Are We In Your LFS?

[Biota_Marine]

Here at Biota we are constantly looking for new Local Fish Store Partners to join the Biota Army, so we want to know, have you seen our fish at your local fish store?? If not leave the name of the store, state, and a contact number and we will reach out to them directly! Thanks R2R!

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Aquarium paradise, Washington state,
+1 253-584-3474

 

[footgal]

FJW Aquariums, Houston Texas 2819488803

That Aquarium Place, Spring Texas 8324223988

TNT Fish and Reef, Sugar Land Texas 2819333367

ADG, Houston Texas 7136226467

 

[Mkkari]

Zona Aquatics, Maricopa, Arizona - 4807581712

 

[Brian Q]

You have gone retail and direct to consumer. Why should local retailers support you when you are now competing with them. This could have been done in a much more elegant way that benefits retailers and in return it also promotes the importance of the captive breeding initiatives.

 

[Biota_Marine]

You have gone retail and direct to consumer. Why should local retailers support you when you are now competing with them. This could have been done in a much more elegant way that benefits retailers and in return it also promotes the importance of the captive breeding initiatives.

Hey Brian,

Sorry to go on a bit of a long rant here but:

The majority of our products are sold through LFS around the country, the way our pricing is structured on the wholesale side this allows your stores to have the best pricing and we control the pricing of the only 2 other official Biota online vendors (AlgaeBarn and Live Aquaria) so stores will have the best pricing at all times. The stores that order from us most frequently actually get an incredible recurring discount to increase their margins further or sell the products even cheaper. Stores also have first knowledge and access to our brand new species over our online store.

We have incredibly strict guidelines to what stores around the US are even allowed to purchase our products so brick and mortar stores aren't competing with home based businesses with little to no overhead. Many other wholesalers only require a business license to release wholesale pricing which leads to ambitious hobbyists undercutting their LFS. The vast majority of other wholesalers actually sell direct to the public without being transparent about it (see The Coral Reef TN: Sustainable Aquatics, Saltwaterfish. com: Sea Swelling Creatures, and this is the same model that Poma Labs has had from the start just to name a few). In some of the local wholesalers here in Florida I've heard stores we sell to complaining they walk in and see their customers cherry picking out of wholesale tanks, this is unacceptable.

The reason behind us going direct to consumer as well as wholesale is there are tons of customers around the country that have been directly requesting our products for years that either do not have access to our products or their local fish store is not interested in bringing in new vendors (old mentalities of if its not broken why fix it or they can buy a wild caught mandarin at 1/2 the pricing so it doesn't matter if it dies). Every time I've received a request from one of those customers I've called the store they've recommended to give them first right of refusal on the sale before getting back to the customer so it is their decision to make the sale or not.

On top of this many LFS are not yet equipped for all the benefits of captive-bred fish. So we've learned that our mandarins and Coral beauties being thrown in a constant copper treated system does not bode well for their survival rates. Neither does mixing our animals that we strive to keep pristine and healthy with wild-caught specimens that have a higher likelihood of carrying diseases. So stores that have captive-bred systems that mix our fish with ORA, Proaquatix, ect. have a much easier time selling our animals and we understand this is not yet achievable for all LFS.

Our mission has always been a sustainable future for the hobby and to do this we need local fish stores around the US that share our vision. The demand for our product is incredible and we want the LFS industry to continue that relationship with their customers because it's really how all of us starting keeping aquariums (my personal LFS growing up was Absolutely Fish in NJ who we sell to every single month).

 

[vetteguy53081]

Best Fish
Milwaukee, Wi
414-224-0486

 

[Everything Aquatics]

love the reef
@LoveTheReef

 

[Variant]

Hey Brian,

Sorry to go on a bit of a long rant here but:

The majority of our products are sold through LFS around the country, the way our pricing is structured on the wholesale side this allows your stores to have the best pricing and we control the pricing of the only 2 other official Biota online vendors (AlgaeBarn and Live Aquaria) so stores will have the best pricing at all times. The stores that order from us most frequently actually get an incredible recurring discount to increase their margins further or sell the products even cheaper. Stores also have first knowledge and access to our brand new species over our online store.

