The job assignment was to consult  two different companies to improve their overall knowledge, and economic well-being.  The first job involved areas of aquarium keeping, aquarium maintenance, fish disease diagnosis/medicating, compatibility, filtration, lighting, aeration, electrical, heating/cooling, and other various areas.  The second job involved pond improvement and restoration.. The first assignment was with the retail pet business "Fauna", and took up about two of my three weeks there.  The second assignment took up the other week, and was with the management of the resort I stayed at, called "Sedanka".

Getting to Russia was the first mission, however.  The flight schedule was from Kansas City to Chicago to Tokyo, Japan to Seoul, Korea to Vladivostok with substantial layovers in between.  In fact, I stayed overnight in Seoul both on the way there and back.  This gave me time to "go out and have a look" at a really cool place called I'taewan Market where you can find everything from Korean spicy tempura soup to Korean seaweed wrapped nuts---not to mention everything in between, and things from all over the World.

Outside view of Fauna “Zoocenter” retail shop

It also took a few days to get used to the new landscape and people.  Basically, few people spoke few words of English, if any.  This was an interesting experience for me because I got to brush up on my sign language....and experience the true meaning of "Englussion."    Though I did learn the necessary words to get around without getting killed..

Vladivostock is a city of about 750,00 in the region called Primorski Krai in southeast Russia.  It is the capital city of this region, and a major seaport for the country because of it's strategic location by the Asian countries such as Korea, China, Japan, Phillipines,  and Taiwan.  It's also a military stronghold with one of Russia's largest fleets in it's harbor.    The city is very hilly, and lies amidst three connecting bays.  The landscape is similar to that of San Francisco.  Most of the high rise buildings are apartment buildings, but there lots of really beautiful Russian architecture in the downtown Vladivostok area.  There was also a substantial amount of boat traffic, which kept the city's bays busy.

Assignment 1-Fauna

The first assignment specifically involved: 

¨      Training staff of current pet retail business (Fauna, LLC) in current products and trends in the aquarium industry.

• Discussion of plans to implement an aquarium maintenance service

¨      Training staff in areas such as aquarium maintenance, compatibility, testing, lighting, filtration, plumbing, heating, electrical, tropical fish disease and diagnosis, sales of current products,  discussions of new products,  and other knowledge they could get in the area sales.

¨      Implementation of a preliminary plan of starting a wholesale business in areas of: packing and shipping live tropical fish, the art of keeping large quantities of tropical fish, filtration, plumbing, electrical, lighting, testing,  medications, oxygenation, and maintenance.

¨      Creating  schematic diagrams of two maps of plumbing, filtration, tank location, and size of wholesale business plan. Creating documentation of lectures, and discussions for the End of Assignment reports, and staff.

Fauna’s business office where I did much of my work

Host Organization Description:

Fauna (LLC) is the oldest and biggest retail pet business in the Vladivostok, Russia area.  There was a lot to work with going into this project, aside of the language barriers (my translator could not be with me at all times.)  The store was often found busy with customers, keeping the staff with plenty of work to do.  I found the employees and management very responsive to me, and genuinely respected my advice and opinions.  It was interesting to me the size of the staff they had for that size of a store.  They had two accountants, two business managers, an office manager, other office personnel, a commercial director, an in-house cook, and one to four staff on the floor at any given one time, not to mention the owners, who performened all of the above.  They also have a small pharmacy where drugs, medications, and foods are sold for many small animals. This is all stuffed into about 1000 square feet of store space.

 The company has been in business in Vladivostok since the late 1970’s, but turned from a publicly owned to commercial business in 1993, and was all but put out of business as a result of the crisis of 1996.  However it did survive, and is thriving in one of the largest seaports in Russia.  It’s also an obvious strategic location for the wholesale fish, and pet trade because of its location. 

Issues/Problems:  There were some problems with regard to both the retail business and wholesale plans.  They are:

¨      Lack of training in aquarium maintenance, and tropical fish disease diagnosis and treatment, as well as other areas of the aquarium hobby.

¨      Lack of know how in setting up and maintaining a wholesale fish depository.

¨      Lack of information of new trends and ideas in the aquarium-keeping hobby.

¨      Lack of know how in the area of filtration, and schematic diagrams.

¨      Lack of know how in implementing an aquarium maintenance service into the current pet store, and hiring qualified staff.

Stocked 10 gallon aquariums with fish, plants, and reptiles.

Recommendations/Actions:

The retail shop isn’t as big physically as most pet stores in America, which initially was a concern of mine, but I got the opportunity to see some of the competition’s operations, which surprised me at how tiny some businesses really are there.  There was also an overall lack of inventory, and shelf space.  At a few places I saw stores with lots of open shelf space.  Once I returned to the retail store from visiting its competitors, my concerns diminished.  There were no Marine fish sales in any of the stores we looked in, which surprised me because the American pet market is saturated with Marine fish, invertebrates, and the sales of dry goods for marine aquariums.  I did recommend the implementation of marine fish sales for future business.  However, the sales of freshwater fish are good at the present time, and overall knowledge wasn’t as bad as I expected.

