Best SFO Bay Area Fish/Plant stores?

[rkundla]

Bill,

I've done some business with Ken when I had some angelfish breed and he is a pretty good guy. Back in 2001/2002 I remember them having about 50/50 fresh/salt and a slim plant selection.

Atlantis Aquarium! That's the name. Back during the same time frame, it looked a little dumpy. They had a broad mixture of fresh/salt with that mammoth tank in the back with the big fish in it. Always something interesting to look at in there.

Didn't really get plant-crazy until I left Cali, so I never got to partake in the SFBAAPS meetings.

Ron

[Jumbotummy]

I go to the SFBAAPS meetings, theyre pretty good!
they usually have some plants at every auction.
Next month is guppies!!! and they'll probably have plants at the auction.

Oh yea and stores... Usually I go to Ocean Aquarium and Nippon, because I'm limited to Muni in SF, those stores are my favorite. Nippon has 25% off on the weekends.

[magicmagni]

I went to Nippon in the city as well as Ocean Aquarium. I wasn't very impressed with the livestock at Nippon, although they had the largest German Blue Rams I have ever seen and had a great selection of supplies. The plants looked like they were all dying, but the few show tank they had looked great.

Ocean Aquarium was awesome. Talk about a hole in the wall. I didn't know what to expect when I pulled up...actually was expecting to get car jacked.. or something, but talk about a little gem of a place. Every tank overflowing with lush growth and such beauty, the fact that this place was in such a sh1t-h0le seemed irrelevant. Every tank with established plants- no plastic pots here. Everything presented so nicely that you almost feel bad having the guy tear up the scape just to get you the plant you want.

The owner was an absolute pleasure because he is informative, helpful and very honest. He must have spent an hour or two lecturing me on the do's and don'ts of fish keeping and growing plants as he pulled out books detailing what he was talking about, while siting examples. He also took time to make me his trademark gadget... a recycled pop bottle converted into an ingenious dripper to acclimate the shrimp I had picked out. This level of service just doesn't exist these days and it was quite refreshing to receive such service. Someone posted that this store made Albany look like it has had the white glove treatment, I must disagree and say that I find it to be quite the opposite. You definately get the white glove treatment at Ocean.

I normally do not rant like this, but I was just so blown away by this place that I wanted to take the time to express my content with this little store, probably one of the biggest little stores in the whole bay area.

[Robert H]

Albany has a lot of imported plants, but not cheap. Guy sells petite nana for $25 each!! And people tell me 8.25 is high!!

[IUnknown]

http://www.sfbaaps.com/ meetings, plant collection orgy.

[Poohbee]

Albany Aquarium got rid of over half of their livestock and plant collection. They are gonna be converting the bottom area of the store into SaltWater.and the top half od the store into freshwater. They are also putting in new aquariums and getting rid of those yucky looking ones they had on the wall. I wish they would get Air conditioning or at least open the door to let all that Humid air out.. Gahhhh Now I know how it feels like to visit the jungle.

[bharada]

Originally Posted by Poohbee

Albany Aquarium got rid of over half of their livestock and plant collection...

YIKES! I hope all they did was take down all the small tanks with plants but kept the big one. I was going to drive up there on Monday (after their next plant shipment arrives), just to see if there was anything interesting.

I already ordered a bunch of Crypts from AquaBotanic but it's always nice to see things first hand.

[Ibn]

Robert, that's a really high number you quoted there. I picked one up a couple of weekends ago and paid only $14 for a big one, by the plant standards (you can separate it into 2 decent sized plants).

Albany's plants might not be cheap, but it's really a great place for finding some of the less imported/shipped plants (e.g. Nesaea red).

Sounds like I'll have to make a trip to Ocean just to check it out myself .

[bigpow]

I couldn't afford to buy ANYTHING from Albany aquarium... LOL
I went there and I immediately bailed as soon as I saw the prices!

