[HowieR]

Yes I remember it. Huge, ran between Murray and Warren streets. My dad used to take me there on occasion until I was old enough to ride the subway in from Rockaway. Loved the selection but most of all the atmosphere. Sorely missed.

 

[Veia]

Hi Glen,

Not sure if you will ever see this, but if you are going to retire the ASC catalog, would you mind sending it to me?
My Father owned and ran ASC in New York anc then Los Angeles.

Aloha,
Veia Swartz (Berkitz)

Hi,
I'm just a little late joining in, 6 years or so. I was cleaning a shelf this morning and came across The Twenty-Fifth edition of ASC catalog. I remember pouring over it. It has followed me through several moves. I still have fish, mostly goldfish. I'm now 76 and t6hink it may be time to retire my catalog.
Glen

 

[esotouric]

Wanted to let folks who care about Aquarium Stock Company know that the Los Angeles store at 8700 Beverly, which has been vacant for a few years, is slated for demolition for a senior living facility. The city has failed to include it in the list of potential historic resources, despite the charming moderne sail sign and the cultural significance of the work done there. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Veia, if you have any vintage photos of the Beverly store, I would love to see and share them with the community. My grandparents had a shoe store in the 7300 block of Beverly, and it's sad to see one of these lovely old L.A. storefronts vanish. -Kim

Reading all of these posts about the Aquarium Stock Company in NYC warms my heart. My Father, Leonard Berkitz, own and ran ASC after taking over the business from his Father. He went on to open a second location in Los Angeles. Neither stores are around anymore, but my Father shared so many fond memories of this family business.

 

[Shangrila]

Wow! I can’t believe after all these years of starting the thread I’m just seeing these responses now. WTH.
Aqua Stock was great place ,unfortunately there are only a handful of good aquarium shops left in NYC. My favorite for several years has been Pacific Pet and Aquarium on Delancy St.
Good size shop with a good variety and extremely help and courteous staff.
As Ruben had mentioned earlier in the
thread Trailer’s on Gunhill Rd in the Bronx was cool place. It was like an antique shop combined with an aquarium store. I’m still friends with John’s wife and daughter. Great people.

 

[Peter Barry]

Not sure if this is the right place for this(Mods move if nesessary). But who is old enough to remember Aquarium stock FS on Warren st in Manhattan? My father used to take us there when we were kids, it was huge! It ran from one street to the next. I don't know how to post a link but if you goggle Modern Aquarium November 2011 they did a nice right up about it. Too bad they are still not around today.

Greetings, This is a copy of a reply post on Facebook that I posted after seeing a friend post pictures of a Discus. A great store I visited many times. --------------- Dawn, There was a large aquarium store in lower Manhattan, Aquarium Stock, on Warren St. that ran from Warren St. thru the building to Murray St., it was huge. Right next to the entrance on Warren they had a large tank 5-6 feet long, 36' high, and 12-15" deep. Three types of fish were in it, 5" Discus, 5" Angel's, and 2" Cardinal Tetra's. The Angel and Discus would do their graceful ballet dances, and the Cardinal's in schools would provide this darting colorful background. As you can tell, it left a lasting impression with me.

 

[BobbyB]

I was just thinking of Aquarium Stock Suppy. My dad would take me there to in the late 50s to look at all the tanks. Soon enough I was taking the subway to City Hall and going to the store and look in the tanks for hours. Then, I would walk to Nassau Pets and purchase hard goods, as they were much cheaper than ASS.

 

[fredskolnick1954]

I was just thinking of Aquarium Stock Suppy. My dad would take me there to in the late 50s to look at all the tanks. Soon enough I was taking the subway to City Hall and going to the store and look in the tanks for hours. Then, I would walk to Nassau Pets and purchase hard goods, as they were much cheaper than ASS.

I was just thinking of Aquarium Stock Suppy. My dad would take me there to in the late 50s to look at all the tanks. Soon enough I was taking the subway to City Hall and going to the store and look in the tanks for hours. Then, I would walk to Nassau Pets and purchase hard goods, as they were much cheaper than ASS.

I was just thinking of Aquarium Stock Suppy. My dad would take me there to in the late 50s to look at all the tanks. Soon enough I was taking the subway to City Hall and going to the store and look in the tanks for hours. Then, I would walk to Nassau Pets and purchase hard goods, as they were much cheaper than ASS.

LOL...Of course I remember Aqua Stock-31 Warren/27 Murray.....In its Day, it was the biggest Aquarium Store in The US. I worked there from 1969-1972, I was part of The Salt Water Dept....which was dreadful. I would never have bought Fish from this store....LMAO. Then again, in those Days we didn't have the Scientific Skills and Knowledge that we have Today. I still remember The Boss, Lou D., RIP and The Managers, Alex Rothbard.RIP. Some of The Guys I worked with were really great People...I remember those Times with many fond memories. I got a job at AQUA Stock after working for Marine Tropical Imports-4th Ave and 98th Street..Bay Ridge. I think I was 15 when I worked there....I was 16 when I started at AQUA Stock....I'm 67 now and I am an avid Reefer. Never left The Hobby.

 

[Dave T]

I'm just getting back into the hobby after a 30-plus year absence, and was thinking about Aquarium Stock and came across this thread. Once a year or so, back in the early 70s I was able to get my father to drive a friend and me the hour drive from NJ to Aquarium Stock. More exciting than Christmas morning, I couldn't sleep the night before the trip. We'd spend hours wandering up and down the isles looking at the tanks. Dreaming about getting a marine tank someday. Sad to hear that Aquarium Stock is no longer in business. I'll never forget it.

