Mass Reefing Exodus?

[aquaman67]

I blame the internet.

What got me into reefing was seeing the salt water tanks at the local fish shop when I was doing freshwater. I was mesmerized.

People buy so much online now that local shops only carry a fraction of what they used to have back in the day.

Don’t get me wrong. The internet has made so much more possible. It has taken the mystery out of marine tanks.

But looking at cool tanks on the Internet is nothing like seeing them in person at a fish store.

 

[Gill the 3rd]

I blame the internet.

What got me into reefing was seeing the salt water tanks at the local fish shop when I was doing freshwater. I was mesmerized.

People buy so much online now that local shops only carry a fraction of what they used to have back in the day.

Don’t get me wrong. The internet has made so much more possible. It has taken the mystery out of marine tanks.

But looking at cool tanks on the Internet is nothing like seeing them in person at a fish store.

I think the internet overall has helped the hobby, but definitely hurt the LFS. Like you, I was a freshwater guy for years. When I first started I was convinced I would never venture into saltwater, but as I kept going to the different LFS to get freshwater fish, I found myself more and more going to the saltwater section to see all the crazy fish and inverts. Finally I bit the bullet and never really looked back.

I think the internet has exposed more people to the hobby and allowed them to be more successful. I agree nothing beats going to the LFS and seeing the livestock in person.

 

[DIYreefer]

8 months… never seen a spec of algae besides the dusting on the glass… it’s bacteria driven and the best way to go in my opinion.

Having an army of tangs helps as well. I have 5 tangs in my 125, agae has no chance. Lol. In fact, every now and then I'll get some hair algae on the plugs of frags in my frag tank so I move them over to the 125 display to get cleaned up. 50 frags will be spotless in 10 minutes.

 

[DIYreefer]

I blame the internet.

People buy so much online now that local shops only carry a fraction of what they used to have back in the day.

This is precisely why I avoid selling frags locally. I understand the need for an LFS and have no desire to take business from them.

I have 2 LFSs near me. One of which I haven't set foot into in probably 15 years. I'm not a fan. The other, however, I provide quite a bit of corals to. I trade them in at a small fraction of what they are worth. Not only to help support my buddies business, but also because I'm well aware that there may come a time when I need access to 200 gallons of sw at 3 in the morning. Or I may need a place to temporarily house a few hundred frags at a moments notice. Hopefully neither scenario ever happens, but I know I can count on my LFS (the good one) to be there if I'm ever in a bind.

That stated, and to get back to the original topic here, I don't believe the hobby is dying by any means but surely it is slowing down. Inflation is very real and it hits all of us. My family's basic cost of living has increased by about $1000 per month over the last couple of years. I have a good job, but absolutely feel that.

 

[Katrina71]

I definitely think budgets have gotten tighter. Our grocery bill has increased by about 75.00 per trip.

 

[PotatoPig]

Lol I think most people see a BRS video of a tank that probably has a 10k+ price tag and a team of 10 people maintaining it and compare their tank to that which both isn't fair and can be disheartening.

That and brick and mortar stores are being absolutely killed on price by BRS, Amazon and so on so have lost a lot of business to online vendors, and it’s mostly the high value, high margin, low risk portion of the business.

 

[fish farmer]

I blame the internet.

What got me into reefing was seeing the salt water tanks at the local fish shop when I was doing freshwater. I was mesmerized.

People buy so much online now that local shops only carry a fraction of what they used to have back in the day.

Don’t get me wrong. The internet has made so much more possible. It has taken the mystery out of marine tanks.

But looking at cool tanks on the Internet is nothing like seeing them in person at a fish store.

I agree seeing a LFS display puts it in perspective. I even want to get back into freshwater.... shrimp tanks like mentioned above.

I've been in this hobby since 2000 and truthfully it's been an internet hobby for me most of that time at least with equipment.

The best products back then were still sourced from online, my LFS were still selling kits like fastest, API, Seaclone skimmers, non UL listed rio pumps.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I heard a fish store owner once say something like this - "If you want to have a million dollars after opening a fish store, start with 2 million."

I would say there could be some truth to that if you’re trying to make money selling lemon tetras and cory cats or something.

If a place does reefs, and does reefs well, it is virtually impossible not to make a good to very good profit. Especially these days.

 

[Troylee]

I would say there could be some truth to that if you’re trying to make money selling lemon tetras and cory cats or something.

If a place does reefs, and does reefs well, it is virtually impossible not to make a good to very good profit. Especially these days.

A good friend of mine owns the biggest lfs in Vegas and he’s told me over and over… the money is in Maintence and selling and installing new tanks.. fish and corals are not his bread and butter.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

A good friend of mine owns the biggest lfs in Vegas and he’s told me over and over… the money is in Maintence and selling and installing new tanks.. fish and corals are not his bread and butter.

Or sure. have had a design/install/manage company for 20 years now. If you have me a fully loaded LFS store for free, the 1st thing I would do is shut it down.

Truth be told, i started getting a little bored with it a while back and decided to get my teaching license to teach HS science.

The tanks are fun, but the teaching is far more rewarding for me. Unfortunately, teaching is nowhere near as profitable, so I worked to keep the company going.

The only way to make it work was to bring in a partner. A guy I had worked with for a long time with had a fresh and saltwater brick & mortar. I told him he needed to ditch the store and change over to the design/install/maintain model. He was reluctant, but then I showed him the #s.

He dropped the store pretty quickly.

We’re super generous with our customers. Free stuff all the time. $500 angel died 6 months after you bought it? No worries…here’s another one. We were here for 2 and a half hours, but were only going to charge you for 1…no biggie. There is still plenty of money made.

 

[DIYreefer]

A good friend of mine owns the biggest lfs in Vegas and he’s told me over and over… the money is in Maintence and selling and installing new tanks.. fish and corals are not his bread and butter.

Same where I live. My buddy that owns our good LFS has said he would not make it without his maintenance accounts.