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Money and the hobby

31K views 154 replies 38 participants last post by  Michael 
A good plant display, good looking plants, and good selection may work very well. I have a single example and it does go along these lines, but I can't say if that will change anything really.
^ This. It's a marketing problem; fish market themselves (pretty colors, movement). All the store has to do is have halfway decent stock and keep the tanks clean. (Some places I've seen can't even do that!) Plants need to be "packaged" attractively in order to sell. There's an LFS in my area that started out as an aquarium maintenance service - they have beautiful tanks with plants and fish, and the tanks with plants have LOTS of plant mass. They also label certain fish, at least, "NFS" - they keep "worker fish" in their stock tanks to maintain quality; I didn't ask but they may well do the same for certain plants. And they have a beautiful planted tank framed right in the entryway wall when you walk in. They've got the experience to keep things looking nice rather than just serving as another distribution point. And it's a great selling strategy, I bought an expensive fish when usually I wouldn't have bought a fish at that price from ANY other place around here, because their tanks don't look as good. Good looking tanks make the customer think that the stock is healthy and worth paying more money for. I wasn't shopping for plants that day, but if I want something nice I'll definitely be going back there for it.
 
Hey, if people start out with plastic, someday they might decide to go for the real thing. My 20g community tank had plastic plants, but when I upgraded to the 55, I thought to myself, "Maybe it's time to try the real thing..." So if an LFS were to use plastic versions of real plants that they sell in window display tanks, I'd think it would work - "We can sell you the plastic ones, or if you want, we have the real plants over here." And plastic definitely doesn't last forever and is REALLY ANNOYING when it starts to degrade. Besides looking hideous well before the disintegration point. But then the issues of knowledge and maintenance crop back up over the long term. (And I'm sure it's cheaper to sell plastic plants than keep planted stock tanks looking good, from the store's perspective.)

Unfortunately as far as enthusiasm/inspiration goes, a reef is always going to be way more exciting than a FW plant habitat, and I bet more people want fish than want plants as the primary focus of their aquarium.
 
Maybe keeping a planted tank would become something like keeping house plants
Please, no! The only houseplant that does really well for me is the peace lily. I killed houseplants on a regular basis before I settled on the lilies! I want my aquarium to be easier than keeping house plants! ;)

I suspect one of the problems with dirt tanks is the marketing angle - having to wade through the dozen or so kinds of soil at a gardening center is probably too daunting for a newcomer, but the ADA stuff is (a) not available everywhere and (b) really expensive for a newcomer who may not be sure they want the full "planted" effect. Also, buying enough plants to fully pack a new setup with dirt would be really expensive, unless you're already in touch with a forum or club. (In which case, you're not really the "newcomer" we're talking about as far as I can tell.) Other than the ADA system there doesn't seem to be a "convenience" factor in planted aquaria yet.
 
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