FW Dealers

[Anonymous]

Few questions:

How many of you are actively selling planted aquaria? Those that are, what are your typical setups? i.e. type of equipment, brands etc for say a 30 gallon planted tank i.e. Dutch or Amano style.

Does Dupla have a US distributor?

 

[Anonymous]

We sell a lot of plants in our shop but we don't get too fancy on the dry goods. We carry all of the Sea Chem plant supplements and have had good success with them. Not too many of our customers have asked for anything beyond that. I think Kent has a pretty comporable line now as well. Hagen makes a neat little CO2 reactor that sells well, and I believe that Coralife just came out with some of their Aqualights with "plant" bulbs in them (6700k).

 

[Anonymous]

Yes we've been planning on adding the new Kent line, and I've glanced at some of the SeaChem products as well.

Rover are your plant customers hardcore hobbiests like say somone on this board is for reefs?

 

[JeremyR]

I thought I had heard that dupla had been purchased by red sea.. I know red sea bought someone like that.

 

[Anonymous]

Tom-
Some are, most aren't. We are the first shop around here to really even push plants at all, so we don't really have a big "hard core" market. I have found that the Sea Chem stuff (or Kent, it's basically the same) is a good way to start them on it, because it has a decent "basic" line and then progresses as the customer does. We get tons of free crap from Sea Chem so that's what we push, as near as I can tell, the Kent and Sea Chem are pretty much the same.

 

[Anonymous]

Jeez you're kidding, Rove! The shop I worked at was known for their planted tanks (we had a really good planted tank/discus specialist by the name of Kitty, and she was goood at what she did), and we had some seriously fanatical customers. The bulk didn't adhere to any one "system", they usually started small, and then when they were invariably bitten by the "gotta have more-bigger-better" bug they'd go for the additives and supplements. SeaChem, at that time at least, seemed to make some pretty good products, easy to use with good results and all. Most of our customers used good ol' Cali-tap (so hard all ya need to do is toss in some gravel and sand and VOILA! Concrete!), and would go to the trouble to soften that water and acidify it. Lord, I remember when I first got my fresh tanks and tried to lower the pH, can you say "BUFFERED"? Practically impossible around here.

 

[Anonymous]

I think, seamaiden it's a regional thing. Some areas seem to be heavy into plants and some areas not. Seems like in the greater Boston area everyone does FW but few have a decent plant selection, or carry the equipment.

jeremy - that sounds about right I was operating under that assumption but couldn't remember who.

 

[Anonymous]

I thought Red Sea bought Azoo?

 

[Anonymous]

I think, seamaiden it's a regional thing. Some areas seem to be heavy into plants and some areas not. Seems like in the greater Boston area everyone does FW but few have a decent plant selection, or carry the equipment.

jeremy - that sounds about right I was operating under that assumption but couldn't remember who.

the store creates the demand-our plant sales are starting to go up, slowly but surely

fwiw-the only supp. i push are seachem's flourish iron, and flourish trace-only two i use in the store, as well.

we sell a fair amount plants, but very few setups geared specifically towards them

 

[Anonymous]

there are loads of fw hobbyists out there that want plants-they just don't know it yet
:wink:
show 'em what a kicka$$ planted tank looks like, and how easy it is, and you'll start selling plants faster than you know :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

thats basically our plan vitz :wink: I've had plenty of customers over the years come in and beg us to do these tanks, because they like what they saw in the SW area, and there wasn't anyone in the area selling the higher end FW animals and equipment. Everybody and their brother does FW, but mostly cichlid and the standard 1979 FW nightmare (well they got those lazer lights now too :lol: ) and you are right most people have no idea how gorgeous these tanks can be, so we hope this little experiment in the new store will add to the profits.

It's actually been rather startling to see how closely planted aquaria parallels with reef aquaria. Two approaches high-tech and low tech, with the edge being to low tech (natural) approach etc.

Quick check of Red Sea's website shows no Dupla or Azoo either, but I did hear something about them recently - however Dupla's website is currently not working.

