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Unlike much of tropical freshwater and marine livestock sales, garden pond plants, fishes and other animal sales can be surprisingly highly profitable. This due to three principal factors; the seasonality of sales, higher survivability of stock, and size of organisms handled. Retailers who really handle a full line of water garden drygoods AND livestock fall into distinct categories, very profitable, or dismally not. Let me help you to be one of the former. Keeping and selling pond livestock is no more a mystery than other aquatic life in your store. You need to acquire the good specimens of appropriate species, display them properly and attractively, and offer them at pleasing prices. And this isn't the end of the potential profit story either. Some folks go the whole route of water garden reselling; not only offering drygoods and livestock, but services as well. Design, construction, maintenance and various types of consultation. Could you, should you go "outside" your shop, or hire out such expertise and labor through a third party? Perhaps. Questions such as whether the cost of tools, materials, transport, licensing, insurance, and more need to enter into the "is it worth it" equation; as well as your own personal temperament and tolerance for risk exposure. Critters Galore: Fishes: Koi, goldfish, and more The archetypal pondfishes are Japanese ornamental carp (Nishikigoi) or koi., and the many sport mutations that are goldfish; but there are several other species that sell for pond use, depending on the natural or artificial climate of your customers. I know of one Los Angeles water garden that pays for itself in raising African cichlids, though the water runs through a gas water heater during winter. All such pond fishes can be maintained at room temperature within your store during warmer months and this is when they sell, principally spring into summer. The best sellers, bar none are smaller individuals of a few inches, but all sales are exacerbated by the display of larger, full-size individuals. There are only two hard and fast rules for display organisms suitable for outdoor pond use, adequate filtration and COVERS over their system(s). Let me elaborate. We're talking livestock that is robust, big-eating, and waste-producing. Koi, goldfishes et al. These fishes are very active and messy, requiring vigorous aeration, circulation and filtration. Practically speaking their water cannot be moved too much and all the system should cycle through the filter a minimum of three times per hour. All pond fishes, turtles, amphibians, even snails are aquatic Houdini's; they launch, climb, slime, otherwise get out of their intended enclosures on a very regular basis. Do rig complete covers to fit over their tanks/tubs at night, and exercise prudence in keeping their water levels low enough by day. Related to the issue of jumping is separating your more valuable fishes by price. For koi and goldfish this is done on three criteria, type/breed, size, and "quality". Yes, a very small rarer variety may well sell for many times a larger, plainer one. How to avoid confusion and the loss of sales/livestock? You've got to keep them separated... and well enough to where the specimens don't just jump into the "cheapie" section next door. Make sure and be very clear with your staff regarding these issues. Don't have enough room to stock out much pond livestock in your store? Consider temporary displays, even a "kiddie wading pool" inside or out that you can fill up and take down at will. Potted plants can wait out till next day as long as they are kept moist, and such attractors are great for gathering interest. Sales of pond livestock entail the use of large, sturdy nets, heavy duty bags (double them), bands, and for large specimens, pressurized oxygen. Turtles and potted plants should be accommodated in stout cardboard boxing. Get in the habit of using trash bags with newspaper in their base for precluding stinky "plant muck" spills. At Your Service: Yes/No? Do it Yourself or Sub or? Here is an area fraught with great possibilities; tremendous tie-in sales, and/or liability. Do you already offer outside services like delivery, aquarium set-up or maintenance? Good; then you know what I'm getting at. The yes or no question of whether you should get into design, construction or maintenance service aspects of water gardening is one only you can answer. Know that this is a serious undertaking; often requiring vehicles, insurance, licensing, tools, materials, vendors, and separate staff. Don't enter into these relationships lightly. The easier money for such activities as stocking and clean-outs evaporates quickly with an accidental kill-off, slip or collateral property damage. If you're providing outside services like these, at the very least clear your activities with your insurance carrier. A much simpler, less potential downside and possibly more profitable potential lies in teaming up with outside vendors, architects, other designers, landscapers and professional water gardeners who will cooperate with your store in exchange for leads. The best of these liaisons takes the form of your being compensated for providing customers to these other businesses, and their referring their contacts back to you for supplies and livestock. Take a look in the yellow pages or equivalent in your area; many times you can find these folks under "Landscape", and "Swimming Pool" headings. Big towns have specific Aquatic and Aquarium categories for such companies. If you're unfamiliar with pond services, going around with some people in the field is the best way of finding out what "it's really all about". One last issue I'd like to touch on is the appropriateness of encouraging your customers to DIY (Do It Yourself). Liner ponds, above or below grade, are actually very easy to install, and with some help from a masonry contractor or landscaper, many people can supervise and provide the labor for much of a ponds arrangement. The hobby bulletins listed in the sidebar, local pond groups, and the ever-expanding internet (user-groups, bulletin boards, and WWW) are burgeoning with help for would-be ponderers. Pond construction question 07/01/05 Hi, I just read your article in WetWebMedia about building concrete and liner ponds and found it very interesting. At this moment I have a pond service company and would like to expand my horizon building ponds professionally, is there any seminar where I can learn more about this industry? <Mmm, don't think so... but a good idea. There have been instances where companies who manufactured liners (e.g. Tetra) went out and "gave pitches" formally, to folks in the landscape trades... and some of the big pond building companies have a sort of road show they haul about to towns to promote their biz...> Any suggestions in general? <Heeeee! Where to start... or better, end? Do work for someone who has done these a bit... Start smallish... maybe make a "demo" pond of your own... with a waterfall... filtration. A bunch of our old operations manuals are posted on the aquatics business subweb on WWM: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/AqBizSubWebIndex/Biz%20Index/Biz%20index.htm You'll likely gain from perusing these. Do write back should you want to chat over aspects, experiences...> Congratulations on your website. Regards <Thank you. Bob Fenner>
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