Anthony!! Wholesaler Question

[Scott Wilson]

Anthony,

How can a retailer just starting out negotiate with wholesalers to get good coral. I know I will not be a big customer for a while so do you have any suggestions on how to get cooperation from the wholesalers who are in La when I am in Ohio.


any advice you may have from being one in the past or any advice you have will be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,

Scott Wilson

[Anthony Calfo]

Outstanding question Scott... very helpful to other good folks looking to become good/better merchants.

Your dilemma is not uncommon at all.

The solution is to find a "fish picker"... AKA cherry picker or jobber.

These are professional aquarists typically working in or near the big wholesalers. For a fee, they act as your eyes and ears when selecting from livestock. And it is money truly well spent! As a merchant and speaking to other merchants, I insist that this is not only a profitable advantage to you in the long term, but it is a conscientious/ethical one: specimens that should not be shipped are prevented from being shipped to you. This allows for weak specimens to perhaps sit longer with a better chance of survival, and... it lets inferior specimens (fatally damaged or wholly inappropriate species for captivity) from being sent or substituted on you (thus making the supplier more accountable for procuring quality livestock from their collectors, etc.)

There are many good professionals out there that do this work. Without knowing what parts of the world you want to order from, I cannot list them all even if I knew them all ;)

But from LA, one of my fav places is Aqua Marines

http://www.am4fish.com/

Dennis Reynolds along with Walt Smith arguably founded the industry of "fish picking" many decades ago (you oft see Dennis cited on Scott Michael's works). Along with his son Erik, they have a fine business going. Just one possibility :)

best of luck/life to you

Anthony

[Scott Wilson]

thank you very much for this lead.

I will be giving them a call.

Thanks,

Scott