 

[JennM]

I don't carry FW at all (except a few bettas!) but for what it's worth, I do have a couple of hard-core reefing customers who also are hard-core planted tank fanatics. One travels to the west coast a lot, where he picks up stuff (corals and FW plants) that he can't seem to find locally.

I don't carry the FW lines by Kent and Seachem but some of my loyal customers will order them, and I'll get them in for them. I appreciate those customers who buy extras because they know I appreciate the business!

I've toyed with the idea of getting into FW but I'd have to crack the books again - and I'd need to rent more space. Right now I'm not in a position to do that, but I haven't ruled it out as a future endeavour - and if I did, I'd be sure to go for the high-end stuff, unusual fish, esp. cichlids, and planted tanks, because the big chains have the goldfish and tetra market cornered.

Jenn

 

[Anonymous]

Yes on both counts, I would wager it is a regional thing, I know that one of the best f/w plant suppliers is growing them out in Ramona, I'm sure there are others. I am of the opinion, though, that if they see it, they will come. Set up a few GORGEOUS planted tanks, maintain them well (fish like discus and rainbows tend to show them off best, I think) and customers WILL want them. We sold MANY water conditioners, craploads of peat, and many RO/DI units because our water is so hard out here.

We sold several brands of additives, I liked SeaChem best, though. There were several customers who had to have EVERYTHING Dupla they could get their hands on. We also (I think the new owners still sell it) FAMA mag, which many shops won't because of the online/mail order competition. Dougie felt it was better to give people the choice, and he usually got the business (supported his family for over 40 years in this bidness) because he employed people who specialized in different areas. Even though I was the "reef chick", I was responsible for all display tanks in the shop, and by far my favorite was my planted tank.

 

[Anonymous]

I know that one of the best f/w plant suppliers is growing them out in Ramona.

whoah! things grow in Ramona? :mrgreen: ahhh the Inland Empire, the original home of the smoggy inversion layer and cowshit. Nothing like those red smelly afternoons. 8)

actually I guess Ramona is a bit south near SD, but still along I15, the official highway through hell

 

[Anonymous]

I'd be sure to go for the high-end stuff, unusual fish, esp. cichlids, and planted tanks, because the big chains have the goldfish and tetra market cornered.

Yes everybody and their brother does the goldfish/betta/feederfish and at least around here cichlids. Hence our desire to specialize in planted.

No pastel colored gravels and No resin castles or skulls :roll:

 

[JennM]

No pastel colored gravels and No resin castles or skulls :roll:

Awww come on - you're missing the marketing boat without a whole Sponge Bob section :roll:

"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea??"

 

[DustinDorton]

Mick, I worked in a shop in so-cal for years. All of our display tanks had plants in them, but none of them were really plant tanks. I set up a 40 gallon plant tank and sales picked up a bit. When I set up the 240 plant tank with halides and CO2 the sales went through the roof. We doubled the amount of holding space, and on top of that, doubled the frequency of plant shipments.
Not many people wanted to spend the cash on the really fancy equipment, most of them just bougt the plants only to replace them later. They are cheap enough and no one feels bad when they die. Heck, we even had one guy that would buy a dozen or more plants a week just for his cichlids to eat.

 

[JeremyR]

I've been on the fence about whether to try to do a kick ass planted section to revive our fw business or just throw it out the door alltogether. I just feel like it's too much work per dollar return compared to reef which is still growing like mad... on the flip side, I could grow all my own plants in the greenhouse pretty easily.

 

[DustinDorton]

It would hardly be worth it for you to grow your own plants. They are dirt cheap, especially if you tranship them from singapore.

So many less headaches with plants than reefs. Think about it, you can tranship them and not feel guilty. You can sell them to both expert and beginner customers alike. No one, is going to cry or even flinch when they die, they just buy new ones.

 

[Anonymous]

Even landed US distributors are pretty cheap compared to SW stuff. Anybody have favorite wholesalers for this stuff???