let me have it!

[LVfishguy]

hello to all! In an effort to help my store (green valley aquariums) and all of you in the process, I am on a quest to get some more reef people back into my store. I has been working on getting a better coral selection in my store for months but, I don't have the customer base to purchace them and unfortunaly my system is not sufficant to house a lot of different SPS corals and what not long term. So this is your chance to tell me what you would like to see and I will take the info to my parents and see what we can do to fix the reputation that reefers have given to us.
So let me have it!

Thanks Chris.

[opihi]

Chris,
kudos for showing that you're interested in improving the store.

personally, i'm topped out on fish right now so there's not much i can purchase from your store. the last few times i came in i left with a $1 bag of live brine.

assuming that your prices were reasonable, i would shop there more often if you had regular shipments of sps or zoos. even if you just had an ORA frag tank with a handful of frags, i'd probably come by and check it out when you get your shipments in.

hth,
jeff

[TippyToeX]

Chirs- Again I am very thankful that you are here and looking for feedback to improve your store.

For me right off the bat I am all about wide selection. LPS, SPS, softies. More so I am positively fanatic about health. Good color, not exposed skeleton, polyp extension, fat and happy. :D Water parameters I can test and be pleased with.

Do you know who your suppliers are? Not just coral, but marine fish as well.

[Shak]

Whoops, didnt see your post when i replied to you on another thread HERE (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=378192).

You've already gained respect from me just by asking for constructive feedback, it shows you're open to suggestions and not set in your ways. I may have been a bit harsh and critical in some of my posts about the various LFS store in this town, I really didnt have any idea that any of you actually cared about your customers (no offense intended, and not directed at you). I do recall posting that your shop is the only one I know of that has the potential to be a great one, i hope you get it to that point.

Your two tanks you use for LPS, SPS, Softies and Anemones could easily be converted and upgraded to more successfully house these particular species better. Amy, Jeff and Mike are the experts in that area though, as my SPS experience is limited compared to those three people. From what i've noticed though, the lighting is inadequate, and in a commercial application like yours there is no way the skimmer can be under the stand and be the correct size for those tanks, especially with the amount of animals that are moved into and out of those tanks. Throw those two Rio Seio 620's you have in your tank in the back with the live rock, watch everything perk up!

As to bringing my business to your store, health/cleanliness, price, selection, and customer service.....in that order. You can swear at me up and down, call me names and kick me in the shins, but only if you have fat, healthy, happy animals at the right price :D

That being said, please dont kick me in the shins.

Feel free to PM if you want some pointers, i'm no expert at running a LFS but I do have some background experience, and i would have considered myself as a very successful LFS owner in the past. The only thing i failed at was figuring out how to work less than 90 hours/week, thats what eventually killed it for me, and I have an ex-wife to prove it :lol:

[LVfishguy]

I would love to get more corals in there along the lines of SPS and all that good stuff but as you said, me lighting is inadaquate to keep them long term if I knew that I would sell them I would have wayne get them in every week. I cannot order corals that I cannot keep. Case and point I had gotten in a beautiful birds nest in about 7-8" in diameter and it sat there for a month and a half until if finially wasted away...We are in the unfortunate situation that we are kinda of a cash poor store right now and I cannot afford a couple of hundred dollars for a better lighting system. I'm working on it though. thanks for the help and keep it coming.

[LVfishguy]

As far as who suppies my fish and corals I work with a guy that picks my fish for me out in LA he hits about all of the reputable vendors out there. He is still pretty hit and miss though.
I had tried Fishheads a few months back and they had really good corals but a very limited selection and many times not worth the shiping by the time we got an order together.

[Shak]

I remember that birdsnest, and you are right, it wasnt going to survive long, I commented to my wife that i wish i could take it off your hands. You have the right attitude Chris, i'll give you that, keep up the good work and i'll make an effort to give you my business.

Also, why dont you post the hours that you are actually in the store so we can come and deal with you directly. I know you do maintenance all the time, and have a hectic schedule, but i'd make sure to visit your store if i knew you were going to be there. Frankly, your one of the few knowledgable ppl there.