The appearance in the store was refreshing, like many well kept pet stores are, and there were a few employees in particular that surprised me with the knowledge they had, particularly with regard to aquariums.  A few employees were in need of some training, especially in the areas of disease diagnosis, medications, and new methods of filtration. Tropical fish, and aquarium goods comprised the majority of sales in this particular pet store, so any help they could get in this particular area was greatly appreciated.    

It was interesting to me that all aquarium water used for both new setups, and water replacements was spring water that was physically brought back from a nearby freshwater spring with a water tank/truck.   Tap water quality in the Vladivostok area was terrible and absolutely could not be used in the facility, or drank.  Occasionally, this water came out of the tap opaque and brown.

The store did have more room for the display of the fish for sale.  More aquariums were recommended to be set up for the housing of these fish.  I also recommended to management that they consider an air blower for aeration of the aquariums in the store.  This would cut on electrical costs compared to the numerous air pumps that were hanging behind the aquariums.  The blower could also be mounted in another room, away from the water source, and out of harm’s way, and reducing the risk from several electrical sources to one.

Three different seminars were given with the management and the staff about topics such as aquarium care, filtration, aquarium maintenance tricks, and fish disease diagnosis/medications.  Each session lasted about 2 hours.  These sessions were video taped by the owner, and seemed to go very well (other than my initial nervousness).  Many questions were asked, which made them very interactive sessions.  Many questions were also posed about the latest products and trends in the aquarium keeping hobby.  We discussed topics such as: ozone, ultraviolet sterilization, chemical filtration, water pumps, maintenance tools, and advanced filtration techniques.    I left feeling satisfied that these sessions were very worthwhile, and that the we all learned a lot.

The long term goal of the company is to expand business to open a wholesale trade business in Vladivostok.  The main revenue thrust would come from importing fish from the Asian countries, which are major players in the tropical fish exportation industry and fish farming trade (i.e. China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Korea,) then to sell and ship to the other Russian pet centers in various cities. (i.e. St. Petersburg, Moscow, Omsk, Yekarintaburg, Tjuman, Novosibirsk, and to other retail pet stores in Vladivostok.)  

I visited the building that was purchased for the wholesale operation, and it needed some work such as electrical, plumbing, new floors, painting, and general space management.  The building was not so large, which can be a problem for trying to facilitate large amounts of fish.  To offer diversity and adequate water conditions for this trade, large amounts of water are often required to maintain the large amounts of fish to be sustained at any given time.  Room for filtration, plumbing, and hospital facilities also needed to be accounted for.  This influenced my recommendation of proper space management, and suggested to keep total water volume small, and concentrate on the local sales of wholesale freshwater tropical fish in Vladivostok.  The company should grow with demand to the point that more square feet of wholesale space may be purchased to expand it’s potential.  Schematic diagrams were also prepared for the filtration recommendations, tank location, and major equipment required to run the facility.

A 125 gallon goldfish display in the store

Another problem with the facility has to do with brown outs.  In many buildings in Vladivostok, the power will be shut off for up to several hours at one time.  This could have major impact on a facility that is housing a lot of living specimens in a controlled environment such as this wholesale depository.  I recommended that they consider a backup generator for the warehouse building, for which I left several literature sources.  They agreed to look into it.  Equipment needed to be considered for the construction of this facility; so several literature sources were donated.

Fauna was also interested in offering an aquarium maintenance service out of the retail store.  I consulted the management and prepared a test/answer key for hiring potential employees for this service.  I also prepared, and trained on the area of aquarium maintenance with the staff.   I had the unique opportunity to visit the homes of tanks owners in Vladivostok and consult the owners about their aquarium(s) and how to maintain it (who, apparently had been informed about me prior to my arrival…. which made me feel good.)  The Russians were gracious hosts, and there was always some hot tea and good conversation awaiting me.

I also discussed with the staff, preliminary plans of fees and fund allocation in running an aquarium maintenance business out of the retail store.    We also talked about things such as: hiring qualified staff, investments, tools needed to take care of tanks, water, pay structure, maintenance tricks, and even computer programs.  The store has much potential to make money in this area.  I was shown several aquariums that the store has sold over the past few years, and not only was I impressed by the displays, but was reassured that there is plenty of established business for Fauna's aquarium maintenance service in the city of Vladivostok, and a good source for increased revenue.  It’s also cheap to start this type of business.  The main ingredient is knowledge, and manpower to take care of the aquariums.  Although, I was shocked to find out the tax rates they pay, and customs fees for importing goods.  The store needs another truck or van, which would be the major financial expense of the program.   I believe the business can generate the money in the next year or so to afford this expense…provided that nothing drastic will happen again to the economy.

Information was needed for new trends and ideas in the aquarium-keeping hobby.  Literature was left in three forms for this assignment including books, magazines, and catalogs.  This literature covers the full range of the aquarium-keeping hobby, and the latest product lines available.

