Favorite Fish Store?

[fishstixs05]

Going to San Fransisco and looking for a good Aquarium store made me think, why not have people post what they think the best store in there area is? That way whenever you go somewhere, you can look up where to go . So here we go. The best places in my area are:

CALIFORNIA FISH STORES
Lee's Feed and Western Store
4110 Mother Lode Drive
Shingle Springs, CA 95682
www.leesfeed.com
Lees has the best prices around here for freshwater fish and most other stuff.

AquaWorld Aquarium
www.aquaworldaquarium.com
6630 Madison Ave. Suite A
Carmichael, CA
Aquaworld has good stuff and tons of livebearers, discus, angels and other cichlids they breed themselves. also have lots of other good stuff. Tell them Ben Driscoll sent you (young kid who asks too many ?'s).

Exotic Aquarium
4510 Florin Rd
Sacramento, CA 95823
www.exotic-aquarium.comExotic's stuff is great, It is the only place to find a lot of the oddballs, as well as great prices.

AquaLife Aquarium
4235 Pacific Street Suite B, Rocklin, CA 95677
www.aqualifeaquarium.com/
AquaLife has a ton of corals, and is where i get my SW inverts, they have all sorts. Plus i get 20% off cuz of my aquarium society.

Capitol Aquarium
1920 29th Street
Sacramento, CA 95816
http://www.capitolaquarium.com/
This Place is HUGE! They even have fields trips to this place. It is about half the size of a PETCO and all fish.

"O" Street Aquarium
3000 "O" Street
Sacramento, CA 95816
http://ostreetaquarium.com/This is rather small, but they have great fish and they are as healthy as possible. The advice is great too.
and now
6th Avenue Aquarium
425 Clement St
San Francisco, CA 94118
http://www.6thavenueaquarium.com/
6th is the cheapest with best stuff but it is all the way in SF. See 6th Avenue experience in SW general for more detailed description.
These are some good places.

So these are the places. Go check out the website, and go see them if you are ever in the area. Please post with other advice on stores to go to!

 

[ferret]

There's several such posts in the various regional forums. You should join up with the one closest to you and repost that info for them!

 

[madasafish]

I agree. But it'd be great to continue the thread here, as people who live in NYC, but are going to visit SanFran might still like to see the info.

Thanks for starting the thread, FishStix. I think there have been others like it here before, but it's worth getting new contributions every so often!

Here's my favorite NYC store:

New World Aquarium
(646)865-9604
204 E. 38th ST.
(Between 2nd and 3rd)
New York, NY 10016
www.newworldaquarium.net

There really aren't any others in Manhattan that deserve mention, other than to say that they occasionally have rare and interesting fish. I recently found halfbeaks in the Petland on 72nd st. btwn Broadway and Columbus, for example.

 

[Fruitbat]

OK....I'll bite on this one:

In the Dallas, TX area:

The Fish Gallery
6955 Greenville Avenue
Dallas, TX 75231

Absolutely the widest-variety FW fish selection in the Dallas area. These guys get in PLENTY of oddballs and their fish are always of exceptionally high quality!

Boutique Pet Shop
9035 Garland Road
Dallas, TX 75218

Excellent store with a great selection of Central and South American cichlids. They have plenty of 'bread-and-butter' stuff as well. You can count on them to get in the occasional oddball as well.

I haunt both of these stores religiously...they're an integral part of my weekly rounds.

 

[TankGirl]

Okay, here are a couple of shops in case anyone comes to Richmond - what are the chances of that?

My favorite is Azalea Aquariums, near the Fairgrounds. It is in a very out of the way location but they have excellent fish, have extremely knowledgeable staff, and they treat you right - when I got my peacocks recently they let me come in back and pick from their stock tank, made me feel like I was getting "pick of the litter." They have given me top dollar for my own fish, as well.

Also Noah's Pets on Midlothian Tpke. is good, with healthy stock and they are willing to order just about anything for you. Don't have as much experience with them, as they are a hike for me.