 

[RocksPaper]

Our father Alex Rothbard was the Aqua Stock (NY) store manager from the 1950s through his untimely death of cancer in 1977. We were often in the store as children in the 1950s and when we were old enough, we worked in the store many weekends and summers. We have fabulous memories of the whole operation from the sub-basement to the upper floors. Tanks and many fish remedies were made there. And of course hundreds of tanks filled with seemingly unlimited varieties of fish (at times reptiles and birds in cages). We worked with great staff and interesting customers. We cut many foil pieces that were inserted in the catalogues as background samples. We sliced little bands of lead that were used to weight the live plants.

 

[apistomaster]

I remember Aquarium Stock Co. well.
One of my favorite books is, "Breeding Aquarium Fish" by Nachstedt and Tusche, translated by William Vorderwinkler, published 1954, 1961 by Aquarium Stock Co. Inc. Still a great guide to breeding challenging species.
My collection of books about the hobby is full of rarities like that. I have Freshwater Fishes of the World by Gunther Sterba, "Rivulins of the Old World" by Jorgen Scheel 1968 TFH to "Bleher's Discus Vol.s I and II.
I opened an aquarium shop, with my parents help in 1966 when I was only 15 and I had to own every book I could find on the hobby.

 

[EDL]

For some reason..I was watching the old Adams Family shows on YT..and Gomez was fishing in a 55 gal tank..and he caught a boot in there..lol..
So I wondered..where ole Aqua Stock was or when they went out of business as I used to go downtown on a regular basis to get stuff or simply peruse the shop on Warren st.
I googled it and came to this site and was happy to see all the folks with great memories! I bought a ton of stuff from them around 1970 as a child but moved out of the city for good in 1972 and never saw them again. I still have their catalog and a dried out ph test kit they produced. All this brings me back great memories of a time not to be repeated and places in nyc that were unique and nice to shop at. The 1980's killed most all of the lil mom and pop retail stores in the city. Rents escalated and they were simply..gone..
There was a seashell shop "She Sells Sea Shells" on the east side and the lady there let me put rare shells on lawaway.
Crystal Aquarium uptown was pretty upscale for a kid but they had a lot of nice fish.
And I used to go to the only exclusively salt water fish store in nyc located in the Bronx (no freshwater fish sold there). The owner was Jack Garston and he would stay open late for me to arrive and buy stuff. A very good dude! I think the shop lasted a year or 2 only. I still have the Saltwater Aquarium mag he advertised in. Those were the days.
I havent had a tank in years but am thinking about it..
I do have one of those Norwegan Algae in a jar that needs cold water to survive..I've had it for years now..easy to take care of lol...but I left it in the fridge over the summer and forgot about it..and just today saw it was frozen in a block of ice on the top shelf..I hope it survives the thaw..lol..
Good memories at Aqua Stock. I had forgotten that a fledgling B&H Photo was on Murray too..I still shop there years later as I do a lot of photo for my work.
Since I lived on 150 west 55th back in the day..I mostly shopped at a lil pet shop on 56th and 9th. My best friends parents had a Chinese laundry right across the street on 56th..
But when I needed something special..I went down to Aqua Stock..one day I even bought a Russian Tortoise there. New Yorkers need their pets.
When we left NY for good..I sold all my fish and tanks to a classmate. Gave him a hell of a deal to take it all.
Cheers!

 

[EDL]

I found my Aquarium Stock tropical fish catalog today! Here is a video of the entire 1965 catalog just for those nostalgic viewers ...

 

[somewhatshocked]

I found my Aquarium Stock tropical fish catalog today! Here is a video of the entire 1965 catalog just for those nostalgic viewers ...

You need to enable playback and embedding on other sites (in your YouTube account settings) if you want the video to be visible.

But in the interim, here's a direct link to the video posted above.

 

[EDL]

You need to enable playback and embedding on other sites (in your YouTube account settings) if you want the video to be visible.

But in the interim, here's a direct link to the video posted above.

Embedding is now enabled!

 

[mickey.rudolph707]

Reading all of these posts about the Aquarium Stock Company in NYC warms my heart. My Father, Leonard Berkitz, own and ran ASC after taking over the business from his Father. He went on to open a second location in Los Angeles. Neither stores are around anymore, but my Father shared so many fond memories of this family business.

I just “ discovered “ this site. So better late than never. In the early 1960s my father hade made a moderate cash investment in a tropical fish import and retail operation named Tropiqual / Wide World Animal Imports. I was just finishing my service in the USCG so Dad installed me as his eyes and ears. I knew almost nothing about fish keeping. The retail store was located on the Western Side of 3rd avenue between 31st and 32nd streets in Manhattan . We had 180 10 gallon tanks and 20 , 20 gallon for retail fish sales and another 10 30 and 50 gallon display tanks. 98% of our fish were freshwater. The ASC was the model that I wanted our operation to become. Unfortunately our partners didn’t share my objective. I made it my business to visit ASC as often as possible and to make sure that if they had a new fish that we would have it as well. On several occasions I bought a few hard to find fish from ASC , grabbed a cab and rushed uptown to plunk it into one of our tanks with a “ sold “ sign on the glass . Herb (Dr) Axelrod was a frequent visitor to our store. Those were the days when we were being shipped discus in cut down 5 gallon metal cans with plastic bag liners. I’m in my eighties now and still feeding fish. Mickey Rudolph Stuart Florida.