sifuentes31
New member
This is a great read. I have also thought of doing somthing like this but i would need start up capital and i don't have nearly enough.
Coral wholesalers who sell to non store front businesses?
- Thread starter keh9qd
- Start date
When you do have 'enough'...make sure it's all 'disposable income'...cause you won't be getting it back!
ERICinFL
Rejisturd Mimbur
You're probably correct, but as long as the basement business is legit, a business is a business.
the markup here in the local stores is only double what they pay for it, maybe a little more. I have considered this before but I was going to do it to obtain broodstock for farming corals. i never had enough startup capital and my main tank started to decline. it was no longer packed full with no room for new corals. I never went through with it. there was too much downside to the operation as it takes the corals you get about 1 year to become fraggable. wild corals are in a state of shock and take forever to start growing.
cherry pick the peices you want to propagate as far as acros, lps, etc... grow and frag them in your 8' tank. in a seperate stock tank or kiddie pool culture soft corals like leathers, kenya trees, etc... things noobs would buy because they drive the hobby. they grow out fast. you cannot give away kenya tree on your local forums but one fully grown and attached will go for 30$ at the lfs. you will never make any money farming acros or chalices, or hammers etc... they grow too slow. unless you have a following like tyree's latest le darth vader ice cream sundae chalace for 1500$ an eye, you will only make money selling what advanced hobbyists consider pest corals.... just culture them in a stock tank from tractor supply company or a kiddie pool. a 20l refugium gravity feeding the system should be all you need. for more ease add a topoff via a float valve and you're good to go
cherry pick the peices you want to propagate as far as acros, lps, etc... grow and frag them in your 8' tank. in a seperate stock tank or kiddie pool culture soft corals like leathers, kenya trees, etc... things noobs would buy because they drive the hobby. they grow out fast. you cannot give away kenya tree on your local forums but one fully grown and attached will go for 30$ at the lfs. you will never make any money farming acros or chalices, or hammers etc... they grow too slow. unless you have a following like tyree's latest le darth vader ice cream sundae chalace for 1500$ an eye, you will only make money selling what advanced hobbyists consider pest corals.... just culture them in a stock tank from tractor supply company or a kiddie pool. a 20l refugium gravity feeding the system should be all you need. for more ease add a topoff via a float valve and you're good to go
aquaworldpa
New member
I would never suggest trying to undercut the local fish stores. I myself run a fish store, and see it far too often. People somehow getting coral wholesale accounts, and selling the coral for half what a local store has to price it to stay a float. Running an aquarium store is a very ruff buisness, every penny coming in counts. you need to be able to afford rent, and to pay your employee's, aswell as pay for the orders you make your money on. It really hurts when people just order products online or from online distributers.
Psionicdragon
New member
People wonder why the bay area is out of LFS...well this is the reason and agree with aqua.
I started a maintenance company after local business asked me to take a look at their aquarium. (2004)
I took ALL the LFS maintenance business away within a year, which was a very good thing, bad business, overpriced, rude, and didn't do good maintenance on clients aquariums (dropped in snails then left and sent a bill for full maintenance, SMH) no or very little knowledge on livestock at least on saltwater.
I got all the legal docs, LLC, insurance, EIFN, sale tax number, and was able to set up with almost all distributors, manufacturers, or wholesalers unless stated that a physical storefront was needed. I actually went a little crazy 167 dry goods and 8 livestock suppliers. I now use 4 dry goods and 2 livestock suppliers.
I started building acrylic aquariums and equipment for clients. (2007)
After almost a decade of maintenance, I decided to open a storefront. Rented a place right downtown, one storefront from the main intersection.
The business plan was based on residential utilities, not good since there is a difference in billing between residential and commercial 2x to 5x more cost.
It took around 9 months to build EVERYTHING in my storefront. The tanks, racking, the plumbing, running new electrical.
The second downside was my landlord.
My livestock was delivered to me from a high-quality reputable source, very little DOA's, they would credit me immediately without question.
I got compliments on how beautiful and clean my store was, but it turned into the FREE local public aquarium. My prices were competitive with Liveaquaria but still got showroomed. I did a lot of custom orders for customers, but they didn't want to wait. They ended up driving to Petco 40 miles away. I would see them days later when their whole aquarium had ick. I carried meds but 3x the market price. They could either drive back to Petco 40 miles (2 hours), order online and wait a day or two for delivery or purchase it from me immediately. I quarantined everything for a minimum of four weeks and wouldn't put out anything that didn't look in great quality. As if I was buying it for myself.
End of 2014 I closed the store, the last month's revenue was $100. OUCH! My maintenance company had paid for and was keeping the store open. I couldn't afford to dump any more funds into it.
A couple years ago I bought a new house, the basement opens to a large driveway on the side. I rebuilt the front half of the basement for my wife's hair salon and I took the back half and started building my new storefront. It will be exclusive by appointment only. I still am the only saltwater option in 40+ miles.
I took ALL the LFS maintenance business away within a year, which was a very good thing, bad business, overpriced, rude, and didn't do good maintenance on clients aquariums (dropped in snails then left and sent a bill for full maintenance, SMH) no or very little knowledge on livestock at least on saltwater.
I got all the legal docs, LLC, insurance, EIFN, sale tax number, and was able to set up with almost all distributors, manufacturers, or wholesalers unless stated that a physical storefront was needed. I actually went a little crazy 167 dry goods and 8 livestock suppliers. I now use 4 dry goods and 2 livestock suppliers.
I started building acrylic aquariums and equipment for clients. (2007)
After almost a decade of maintenance, I decided to open a storefront. Rented a place right downtown, one storefront from the main intersection.
The business plan was based on residential utilities, not good since there is a difference in billing between residential and commercial 2x to 5x more cost.
It took around 9 months to build EVERYTHING in my storefront. The tanks, racking, the plumbing, running new electrical.
The second downside was my landlord.
My livestock was delivered to me from a high-quality reputable source, very little DOA's, they would credit me immediately without question.
I got compliments on how beautiful and clean my store was, but it turned into the FREE local public aquarium. My prices were competitive with Liveaquaria but still got showroomed. I did a lot of custom orders for customers, but they didn't want to wait. They ended up driving to Petco 40 miles away. I would see them days later when their whole aquarium had ick. I carried meds but 3x the market price. They could either drive back to Petco 40 miles (2 hours), order online and wait a day or two for delivery or purchase it from me immediately. I quarantined everything for a minimum of four weeks and wouldn't put out anything that didn't look in great quality. As if I was buying it for myself.
End of 2014 I closed the store, the last month's revenue was $100. OUCH! My maintenance company had paid for and was keeping the store open. I couldn't afford to dump any more funds into it.
A couple years ago I bought a new house, the basement opens to a large driveway on the side. I rebuilt the front half of the basement for my wife's hair salon and I took the back half and started building my new storefront. It will be exclusive by appointment only. I still am the only saltwater option in 40+ miles.
One more thing- if you get a direct account with the islands you need to order a certain $ amount to make the airfare work. But these guys are afraid to tell you they are out of something- thinking you will cancel- so a 1000$ order may be 600$ blowing the matrix for profit due to shipping. And then of course you get what has already been cherry picked, and there is no recourse for pests, DOA, etc etc etc.
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