Local Fish Stores

[Salt4Us]

We checked out a Fish store down in Fountain Valley yesterday called Tong's Tropical Fish, nice store, beautiful display aquariums and lots of beautiful corals. Looked like they were having some fish problems but the corals is mainly what I was interested in looking at, they had one tank that was just [acronym:f7a7d6d32f="Broken or cut pieces of coral which will eventually grow into a new animal"]frags[/acronym:f7a7d6d32f], you could get 1 [acronym:f7a7d6d32f="Broken or cut pieces of coral which will eventually grow into a new animal"]frag[/acronym:f7a7d6d32f] for 5.99 or 2 for 10, they had some hammers that we would have loved to buy, they also had a deal buy 5 and get one free. The temptation was there oh boy, but we are going to wait for lighting.

Just thought I'd share, they have several places according to the phone book, I guess one of their other ones is in Brea, will have to check that one out too.

If anyone knows of other good [acronym:f7a7d6d32f="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:f7a7d6d32f] around the Orange County or Los Angeles county (bit of a drive) would love to hear it. Thanks!

[Salt4Us]

Ok, I thought I'd bump this and hoping anyone else would share their Local Fish stores in their area and the experiences they may have had.

The [acronym:6f5553c3c3="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:6f5553c3c3]' we have visited and/or purchase stuff from are the following:

Petown located in El Toro in Orange County : their fish always healthy, never seen one dead in the tank EVER, different varieties of Corals, they also have a huge selection of Freshwater fish and plants, their dry goods are a bit on the high side but prices on fish are about average.

Fish 2000 located in Tustin in Orange County on Newport Ave. Reasonable prices on dry goods, the owner will usually try and give you a good deal, although if you try calling he doesn't answer the phone too often. His fish, well he has a combination of fresh and salt, problem is they are in very small aquariums and most the time they look sick. Their corals I have bought quite a few and have only had 2 that didn't survive.

Coral Island located in Orange/Anaheim in Orange County, bought some lighting from them very reasonable, fish didn't look too healthy

Strictly fish located in Garden Grove in Orange County, has a nice selection of both fish and corals, have bought both fresh and saltwater fish from them before.

Tong's in Fountain Valley we plan on going back to and buying some [acronym:6f5553c3c3="Broken or cut pieces of coral which will eventually grow into a new animal"]frags[/acronym:6f5553c3c3], although his saltwater fish loooked like they had some problems his freshwater looked very healthy and quite a selection.

Below is a link to show some [acronym:6f5553c3c3="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:6f5553c3c3]' in the So California area and No. California:


So. Cal http://fins.actwin.com/dir/stores.php?c=1&r=65

No. Cal http://fins.actwin.com/dir/stores.php?c=1&r=66

Also located at the bottom lists clubs you can join, I know there is a So Cal Marine Aquarium Society that if you join you can get a discount from certain [acronym:6f5553c3c3="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:6f5553c3c3]' and also Hello Lights, at least that's what their webpage says, we have not joined them but do plan on it.

[pufferman]

Well Amazon pets in San Jose has some good prices. They have yellow tangs for only 15 bucks but they dont have that much of a variety. I think that the store with the best fish and variety is probably Brians Fish world because they like have a large variety of lions puffers angels clowns and tangs they also have a lot of triggers. They are especially good for supplies too.

[Calvin]

San Jose has a couple really good shops. King aquarium is a little iffy. Thier fish look pretty bad but thier corals look solid. If your up for a little drive hit up the Aquarium Store in Concord. Pufferman, You'll love their display tank. Loins the size of basketballs and good size puffers as well. Another good shop is Aquarium Concepts in Hayward. Great selection of both fish and inverts.

[RodneyCK]

Hi everyone!!!

I wanted to post my two cents on the[acronym:765d6384a4="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:765d6384a4] in the area, San Francisco, for other bay area readers. There are four or five stores in the city proper and I have so far visited two of them, Nippon and Sixth Avenue Aquarium.

I have visited Nippon several times in the past and their service is horrible. You would be lucky to get a hello out of any of the employees. The [acronym:765d6384a4="Fish only"]FO[/acronym:765d6384a4] tanks are not very clean. I have witnessed on several visits fish displaying problems, disease, probably ich, even a few dead ones floating in the tanks. This shop is touted as being on of the oldest and most reliable shops in the area, pffft.

The Sixth Avenue Aquarium has some amazing varieties of reef specimens; highly recommend it for this purpose. The [acronym:765d6384a4="Fish only"]FO[/acronym:765d6384a4] tanks were another story. They must have a fast turnover because they had tons of fish in homemade (very large) aquariums. When I was there they had bags of puffers and other varieties floating in the aquarium waiting for release.

They did have a few signs of ich and fish with film-covered eyes, not many, but a few of the clown fish. I did see one dead, tiny puffer floating around one of the compartments.

So far I am not impressed by the standards of the [acronym:765d6384a4="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:765d6384a4] in my area. I came from Chicago which had a variety of [acronym:765d6384a4="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:765d6384a4] owned and operated by people with a hobbyist attitude, not to mention very beautiful tanks/specimens. Here, it seems like it’s a fast buck business. Hopefully the other three places which I will visit soon will not be as bad. I will do a follow up, [acronym:765d6384a4="Laughing out loud"]LOL[/acronym:765d6384a4].

Best,
RodneyCK

[got bait?]

On the same note. In Anaheim (Orange County) there is a place in State College and LaPalma called Reef Tropical Fish that has some nice Zoanthids and polyps.
One other place is aquaria designz in Irvine http://www.aquadesignz.com/ they have an excellent zoanthid and polyp selection. Mail order and WILL CALLS for us locals.

[Aztlan]

In Burbank I purchase a few hard goods from Scales 'n' Tails on Verdugo Ave. There display tanks and fish look very healthy and clean. I will probably buy my livestock from them. Looks like a family run business. Also in Glendale, Tropical Fish Imports on Colorado has cheap prices. Got my tank there.

[got bait?]

thanks Aztlan. Always nice to have multiple sources.

[24 hours? NE!]

This looks like an old post, but I'll add a couple of stores in OC.

Seaside Tropical in Huntington Beach- Beach Blvd almost to PCH on east side next to Big Lots. They've got a good variety and their prices are pretty good. They're willing to sell you about anything, though. They have a couple of interesting display tanks.

Strictly Fish in Garden Grove is gone.

Pacific Reef in Fountain Valley- NE corner of Brookhurst and Garfield. Nice store. Large selection of [acronym:3d1eb5d43c="Live rock"]LR[/acronym:3d1eb5d43c]- 4 or 5 different kinds. Good selection of fresh, salt fish and lots of salt inverts. Pretty knowledgeable staff that are easy to communicate with.

405 Tropical Fish in Westminster- on Goldenwest south of Bolsa. Decent selection of dry goods. Cramped saltwater selection, though and the prices aren't that good, but have fish that others are sometimes out of (probably for that reason). I only use this store for food or other supplies when I'm in the area (close to the Best Buy next to the mall) and don't want to go a long ways.

I agree with the posts on Tong's in Fountain Valley. They are doing a major expansion that should double the size of their store. Hopefully some of the fish will be less cramped that way.

Hopefully those give you some ideas. I'm very grateful for the advice I've received already.

[got bait?]

There's also " Reef Tropical Fish" on State College and LaPalma. Have a nice Polyp and shroom selection. they also have some zoanthids, when you can get there shortly after a delivery. The usual $20-$25 per rock. All purchases from there still going strong.