[Shak]

Oh, as a side note, i know your parents would realize your making an impact when us big spending coral guys only come in when your there, maybe they will sit up and take notice? Just my opinion.

I was that way with your ex-employee "D", or however you called him. He was always honest to me, and told it like it was, if he noticed a fish i was interested in, and it wasnt eating or acting normally, and he knew it.....he would tell me. I liked that kid and spent an A$$load of money with him, like $5-600 on my little nano tank alone.

[LVfishguy]

yup he was a good guy. He took good care of my S/W unfortuatly to took a few things from the store too...I'll tell you what I can do though. If I know that you are going to be comming down I will let you know that day when I might be able to get down there. The bottom line is, I need to show wayne that the money is there in the coral tank and that upgrading my system is in their best interest. I think our best road to take on this situation is if you guys can tell me what you are looking for I can get it in. I don't expect you to buy it if the coral doesn't look good to you of course but, majority of the time the stuff that I get in is usually in pretty good shape. As far a my water quality in that tank the only problem that I have back there is a phospate problem. Nitrates are always <5ppm and calcium,ALK, and iodide are pretty close to the mark. I have spent two years working a dosing schedule.
And my parents do take notice to the amount of money that I bring in there. I already have quite a few people that look for me. If you happen to come in there and I am not, I am only a phone call away. My mom has my cell number and is not affraid to use it.
Anyway, let me know what you all want and I will take a look at the order this week and see what I can do for you.

[VegasMike]

Chris,

Where, exactly, is the store? I do not get down to Henderson/Green Valley often, if ever, so I really don't know that area. If I has a reason to make a trip........

Mike

[Nanighan]

Here's a little story for you Chris. Early this year when first started my tank, I was desperately looking for some starter sps corals. I called your store and asked if you carried and small polyp stony corals. The guy who answered the phone wasn't so sure so, I desribed what I was looking for saying things like montipora cap, plating etc. He puts me on hold and says he has one with green polpys, and looks healthy. I run out of my house and drive 30min there, only to see the name plating or cap coral(can't remember)
right in front of a anenome, whose tips btw were green. I was very disappointed. Its kind of funny now:) that I think about, and kudos Chris in trying to get more sps stuff.

[Shak]

The store is at the intersection of Gibson and the 215, where the new overpass is going in. They are in the same shopping center with the Jack-in-the-box on the corner.

Just up Gibson from the valley auto mall.

[LVfishguy]

That is wierd about the anenome, we don't usually put those in with the corals and coral don't go in the tanks with the anenomes. Oh, well I guess. IT is so hard to find good help. I'm working on it though.

[Daniel62]

Hello Chris, My name is Daniel And I have been to your store a few time. I am from Az and come to vegas a lot. I remember that birds nest also, I made the comment that the coral was starting to bleach and that while I was not interested in the whole coral, I would be intersted in a frag which I gladly would have paid $10-15 for. The person who waited on me said that the could only sell the whole thing. Now I know other sps keepers probably ask the same thing and if you had sold 3 or 4 frag you probably whould have made your money on it. As it was I think it just ended up dieing :( I owened a exotic pet store for 2 years and I know that you need to target the people who really spend the money, and in the saltwater area that Is reefers especally SPS'er. You can only fit so many fish in a tank but there is always room for 1 more coral :). While I understand you maybe cash straped A pair of used 250/400 metal halides can be had here at R/C for around 150 plus bulbs Sell Just a couple nice sps colonies and you will have your return back in no time. And with good water quality the will stay alive forever. Where as some of the fish you are sell are not really in the right type of tank. How many mandarines have you lost because the have no bugs to eat or sand sifting starfish that have cleaned out the sand bed. How many flowerpot coral have you brought in that just die in your tank or the new owner becase they are very demanding. Good reefers are very educated about what they are doing they have goooooobs of time and money invest and very discrimanating about what they buy. again Know who your money market really is. Also When I used to sell enclosure I sold them at cost. They are not your bread and butter what goes in them is. You have a great city that has tons of disposible income you just need to tap into the right source. Hope this helps for what its worth.
Good luck Daniel

[Shak]

Holy grammar batman, gimme a paragraph or something. Youch my eyeballs hurt.