Assignment 2-Sedanka

The second assignment specifically involved:

¨      Assisting the Resort/Rest home Sedanka in a preliminary plan to renovate a pond system.

¨      Suggest new products and ideas in the pond keeping hobby in the areas of lighting, filtration, aerating, bacteria, stocking with fish, flow rates, and keeping plants.

¨      Discussed suggestions in areas of using the pond for: a skating rink, a swimming area, a fishing deposit, the sales of pond fish, and a relaxation area.

Host Organization Description-The Open Joint Stock Company “Sedanka” is a recreational facility for both young and old.  The company’s core business is development and providing recreation and medical treatment programs for children, middle age and senior people.  After reconstruction of the current hotel facilities, the company provides comfortable rooms for one, two, or three persons.  During the last few years the largest building of the center was repaired, and the boiler-house was bought.  During five years of successful operations the company gained a good reputation among it’s clients, and now is planning to develop and start an advertisement campaign for the promotion of the new direction of activities.  This project's goals are to improve the landscape, and aethetics of the resorts entire grounds.  Among other services, “Sedanka” organizes seminars, banquets, and parties.

Sedanka is located about 19 miles outside of the city of Vladivostok.  It’s up in the hills, away from the city smog.  The air is very clean, and there is much wildlife on Sedanka’s grounds including native birds, squirrels, wild cats and dogs, and a wild bear (that had his own show house.)  Four different statue structures also sit on the grounds; some apparently used as swimming baths.   There are several buildings on the grounds including the main hotel, a senior center, a camp retreat center, a sauna, the boiler-house, and the business offices.  There was also a playground, basketball courts and a soccer field.

Issue/Problems:  There were a few problems I confronted when going into the project.  They were to:

¨      Develop a plan for renovating the pond for stocking fish

¨      Size a proper aerating device for raising dissolved oxygen level to aid in keeping livestock

¨      Discuss a plan for using the pond for multiple functions such as:  a swimming area, a fishing area, a rest place, and a skating rink.

The frozen waterfall at Sedanka Resort

Recommendations/Plans of action: 

The first plan recommended for the pond area was to decide which fish to stock the pond with.  Fish were then recommended to be added such as Crucian, Bass varieties, Sunfish, and various Catfish.  It was also recommended they look for a reliable fish farm for the purchase of the livestock.  I gave the name of the pet store from my first assignment as a local contact for these services. These fish were recommended to be stocked in the springtime (March-April) and some may have to be restocked, or removed every year due to complete pond freezing.  An aerator would help in achieving this effect, in that it would disallow a pocket from freezing due to large amounts of water movement and aeration.  An aeration device of no smaller than ¾ horsepower engine was recommended. I also recommended the addition of various pond plants because the management was interested in the breeding of  fish, and the aesthetics of the pond.  Literature was left with regard to aerators.

We also discussed issues such as adding submersible lights in the smaller pond.  These would need to be installed away from human contact with no electrical connections exposed.  Otherwise they are fairly safe and create a nice effect on the water and fountain statue.  Installing fishing docks was recommended for ease in fishing and aesthetic effect.

The second plan considered was the addition of a properly sized aeration device to increase the amount of available oxygen for both the fish and biological filter.  Larger amounts of dissolved oxygen allow for larger amounts of life to thrive in a living ecosystem such as a pond.  If this is not achieved, stagnant, an overabundance of anaerobic pockets will build within the pond leading to numerous problems, usually including many fatalities within the pond, and a potential major declination in the ecosystem effect.  Natural aeration would occur with the water movement and splashing of the waterfall, but more oxygen would be needed for a moderate to heavily stocked pond, which was management's intent. Thus, a more serious aeration device would be considered.

The aerator would need to be serviced regularly (once or twice per year) and may have to be removed in severe cases.  The problem here is that nothing is guaranteed through the brutal winters of the Vladivostok area.  I’ve seen these aerating devices work in some very extreme conditions, so this remained my recommendation.  These devices do an excellent job of moving large amounts of water and providing more than adequate amounts of aeration, making it very difficult to completely freeze. A heating system was also briefly discussed with no interest.

After the aerator is installed, I recommended that the pond be stocked with water conditioners, and nitrifying bacteria to boost the ecosystem's growth process.  These “beneficial bacteria” aid in the breakdown of many potentially toxic chemicals produced in the ecosystem.  These would be added every few weeks before, during, and after the stocking of the pond with fish.

The large pond on Sedanka’s beautiful grounds

View from the waterfall to the smaller pond with statue (dry for the winter)

The last plan discussed was the usage of the pond for multiple functions.  The management wanted to keep fish in it year round, have up to 200 people swimming in it on any given day in the summer, use the area as a relaxation area, and a skating rink in the winter.  The main problem with using it for this many things is that the number of people using the pond for swimming could affect the health of the fish, and using the aerator would disallow an area of the pond from freezing which in turn would make it unsafe for skaters.  The second problem is that the aerator would either have to be removed for the winter, or the pond not be used as a skating rink because the would be too much danger for people to use it for skating when part of it was not to be frozen.