There are several popular shops in Richmond that I would not consider buying fish from, but I will leave them unnamed....

 

[krap101]

there are only 3 here err thats alot to some people but im feeling restricted 8P.
rockford IL

my #1
Terri's aqualand.
- things usually %1.75 the price of other store
+nice people
+near by

my #2 petco.
-the fish department people are never there
+nice people nice fish.
+lots of sales on fish

#3
petsmart
-people arent that nice
-not enough workers in fish department
-people dont know their store very well
-didnt catch a popeye population in their panda cory tank so i lost like 4 fish plus the infected ones so i lost 8 fish to them
+pretty good prices

as you can see from my chart i havent found a really good lfs yet. i enjoy the stay at petco but you have to wait like (literally 300 seconds) 5 mins for someone to show up in the fish department.

 

[medge00]

Well, its my turn:

Santa Barbara Area:

Ocean Floor
7072 Market Place Dr
Goleta, CA
Small, over priced, but occasionally has the plants I'm looking for. SW people very knowledgeable (i've heard) but they don't seem to know much FW.

Pet House
5781 Calle Real
Goleta, CA
See Aaron, he's the best. Knows his stuff, keeps tanks in pristine condition. So-so selection, but every once in a while they got unique stuff in. I got 75% of my rams there when I was in Santa Barbara

4423 Hollister Ave
Santa Barbara, CA
See Matt. Nice guy. Order my apistos for me, replaced the ones that died. No plant selection. So-so FW selection, but it was improving all the time. If they keep getting better like they have, it will be killer in 6 months

Aquatic Gardens
1920 De La Vina S
Santa Barbara
Over priced. Way over priced. Good SW selection.


LA Area

Strictly Fish
Carson, CA
One of the most awesome stores I've been too. Love it.

Tong's
Fountain Valley
Outstanding. Truly.

 

[William]

When I find a half-decent LFS in my area I'll post.

Which is kind of sad, considering I've been to about 15 and none are worth posting.

 

[Bioworldmaker]

SACRAMENTO, CA region
Pretty much same as the first post, but a second opinion about the stores...

Hey fishstix I have been to most of the sac area stores you mentioned. Here is what I think of them:

Aquaworld in Carmichael, CA
excellent store, about 1/2 mile from where I live.
The lady there TALKS a lot but also she knows a lot about fish. Really good supply of everything.

Capitol St downtown Sacramento
BUSY, very busy store. They make you get a number to be helped with anything. They have been slacking on who they hire - the new people are unknowledgeble and unhelpful, the only thing they can do is scoop fish.

Exotic Aquarium off Florin Road in Sac
That is the funniest store I have seen as far as location - they are side-by-side with a FISH & CHIPS place!!!!!!! 8O

O Street Aquarium downtown Sac
That is a small store with great prices, and the people there actually take the time to talk to you about the fish - way more helpful than the people at the Capitol Aquarium.

 

[fishstixs05]

Yah I know what you mean about the lady, btw, are you a part of mars or SAS(see my signature)? They have really good prices on autions stuff, and SAS, the freshwater one, is meeting tonight. You should really think about going. I cant though :x got a sushi night at my house .I noticed the fish and chips place too. wonder who supplies them with there fish... As for capitol, I ordered a part three weeks ago, called last week and they said it was coming, called this week said they couldnt find the order form and reordered it. Last, do you have a pond or coldwater tank? cuz there is a guy I know who is trying to get rid of a pond, already got from him a huge lily plant, parrot feather plant, 6 large goldfish, and 21 babies for $40 total.

 

[cginflorida]

When I find a half-decent LFS in my area I'll post.

Which is kind of sad, considering I've been to about 15 and none are worth posting.

I know what you mean, William. I've gone to PetsMart which I'm not thrilled with, and I used to go to Jack's but they've closed. The Petco near Millenia Mall looks pretty good. Their tanks are clean, the fish look healthy as far as I can tell, and they have a fish specialist on staff. I haven't bought any fish there yet, though, so I can't recommend them yet.

Where do you get your fish?