We have incredibly strict guidelines to what stores around the US are even allowed to purchase our products so brick and mortar stores aren't competing with home based businesses with little to no overhead. Many other wholesalers only require a business license to release wholesale pricing which leads to ambitious hobbyists undercutting their LFS. The vast majority of other wholesalers actually sell direct to the public without being transparent about it (see The Coral Reef TN: Sustainable Aquatics, Saltwaterfish. com: Sea Swelling Creatures, and this is the same model that Poma Labs has had from the start just to name a few). In some of the local wholesalers here in Florida I've heard stores we sell to complaining they walk in and see their customers cherry picking out of wholesale tanks, this is unacceptable.

The reason behind us going direct to consumer as well as wholesale is there are tons of customers around the country that have been directly requesting our products for years that either do not have access to our products or their local fish store is not interested in bringing in new vendors (old mentalities of if its not broken why fix it or they can buy a wild caught mandarin at 1/2 the pricing so it doesn't matter if it dies). Every time I've received a request from one of those customers I've called the store they've recommended to give them first right of refusal on the sale before getting back to the customer so it is their decision to make the sale or not.

On top of this many LFS are not yet equipped for all the benefits of captive-bred fish. So we've learned that our mandarins and Coral beauties being thrown in a constant copper treated system does not bode well for their survival rates. Neither does mixing our animals that we strive to keep pristine and healthy with wild-caught specimens that have a higher likelihood of carrying diseases. So stores that have captive-bred systems that mix our fish with ORA, Proaquatix, ect. have a much easier time selling our animals and we understand this is not yet achievable for all LFS.

Our mission has always been a sustainable future for the hobby and to do this we need local fish stores around the US that share our vision. The demand for our product is incredible and we want the LFS industry to continue that relationship with their customers because it's really how all of us starting keeping aquariums (my personal LFS growing up was Absolutely Fish in NJ who we sell to every single month).

One other benefit that I hope to find in this new D2C model from Biota is to have a higher degree of assurance that the fish I get are disease free. I know many of my LFSs don't properly QT their imported fish so the idea of Biota fish going into these disease ridden systems is not what I prefer.

So to each their own, I'm glad there's a D2C option Just waiting on things to come into stock.

 

[tnw50cal]

One other benefit that I hope to find in this new D2C model from Biota is to have a higher degree of assurance that the fish I get are disease free. I know many of my LFSs don't properly QT their imported fish so the idea of Biota fish going into these disease ridden systems is not what I prefer.

So to each their own, I'm glad there's a D2C option Just waiting on things to come into stock.

This is why I'm buying very soon straight from Biota.

 

[Leo_ian]

specialised aquatic solutions
19 anamalai avenue, singapore, singapore, 279987
+65 8181 9677

 

[Stlreefer1980]

Here at Biota we are constantly looking for new Local Fish Store Partners to join the Biota Army, so we want to know, have you seen our fish at your local fish store?? If not leave the name of the store, state, and a contact number and we will reach out to them directly! Thanks R2R!

Are you in any of the LFS in st louis, mo?

 

[shootingstar_reef]

Vivid Aquariums +18183483288
Underwater Depot +18187897323
Aquarium City +18188877460

All in Los Angeles

 

[Dempsey941]

Exotic Aquatics
Plano,TX

972-519-9559​

 

[tnw50cal]

This is why I'm buying very soon straight from Biota.

Just a little update-I bought a Coral Beauty direct from Biota. I've had her for 2 months now. She's as cute as cute can be and arrived completely disease free. This is one of the best things I've ever done.

