About LFS....

[juanico]

Find a good farm where you can get fish @ 4 to 5 five rupees a piece. Most of these farms are up north towards kolkatta, down south in chennai and locally (kerala)

maybe they can link you to some breeders:

http://offakerala.com/

[maaz]

Guys why doing you try Culcutta for local breed...there is cost is very reasonable..

[sushant]

i don't know about the present situation but 3-4 years back the choice of fish breeded in calcutta were pretty limited and most of the cichlids and tertas were bought from Mumbai or Chennai

[Abhi]

I'll be very honest with you. if you intend to make money selling fish, you need to not educate the customers. experienced hobbyists will not loose fish unless he is redoing his stock list or has a crash or doin a new setup. all LFS make money from people who add Golds, Balas, Gourami in a 20gallon tank. Not serious hobbyists.

A layman LFS is doing this, because we dont think the other way, if we educate our customer he might upgrade his setup...if we say a Biotope is far looking better than a normal goldfish tank...sure he will ask what is biotope you will 1st educate, then will sell some cheaper cichlids and will say you take a 3ft tank...but condition apply you should have a good looking biotope tank for display in your store. then after some days from cheaper cichlids to Fronts, Lemons whatever you want you sell....moreover if you can educate you can make your customer upgrade 10 times and 100 times costlier and 100 times profit...I dont think in Delhi you have customer reluctant to pay for up-gradation...

But sure you dont expect Housewives will upgrade from Golds to Cichlids...

Agree with you on this point.....

[marama]

hi

your idea of starting and LFS is good, but i feel you start small set up at your home ( provided you have the space) and buy fishes which are not avaialble mostly in delhi and try to catch up with a customer base for a year or so, by this you can vaiod excess overheads and still try to get customer base.just my idea. this is what am doin here in chennai, for the past 1.5 years. am getting decent responses for the fishes i sell and advertise on forums, and few websites. i wouldnt say am doing wonders and earning thousand but felt this was a better way to build up a certain base before we have a gaint step of investing few lakhs for starting and lfs.

but anyways best of luck

regards

manu

[marsaiko]

hi

your idea of starting and LFS is good, but i feel you start small set up at your home ( provided you have the space) and buy fishes which are not avaialble mostly in delhi and try to catch up with a customer base for a year or so, by this you can vaiod excess overheads and still try to get customer base.just my idea. this is what am doin here in chennai, for the past 1.5 years. am getting decent responses for the fishes i sell and advertise on forums, and few websites. i wouldnt say am doing wonders and earning thousand but felt this was a better way to build up a certain base before we have a gaint step of investing few lakhs for starting and lfs.

but anyways best of luck

regards

manu

Hi Manu,

Which forums & websites do you use? do you have a website/catalogue of yours?
And what fish do you suggest to start off at home?

[marama]

hi

as of now i am doing only selling of discus here in chennai, sourced from Mr.Shiva nair and also doing shipping to various places, been advertising in olx, adpost etc,

i dont know what types of fishes are available there in delhi lfs , but would say try to do something which is not regularly available in the lfs, you can start of with 2 or types of fishes eg discus, african cichlids and new age SA cichlids

but whatever fishes you buy kindly buy from a reputed breeder and keep them in good conditions, this will help you a lot

i have made a blog site too for free

regards

manu

[Zakk]

I will agree with Abhi & Pratam as well but what is the conversion percentage? 5%? 6%? Most people who buy fish are buying them for the kids and will never be a serious hobbyist. If you are lucky, some of the kids will evolve into serious hobbyist. Am all in support for educating them, but you are in for a rough, frustrating and down right tiring battle. However, personally, i dont see it working. People will assume you are attempting to extract money from them even though you know you are trying to educate them. It is a diff ball game if they want to be educated.

[parthapratim22]

hi

your idea of starting and LFS is good, but i feel you start small set up at your home ( provided you have the space) and buy fishes which are not avaialble mostly in delhi and try to catch up with a customer base for a year or so, by this you can vaiod excess overheads and still try to get customer base.just my idea. this is what am doin here in chennai, for the past 1.5 years. am getting decent responses for the fishes i sell and advertise on forums, and few websites. i wouldnt say am doing wonders and earning thousand but felt this was a better way to build up a certain base before we have a gaint step of investing few lakhs for starting and lfs.

but anyways best of luck

regards

manu

Well said...good idea...and discussion is bringing good information...we have seen many hobbyist those dont have shops but well known in selling fishes, plants even costly tank supporting items...

You mentioned its not working because LFS guys are not educating their customers...simply...here it is very hard to say for me what is the percentage...only a Hardcore LFS guy can say...but dont you think in last 5 years you have upgraded your tank 5times or more 10 time...atleast I have upgraded into planted from normal community tanks...but now the question arise if normal LFS guy is not educating then who influenced me to upgrade, sure forums like ASW, APC, MAC, BR, APZ and mostly IAH...even LFS guy should ask people to join these kind of forums, that is a part of Education Process...I might have purchased planted tank item from Hobbyist but same time I have purchased from LFS at Hyderabad...but the difference is not educated by LFS guy but by these forums and Hobbyist...

I your last line I will sure again say if you keep 5 good looking setup in your store...it is very easy to make them understand, then convince then sell...MARKETING

Moreover I would way if LFS guy dont educate people they lose that customer...

[puneet]

@marama--- as per ur steps i finally set up some tanks in my home only starting with flowerhorns bought some pieces from najeeb (mumbai)...now further i dont know how to advertise but still i have posted in quikr, olx n locanto....

@devansh--- i know i have family biz & am also into it but still back of my mind stays 1 thing that i want stand by my own....

thank u guys for all ur suggestion and support.....God bless u all