LFS in your area

San Diego Ca.

I've been ALL OVER san diego.

No joke.
I made it my mission to search out pretty much everything below the 56. (too far to drive, but I called all of em up there. ). From every El Cajon Blvd. asian goldfish store to a place in the south bay that kept their dead bettas (still in those lil display cups) in the freezer next to the frozen food:barf: ....I've been to 99% of them.

In my opinion, the only place to get reliable info and good fish is Pet Kingdom on Sports Arena Blvd. The people who work there are pretty helpful, and will take the time to answer any questions you might have...or more often, point you to the employee who has the most experience in that particular field.

Aquatic Warehouse in Clairemont and Goldfish World on Convoy St. are both good.

Aquatic Warehouse has alot of stuff..ALOT. Fish and plants are a bit overpriced compared to some stores, but the quality is great. Selection of freshwater fish is somewhat limited to the normal stuff...with a few gems sprinkled in (the discus were wattley and they sell gold rams instead of the normal blues). Good luck getting help most of the time. While there are a couple older people on staff who seemed knowledgeable, most times I've been in, it's staffed with teenagers goofing off with each other. It seemed to me that they might be a bit more savvy when it came to saltwater judging by the customer pictures displayed at the checkout. If you are looking for replacement parts or oddball stuff, this is definetly THE place to go.

Goldfish World has good prices and some cool niche fish...flowerhorns, discus, parrotbloods etc...


This is where I differ from apparently everyone else in san diego....
I don't care for ******. I've bought from them, don't get me wrong. Their fish are usually good quality and the store looks cool (the huge cichlid tank at the entrance to the fish room is awesome). My problem lies with the service and the selection. They just don't carry that much stuff. Several times I've travelled out there only to find that they don't have what I'm looking for.

My main problem with ******* tho, is the staff. I can't vouch for anyone else on this board who's been there, but the staff at ****** has alway's came off as rather unfriendly and a bit like "the comic book guy" from the simpsons. This is no joke...kinda sarcastic, giving off a "you're stupid for bothering me" vibe. It actually made me laugh the first time. Being a bartender will make you appreciate a snarky outlook, but when it happened again, and again, it made me kinda raw on giving them any of my hard earned cash .

Maybe it's just me. Maybe they are great with everyone else, and I'm just overly sensitive, but I don't dig being ignored at the fish store. If it was busy, I could understand a wait, but when they just kinda stare at you and then go back to joking around, it makes me wonder why I made the trip. :thumbsdown:

I'm not here to bash any store. I shop at them all on occaision, and find each one has it's own uniqueness to it. Well...except the asian fish stores. I'm convinced that they are all ran by the same shady overlord. I call em the Fish Tank Mafia, and they ALL carry the same stuff. Coincidence?

Anyway's, I hope this helps you. I wouldn't trade checking them all out on my own for anything, but there's something to be said for having a bit of a heads up.

PetKingdom
(619)224-2841
3191 Sports Arena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

Aquatic Warehouse
(858)467-9297
www.aquaticwarehouse.com
5466 Complex Street Suite 204
San Diego, CA 92123

Goldfish World
-(858) 541-7878
3860 Convoy St # 113114
San Diego, CA 92116

Fountains Aquarium
(619) 465-5333
www.fountainsaquarium.com
Info@fountainsaquarium.com
7575 University Ave.
La Mesa, CA 91941

Octopuss Garden
858-576-7449
4865 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Aquarium Paradise
(619) 528-1913
3379 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 91748
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I dont know if anyone has posted this one yet:

Kyoto Aquarium
Wilshire Blvd
L.A CA

It has been there about 43 years...and it looks like it. The inside of the place is small and it looks like it stopped in time about 20 years ago. The tanks are the old steel framed type and they are stuffed in every nook and cranny in the place. The floor has three layers of worn through linoleum. The old Japanese guy that runs the place is a bit hard to understand but is really cool. You find yourself paying attention to everything he says, no matter what it is.

The best part is that he goes against alot of what you were taught about fishkeeping. Examples:
  • "Water changes? For what? I havent changed water in 40 years. I dont need to...I just add. Except for the goldfish."
  • He's real big on nitrifying bacteria. Most of his tanks have at least three inches of sand gravel over an undergravel filter. And you can tell that sand has been there a long time.
  • "I never clean my tanks. I dont have to."
I bought a plant from him and it's doing really well in my tank so I'm going back soon for another one.
 
Petland Discounts
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]HAZLET NJ
Rte. 35 & Bethany Rd
K-mart Shopping Center
(732) 264-5123

This store petland discounts is the best petstore in town! The manager dissapeared? so a new manager arrived. The new manager knows a lot about fish and orders more exotic fish than the regular petsmart. Crowntails bettas, Double tail bettas, and Super Delta bettas are all 5.99 each! The old manager only stocked veiltails and crowntails. Cheap tanks as well. 7.99 for an all-glass 10 gallon. Large varity of tanks to choose from as well as supplies.
[/FONT]
 
Aquatic World
2407 California Blvd
Napa, CA 94558
(707) 255-8044
No website
Tuesday-Saturday 10-6
Closed Sunday and Monday

Privately owned and operated. Sells both fresh and saltwater fish and supplies. Very friendly and knowledgeable. They quarantine fish for 10 days before selling them. Highly recommended.
 
The Lucky Goldfish
2301 Broadway
Oakland, CA
http://www.colorfulcoral.com/
510-836-3039
M-Sat 10:30-6:30, Sun 12-6
Good prices, nice fish selection, even better plant selection. Owner is cut and dry: knowledgeable and helpful, gets right to the point. Sometimes cheaper on those hard to find species.

Aquarium Concepts
6920 Amador Plaza Rd
Dublin, CA 94568
http://www.aquariumconceptsinc.com/index.html
925-829-0583
M-F 10-8, Sat-Sun 10-7
Good selection, nice plants and fish. Very friendly/knowledgeable staff. Average prices.
 
In gastonia north carolina where i used to live there is a great store called wet pets on franklin blvd. I miss that store so much. Now in erie pa. i shop at buzz'n'b's on yoder drive another great store highly recomend it. Phone number is 835-7387.area code (814) Staff is well knowledged salt/fresh/corals/plants/ u name it they got it.
 
Seattle, Portland

Longview, WA

If you live between Portland or Seattle....here is a pet shop in between that I've had great experiences with.

The Pet Works
1257 Commerce Avenue, Longview, WA 98632
phone: (360) 636-0830

http://yellowpages.superpages.com/p...~RR_50~LID_hkwzRxQhSR+bsve3amwwPQ==~lbp_1.htm

PROS:
From my very first NEWBIE visit, this place has treated me very well. They always have knowledgeable staff on hand and if they don't know the answer, they'll find someone who does. They're pretty clean and have a great inventory. Last time I was there, they had 13 different kind of cory's on hand and I bought sterbais for $8.30 each. Thats a good deal, just look around. I've got lots more good experiences here but in the interest of keeping this thread short.....

CONS/PRO AGAIN?:
There were more than a few tanks with sick or dead fish in them. However, being the newb I was....I tried to buy something out of a tank and the staff member took one short look at it and refused to sell me anything out of that tank. Then he put a quarantine sign on it.
The plant selection was lousy, lousy, lousy.
 
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