 

[RMS18]

Hey Brian,

Sorry to go on a bit of a long rant here but:

The majority of our products are sold through LFS around the country, the way our pricing is structured on the wholesale side this allows your stores to have the best pricing and we control the pricing of the only 2 other official Biota online vendors (AlgaeBarn and Live Aquaria) so stores will have the best pricing at all times. The stores that order from us most frequently actually get an incredible recurring discount to increase their margins further or sell the products even cheaper. Stores also have first knowledge and access to our brand new species over our online store.

We have incredibly strict guidelines to what stores around the US are even allowed to purchase our products so brick and mortar stores aren't competing with home based businesses with little to no overhead. Many other wholesalers only require a business license to release wholesale pricing which leads to ambitious hobbyists undercutting their LFS. The vast majority of other wholesalers actually sell direct to the public without being transparent about it (see The Coral Reef TN: Sustainable Aquatics, Saltwaterfish. com: Sea Swelling Creatures, and this is the same model that Poma Labs has had from the start just to name a few). In some of the local wholesalers here in Florida I've heard stores we sell to complaining they walk in and see their customers cherry picking out of wholesale tanks, this is unacceptable.

The reason behind us going direct to consumer as well as wholesale is there are tons of customers around the country that have been directly requesting our products for years that either do not have access to our products or their local fish store is not interested in bringing in new vendors (old mentalities of if its not broken why fix it or they can buy a wild caught mandarin at 1/2 the pricing so it doesn't matter if it dies). Every time I've received a request from one of those customers I've called the store they've recommended to give them first right of refusal on the sale before getting back to the customer so it is their decision to make the sale or not.

On top of this many LFS are not yet equipped for all the benefits of captive-bred fish. So we've learned that our mandarins and Coral beauties being thrown in a constant copper treated system does not bode well for their survival rates. Neither does mixing our animals that we strive to keep pristine and healthy with wild-caught specimens that have a higher likelihood of carrying diseases. So stores that have captive-bred systems that mix our fish with ORA, Proaquatix, ect. have a much easier time selling our animals and we understand this is not yet achievable for all LFS.

Our mission has always been a sustainable future for the hobby and to do this we need local fish stores around the US that share our vision. The demand for our product is incredible and we want the LFS industry to continue that relationship with their customers because it's really how all of us starting keeping aquariums (my personal LFS growing up was Absolutely Fish in NJ who we sell to every single month).

Mic drop

 

[Tamberav]

Best Fish, Milwaukee, WI 414-224-0486

 

[Fishboy42]

The vast majority of other wholesalers actually sell direct to the public without being transparent about it (see The Coral Reef TN: Sustainable Aquatics

Careful there! I take it you are new to Biota; perhaps Tom can review? We don't trash each other in public or otherwise, and I've always appreciated that. Yes, many wholesalers sell directly to hobbyists through websites, and the connection is not always acknowledged. This is not the case with the first example you site here: The SA/CRTN relationship is clearly spelled-out on the "About Us" Page of their website: http://www.coralreeftn.com/about-us.php

 

[Reefing102]

I know it’s a couple years old but I know one of my LFS does sell biota but it’s rare (usually to the point of special order only) but yea it’s available. I’ll just buy right from Biota though as I don’t trust their fish tanks (constant disease and dead fish)

 

[Biota_Marine]

Hey John or Matt, I apologize if this came off as a dig towards other producers or wholesalers in the industry as it wasn't my intention. This post is back from 2020 when we announced our direct to consumer addition of our business model and many of the members of our LFS network had mentioned the companies I mentioned above because they didn't have knowledge of the direct to consumer avenues. We try to be as transparent as possible with our main website having both our retail and wholesale access so there's no confusion as well as I sent out an announcement email to our LFS network a few months prior to launch to gauge suggestions and reactions.

Also our R2R account is managed by Jake (Me) and sometimes Felicia helps me out with some announcements or posts. I've been a part of the Biota team since the beginning of the US operations around 7+ years ago. I hope to see you at the upcoming MACNA!