Fishroom Progress

 Today I added the backs to the aquarium stands.
This view is looking into the fishroom from the front of the shop.

 Another view: Looking into the fishroom from the front sales area.

Looking down the first isle of the fishroom.

Looking down the second isle

 Back wall. this will be the breeding area.

This is the last isle where the employee entrance is located

Looking at the two rows that each have a window. The windows will be covered or painted.

Aquarium stands are forming into a fish room!

 I updated the balcony with reed fencing to start working in that tropical look.

 Kliment and I are building the frames for the stands.

 Kliment is holding wood, being a great helper keeping things straight.

 Here is a view of the fish room before the backs and facing are applied to the stands

This will be the opening (Entrance) to the fish room

 A view showing the side panels

This small area will be for bagging fish and doing water tests for client samples

Logo's and Fish tank stands

Here is the Fish I will be using for my logo.
It's a Corydoras!

 Here is what the first row of stands look like, they will of course be faced with wood and have hinged doors as well.

 The stands will hold 2 each 20 gallon "high" tanks and a 55 in any combination.

This is a stack of stands laying sideways.

We also took a break from the work and headed to the fair. Fair food and Elephant ears!

Angel and I didn't last too long at the fair!
After a few minutes we were spent and ready for a chair....

Building the aquarium stands

 We finished the Betta Bar. This area will house the Betta bowls and Nano aquariums. You can see from Angel, that they are very strong!

Diana was a bit surprised to see Angel... 

 I think from this demonstration that the stands will hold up any small aquariums we place on them.

We began buying the wood that will be the frames of the fish room aquarium stands. Over a hundred 2X4X8's will go into the construction of the fish room.

 After unloading all these 2X4's we were whipped.

This is the prototype stand. The bottom shelf will hold a 55 gallon tank and the top (Where the 55 is in the picture) will house 2, each 20 gallon high aquariums. the stands will be faced with board so that they are enclosed with hinged lids and interior lighting. We have 19 more to make! Then we will move into the small room you see in the far back left corner, that room will have stands that hold 10 gallon aquariums for shrimps and crabs plus a small table with hermit crabs for the kids. Fun!, Fun! Fun!

Shelves for the rest of us!

 The shelves are now normal height and are 1/2 as deep as they were and they look great a coat of black paint and we will be ready to move onto the aquarium stands.

Product shelves for giants...

 The truth is I have never made book cases before...

so what I envisioned as "normal" isn't normal... This shelf is 2' wide and 2' deep, but I made it 8' tall... it's going to have wings on each side as well, it will be nice,  but I don't think it needs to be 8' tall.

 This shelf unit is 4' wide, 2' deep and 8' tall. I think to cut it in half and make 2 shelves that are 12" deep X 4' wide, leave it 8' tall to store products. We will see what I come up with when its done- right now its a shelf for a giant!

This is the wrap around counter for the sales area it will have a covered counter top and be beefy enough to hold nano aquariums and display items.

The Sales counter with a built in Fish aquarium

My friend Angel Gomez and I went to Lowes first this this morning and went wood shopping!

Angel set up saw horses and we started  measuring and cutting what will be the sales counter and wrap around counters for the Betta bar and Nano Aquarium sections.

We began by building a frame that will hold the weight of a 55 gallon aquarium which will be enclosed into the front sales counter. This will be a very solid sales counter.

Here is the sales counter with the cut out that will be the face of the tank. The sales counter is a little taller than normal to accommodate the aquarium, to also have the ability to service it and to hold a shelf for the P.O.S (Point of Sale) system and cash till. The inventory will all be on computer with bar codes which will scan into an invoice, making ordering and sales a breeze!

Once the front was cut out of the counter it began to take shape

We lined it up and fastened it to the wall for support.

A second coat of paint and cleanup

After the second coat of Marine Blue its starting to really look nice! The painters tape was harder to remove than what we figured ...

Here is a view of what will be the fish room with the Marine Blue paint.

Diana and Bettie Gomez brought me some fantastic dinner!
Tomorrow we start building the sales counter and the product shelves. That's all for tonight- I am exhausted! but, I am also excited the future looks fishy!

From Pink to Marine Blue!

Today is day one, the first real day that we are actually in the building working. The lower half of the walls are pink! So, the first order of business is paint. Tomorrow they will be Marine Blue.

Marine Blue seems like a fish color to me...

This is a view of the showroom looking down from the balcony of the upstairs office, showing the front doors and what will be the front counter area.










Well that's all for tonight - I will update you with the new paint and any other projects I can get finished tomorrow!

Welcome to Finatics Tropical Fish Blog!

203 N. Huntington Suite A, Kennewick, WA 99336

Opening September 2013

We aim to be your favorite aquarium store whether you live in Seattle or Missoula Montana. We hope you'll stop in to see what wonderful and rare fish we've acquired since your last visit! Or maybe catch up on what's new in the hobby.


We will be sharing photos of putting the shop together.  From building stands to setting up filters.  So stay tuned!

What You Can Expect

 

Relax, Enjoy, Discover and Learn

FINATICS Tropical Fish was formed as an LLC in the early 2012. The idea of starting a business grew from the owner’s interest in fish keeping and breeding of rare tropical fish species. The operation is currently located in our home in West Richland where we have a fish room with over 700 gallons of rearing and breeding stations, which host about 100 exotic species.

Products and Services

We will offer wide variety of tropical fish, aquatic plants, aquarium setups, dry goods (fish food, lights, filters, etc.), pond supplies, specialized literature and gift shop items. We’ll breed exotic fish “in house” for sale in the store and on the internet. After opening we’ll expand by adding commercial fish tank set up and maintenance services both for home fish keepers and businesses. We aim to create an atmosphere where the entire family can enjoy the pleasures of aquarium keeping together and will have confidence in our advice and customer service. We’ll offer classes on aquarium maintenance and other specialized educational events. We’ll also offer such unique products as specialized fish medications (The Fishy Pharmacy) and unique services such as the Aquatic Vet, where the  aquarist will receive  advice or treatment plans.

The owners

 

The owners, Don and Diana Petty bring over 23 years of business experience. Don Petty has previously owned and operated a successful full line pet shop and aquarium maintenance business, as well as home based computer repair business and a tropical fish breeding and propagation program and business.