[Nanighan]

good points there daniel. I tried to convince some other LFS stores for frags on dyeing corals, yet they still would not do so, why is beyond me. Sometimes I wonder if some people STILL actually purchase the coral anyway, which is why they rather not frag it.
Matt at least there are smileys to break it up.;)

[Shak]

Didnt mean to seem critical of the post, great points and well thought out.....but...fragging is not something you just start doing when an organism appears as if it isnt going to sell (they admittedly dont have the background to diagnose its health).

I'd have to defend GVA (omg did i just say that?), now, if they had a frag system set up, and were adept at the procedure (which I am not), and have the skillset and experience to do this, as well as diagnose that it is the last option, then I would have expected it of them. To just expect someone who is a novice with SPS (GVA), to accept the opinion of a hobbyist, which they see hundreds a week from new to very advanced, is unreasonable.

Knowing Chris a bit better now, I'd say that in hindsight he would have done it, if it were his decision, but it is not. The people paying the bills have the final say, and he is trying to change their opinion for the better.

One last point for Chris then i'll shut up. Keep using this forum buddy, its gonna make a world of difference for you. Looking back if you'd have asked Amy, Jeff or Mike what you should have done with that birdsnest, before it expired, you may have had 3 very happy hobbyists growing out frags from it which you could have re-sold in your store down the road. You have some experts here willing to help, me included (though I'm by no means an expert), use the board and you'll be happy you did.

Keep up the good work Chris, damn I forgot to come in and order my blennie today, hope you remembered for me. I'll be by tomorrow to pick him up.....hopefully.

[LVfishguy]

Your Blennie was out on the order if you want I can PM you if it comes in or you can just come on down. I should be in there for a little bit between 10-12 this afternoon. (big time frame I know!)

As far as fragging that birds nest, I never would have even thought about that but if I would have been there when someone asked I probably would have tried to do it for you.

The problem with that is of course 1. I am not really ever down there and 2. I don't really know how to frag something like that yet. (can't really be that hard though.)
well A little bit of knowadge for the future.

[the Undone guy]

Chris i just posted on the other forum but like i said, if you would like some help with the website feel free to PM me and maybe we can work something out~

My biggest beef with your store is your inatiquate lighting on your reef tank, and the invert tank by far. When you guys get anemone's in, they always end up bleaching and they just look unhealthy in general. Not to mention your Liverock is expensive as crap...but thats the same with every LFS in vegas. As far as keeping your phosphates down, do you guys use RO/DI water for topping off or for water changes? (if not what water do you use) Also you could start running a refugium and get some macro algae instead of the bioblox materail which would increase your nutrient export and possibly reduce the hair algae problem you have in your coral tank. Or stick a better clean up crew in there~

and yea, D was honest as crap. With honesty comes integrity, and my business. Another reason i still shop there is because of Adam, he's honest and very patient. He's someone who likes the hobby and enjoys learning as much as he does teaching, which is a very good quality. Take care of that guy before he leaves for arizona.

[LVfishguy]

First off welcome to our little group of misfits! I think you'll like it here. I am glad to here that you really like my store and what you say is what I here all the time. We have got a lot of the basics down in there and there really is a lot of room for improvement that can happen in there.

I am going to be taking a big hit when Adam leaves in a couple of weeks. Taught the guy majority of what he knows. Kid is like a sponge when it comes to tanks and fish. But, he wants to go and build bikes I guess. Can't blame him. I have a feeling that he will be back after school. I guess that we'll see what happens with that later.

We are looking at a couple of people to come in and fill in the gaps that Adams is going to leave (should be hearing from Wayne soon Jeff, things are a little crazy down there)

Overall things are looking good for the store down there and if I can get my coral sales up I've got a new, better tank on the drawing board that will be more reef friendly. But, I have to justify the cost.

My next little project is getting that 60 gallon ane. tank under control. That is a whole different story though and a lot of cash.

thanks everyone and come visit me!

~Chris~