Ocean Aquarium

120 Cedar St, San Francisco, CA 94109    (415) 771-3206

 

Specialty: freshwater only, lots of bettas of varying quality and type; rarer cichlids (lots of apistos and Africans), tons of corys, amazing variety of guppies (many from Japan lines), goodeids, rainbowfishes, and every tank is full of live plants.

Live foods: Brine shrimp and black worms.

Pros: Justin (the owner) is VERY knowledgeable and helpful – and if you go there a couple of times, he even REMEMBERS you and what you like, hailing you with, "Hey ________, c’mere and see what I have for you!" This is a family run shop with the most amazing variety of fish you will see anywhere in the bay area, bar none. The shop also has a few family mascots (not including his wife and daughter) – a little friendly dog and some hamsters, to entertain your kids while you shop…which usually takes a good hour to see everything, if you’re as afraid you’ll miss something as I am. He also generally get his bettas from local breeders vs. drop shipments…and the quality is better than average. Occasionally, you’ll find melanos, yellows and opaques in his interesting betta condos. Gilbert Limhengco from Sacramento is one of his "local" breeders. You will even find some rare labyrinth fishes in his tanks like Ctenopoma ansorgii, betta macrostoma, betta edithae, etc.

Cons: Parking—hint: park halfway up the sidewalk, like everyone else or try Polk Street. There are no prices on the tanks….prices are different for everyone. J Cash gets you a discount, credit gets you a surcharge. It’s hard to find the first time or two, because it’s in what appears to be an alleyway and if you blink, you’ll miss it. It’s cramped and the tanks aren’t labeled with fish type or price (which is subjective, if you know what I mean). But if you ask Justin for anything in particular, he’ll direct you to the exact tank and tell you all about the fish.

Overall: 5 fishies - The BEST fish shop in the Bay Area.

Nippon Goldfish Company

3109 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94118     415-668-2203

STORE HOURS
Weekdays - 10am to 7pm
Sat. - 10am to 6pm
Sun. - 11am to 6pm

Reviewer: Wendy

Specialty: Freshwater and marine, plants, high-end reef equipment; nice prices on tank set-ups.

Live Foods: Never asked.

Pros: Big, clean store. Nice variety of fish laid out in appropriate groups. Great selection, good prices, nice plants. Two stories; equipment on second floor. Carries some bettas behind the counter on first floor; sometimes have rarer colors/finnages.

Cons: Parking is terrible!!!!

Overall: 4.5 fishies - a must-see store.

Fairy Lake Discus Palace

1609 Clement Street (@ 18^th Ave), San Francisco, CA 94121    (415) 752-3527

Specialty: Freshwater only. Discus, angels, koi, goldfish, HUGE German Blue Rams, corys, Central American Cichlids, assorted fishes, plants.

Live Food: BABY brine shrimp, adult brine shrimp, blackworms.

Pros: Outstanding quality and health of all fish. Lovely plants. You can BUY live baby brine shrimp here by the bag for $1!!!! Ask to tour the baby fish room in the back (tiny little angels, discus and rams). Always has bettas behind the counter; sometimes fairly nice ones…occasional plakats.

Cons: Small store; not too much variety (but great quality of species they do carry). Prices not posted on rams, angels and discus (posted on other species tanks), so prices subject to relationship with owners and his/her mood (but they are open to haggling).

Overall: 4.5 fishies – gotta love the BBS availability when you have an unexpected spawn!

Sixth Avenue Aquarium

425 Clement, San Francisco, CA 94118    (415) 668-7190

STORE HOURS

Mon-Fri 11am-10pm, Sat-Sun 10am-10pm

Specialty: Freshwater and saltwater; cheap fish; cheap equipment.

Live Food: Didn’t dare to ask. Was afraid they’d offer me roaches or cootie bugs to feed my fish.

Pros: Cheap Equipment. Has a Sunday "bag sale" for saltwater fish…they are sold already "in the bag" – direct from distributor without being exposed to their nasty in-store tanks.

Cons: Don’t know where to start….tremendously overpopulated, disease-infected tanks….dirty, cramped, poorly designed store. Second floor and staircase leading up to it, should be condemned and is dangerous. The blaring house music vibrates the stairs for crying out loud! Lots of dead fish in tanks….ich is rampant. If you succumb to their cheap prices, PLEASE treat the fish thoroughly in an isolation tank for at least 3-4 days. The prospect of dead fish outweigh cheap prices any day.

Overall: 1 fishy…and that’s only for the cheap equipment.

Sunrise Tropicals

200 Skyline Plaza, Daly City, CA 94015    650-994-2609

Reviewer: Wendy

Web Site: www.sunrisetropicals.com and www.mrdiscus.com (second website is just for discus, duh!)

Email: discussunrisetropicals@yahoo.com

Specialty: Freshwater only. Discus, angels, variety of rasboras, rainbows, goldfish, etc., some plants.

Live Food: Brine shrimp, blackworms.

Pros: Incredible variety of discus; nicely laid-out, clean store with friendly staff. Always have typical-quality bettas on hand. You can see the angelfish and discus parents raising their children in the store!

Cons: Be careful of "special prices" on discus….really check out the shape and quality of the fish….look for the healthy "red" eye and non-darkened body color….also carefully select on body shape (ideal being perfectly round, not a modified "football" shape – same shape principal applies to angels). You will pay big $ for nice discus, but they are definitely worth the price. Location can be hard to nail down for your first trip.

Overall: 4 fishies – fun to watch the fish families interact.

Down Under Tropical Fish

734 Woodside Rd # B, Redwood City, CA 94061     (650) 364-3474

Specialty: Freshwater only.

Live Food: the usual stuff.

Pros: Nice fella runs it. Clean, healthy-looking tanks…not overloaded with fish. Can purchase proven pairs of NICE angelfish for very reasonable prices.

Cons: Not much of a species variety. Some cichlids, some catfish, usual suspects, angelfish of several varieties.

Overall: 2.5 fishies – nice hobbyist who runs his own shop.

520 Woodside Road, Redwood City, CA 94061    650-364-6077

Web Site: www.petco.now-where.com

Specialty: Typical chain store for freshwater, saltwater, reptiles, birds and small animals.

Live Foods: Don’t think so…unless you count the white mice and you have large-mouth bass at home.

Pros: Their PLANT tank! Waist-level, open tank full of great plants (well, if you get there within a day or two of their plant delivery anyway) at GREAT prices. Visit to see the bird area is fun. Occasionally have a really good sale on betta containers (plastic goldfish bowls of a good size (1-gallon or so) can be had for like $1-$2. Pricing overall is fairly good.

Cons: Fish health is questionable. Cichlids are usually mislabeled as something similar. Sometimes subject two species to the same tank who should be on the other end of the universe.

Overall: 2 fishies – for the plants!

Bogies

37030 Post St, Fremont, CA 94536 (510) 795-6000

Reviewer: Wright

Specialty: No fish specialty

Pros: Bogey's is a full pet warehouse deal, with emphasis on horsey stuff as well as dogs and cats (grooming, too). Great place to find pet bandages, etc. The small fish display is usually clean and neat

Cons: The selection of ordinary fish is poor. Bettas are poor quality, but better displayed in a commercial panel deal, up where kids can't spit in the bowls. They do carry some dyed fish, which I, personally, tend to boycott.

Their brine shrimp are much poorer than those at Superway, as are their blackworms (which they absolutely insist must be called "Tubifex"). Ignorance seems to be a major product among the young staff there.

Overall: 0 fishies - for carrying dyed painted glass fish they lose what fishies they had earned.