Talking about supporting your LFS... how about supporting me instead, guys? :P

[bharada]

Well, Albany would not be my first choice if I were doing a major restocking (plants or fish), but on the occasion where you need 1 or 2 plants it's usually no worse than buying the same online and paying the added shipping.

[fishwife]

I have to agree with Bill on the price issue. I've struggled over paying what Albany asks for anubius, but in the end feel like it's cheaper than shipping, and I feel it's important to support a local business that has good, healthy, reliable stock and is so knowledgable. I've been to just about every LFS in the east bay, and they're my first choice for buying fish and plants. I stopped by there last weekend and was shocked at how empty it was -- the right half of the upstairs area was completely empty! I hope converting the downstairs area to saltwater doesn't cut into their quarantine area.

[Robert H]

He must have lowered his price then. People have been talking about his petite nana for over 2 years. He was one of the first in this country to import it. Everyone has always said he charged over $20 for them. Even $14 is twice as much as what they sell for on the internet. I think I am still a member of SFBAAPS, or maybe my dues expired by now...

I am partial to Dolphin Aquarium in the southbay. I bought my 100 gallon aquarium, stand, and canopy there. I lived in that store for 4 years. I know Brenda the owner pretty well. I knew her two sons. At one time I knew just about everybody that worked there. I used to bring in armloads of plants for store credit before I got into the business myself. In fact that is what got me into the business. I thought hey, if this store will take my plants, I can sell them to other people too! When I moved to Oregon, I sold Dolphin wood with Java fern growing on it. Nice people. They lost some of their most knowledable plant people just before I left. I don't know what they are doing now.

[Ibn]

Yeah, they have lowered the prices for those petites quite a bit. The price of $25 is what they were being sold for around a year ago. Now they're at $14 for some, which isn't so bad (cheaper if to buy over the net especially with other plants and include shipping).

Dolphin is an interesting store, and is definitely the only one that I frequent in the southbay. The plant selection there was pretty non-existent last time that I was there (mostly amazon swords), but I don't go there for the plants. The fish selection there is decent and what brings me back every once in awhile. The employees aren't very knowledgeable (was there while a couple of new employees were being trained and I was disappointed by the knowledge that was being imparted to them), but if you know what you're looking for, you'll be fine. The other downside to them is the high prices that they charge for some of their drygoods (filters and such, but those are usually bought online).

[sn8k]

Originally Posted by fishwife

I stopped by there last weekend and was shocked at how empty it was -- the right half of the upstairs area was completely empty!

I visited them (Albany Aquarium) today, and you'll be happy to know that the right half of the upper floor now sports completely rebuilt stands for the entire length of that wall, and already has emply tanks in evey slot almost fully plumbed and shouild be ready for fish & stuff very soon now (I would estimate 1 to 2 weeks before it's compete). I was talking with one of the employees for a long while today while she was helping me with my purchase - and told me a HUGE shipment of new plants will be arriving in two weeks (around the 25th-26th of September). I'm already planning my next visit to corrospond with the arrival of the new stock.

I should also state that this was my most pleasurable visit to any shops in the bay area to date. The young dark-skinned girl that helped me was deffinately a hobbiest and was extremely knowlegable - even gave me a big discount on what I bought today (a dozen amanos, various plants, a bag of ecocomplete, and threw in an oto and 3 balanese as a freebie on top of the discounted price).

[AlgaeHater]

Im glad that she likes someone. She seems to be the only knowledgeable person there, but she has a I'm to good or smart for you attidute . Once I got a super small red flame for 7 bucks from someone and when I went to get another she wouldnt budge on even a small one. I refuse to pay $37 and its not a mother plant. She doesnt like me and I havent given her a reason too. I would rather spend my money at oceans any day of week. Its way better anyways Imo and hella of a lot cheaper. If you havent been to oceans you should definatly check it out. If your over at albany 10 minutes away is octopuss garden which is a nice fish store. Not to many plants but worth stopping by. lots of fish and nice nice people.