it would be nice if you dont offer wild caught unless it is a customer return.
good luck

 

Dah... I do care sheets for reptiles... why not for sw fish and corals?

Ok so how about things that should be included on each care sheet?

 

I would say "go slow let it grow!" Be patient in your stocking and let nature do its thing with the balance of life. salt water tanks (IMO) require a bit more care and hands on than the average fresh water tank and learning about all the supplements, life cycles, parameters, ect.. can be very discouraging which leads me to my next tip... READ!! Read as many reef books as you can... or just surf the 3REEF forums and you will be in good shape. Never stop reading!

I would also say front load your purchase and buy quality products over the cheap ones. I've upgraded my lighting system 3 times now (PC, T5, T5/LED), I'm on my second auto doser (aqua medic to GHL), and I've upgraded my skimmer once. I'm sure people on this site can relate to my experience as well and wish they just spent the big bucks once rather than 2,3,4 times. From a business point making that sell is not as easy because people will question why you are pushing the more expensive stuff on them... but they will come around (which may even be better for business as they buy the same thing more than once ).

 

I try hard to only get CB fish and aquacultured corals.

 

as far as stock slowly that has always been my advise in fresh water and I would always try to talk someone out of adding too much stock at once.

Selling higher quality first would always be my choice simply because that is what I have learned to do myself. But, it is hard to get someone to understand sometimes.

thanks for the tips!

 

Are you talking about a general care sheet for saltwater/reef or about each type of fish and coral? If you want to make a cheat sheet for fish and corals i would just sell reef books at your store as it the will probably be more valuable to the customer and will be much easier on you.

 

My nights since I started this pet store have been filled with research. Reptiles,fw fish,birds etc. As I add something new I try to learn everything I can about it before I order it and don't add more new stuff until I have a solid knowledge of the pets I have in stock.

With SW there is SO much to study! LOL sometimes I get a brain cramp just triing to figure out what to study next. So I started my own 55 build in the store. My present customers know I'm new at it but they also know that until I know I have good info I will not try to BS them with something just to make sales. I am in a very small town and would never last if I did and it's just not my way anyhow.