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Old 05-07-2022, 07:00 PM
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Hey @Carson.

I was thinking more about this and I think your on to something but I would restack it with a bit of a different perspective.

If you want to sell QT fish on a commercial scale as a business for profit, then there is a market. Just target the rare and collectable fish. You will find your clientele amongst the advanced hobbyist that are searching for these fish and are willing to pay a premium.

For the average hobbyist, I still don't think it's worth the trouble, but...

What about a fish hotel service? The idea is that you take all of the fish that your client has in their system for 6 weeks during which time you treat for disease and they do whatever is necessary to get it out of their tank.

Sick fish/tank - How many people watch all of their fish die because they don't have a hospital tank (or the meds and knowledge) to medicate in. This is the fish doctor model.

Tank Moves - You pickup the fish 2 or 3 weeks before your client is set to move. You treat for disease while you have the fish. They tear down their tank, move, set it back up and after 6 weeks they get their fish back.

Tank Resets - You take all the fish and treat for disease while their tank goes fallow for 6 weeks.

Tank Rebuilds - Same as tank resets but instead of a fallow period, they drain and rebuild.

>>

In all of the above, the client should have an ich/velvet free tank at the end of the six weeks. This is something that I would pay for.

There are some diseases such as uronema that can't be cured from a tank with a 6 week fallow period. It can be avoided by treating all fish before they ever go into the display, but once it's in there the only real option for treatment is bleach. It's just important to manage expectations.

You could book in advance for moves, rebuilds and resets. The fish doctor services would likely be emergencies and your ability to help might depend on what's in your facility at any given point of time.

You could extend the services to include coral and invert QT for clients that are doing a full rebuild or a move.

You could charge by the tank volume or something like that. A dollar a gallon per week. For a 100G tank with six week treatment, that would be $600. It's debatable whether that's based on the client's tank size or your QT tank size. Perhaps to be negotiated.

$600 for a six week QT is a bargin. I would gladly pay that if I had a sick tank, was moving or wanted to rebuild my system and cycle from dry rock.

I know that such services do exist in the hobby world. It's not really my idea per say. Whether they have exactly this business model or not, I don't know. Our hobby needs more of this.

It's not hard to imagine a hobbyist being successful with dump and pray for a number of years while they build up their fish collection. I was. It's safe to assume that their is ich in their tank, but fish can thrive with disease management. Then something goes wrong and they are faced with losing their tank. At that point, $600 to save all of their fish while they reboot is a really good option.

You could show up at their house, do a fish water dip, put the fish in buckets and rehome to your facility. Personally, I would change an extra fee for pickup and delivery. Otherwise, let them bring the fish to youi.

Perhaps once I bring my final batch of fish through QT, I will offer this service. That's a ways away though.

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Other ideas...
  • Established bio media - Pond Matrix or Marine Pure
  • Clean Cheato
  • Cycled rock
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