LFS list - Page 3 - Southern California Aquatic Plant Enthusiasts (SCAPE)

**bblumberg** · 04-09-2006, 11:22 AM

Some stores I have visited, some repeatedly, some often, with a few comments.

Pacific Reef 18926 Brookhurst St - Fountain Valley, CA 92708 - Brian is very friendly and knowledgeable. Not many plants but fairly decent fish, particularly salt water. We usually get items for reef tank here. My daughter and I visit every week or two just to look around. Decent looking discus but we have not bought any.

Tong's Tropical fish 8976 Warner Ave - Fountain Valley, CA 92708. This store is a completely mixed bag. They have an excellent selection of equipment, particularly aquariums and stands, and a reasonable selection of plants, substrates and plant-specific equipment. A few knowledgeable people, particularly Eric. On the other hand, I have never seen sicker looking discus anywhere. They should be embarassed. We also visit here fairly frequently to look at corals and chat.

Number 1 Tropical Fish 714 S Harbor Blvd - Santa Ana, CA 92704. No plants to speak of but outstanding healthy discus and angelfish. If you love discus, this is a do not miss store. Friendly proprietor.

Ocean Blue - just visited yesterday. This store has possibilities and I wish him success. Brian seems quite interested in establishing the store as "the" LFS for planted tanks.

Neptune's Reef - 2851 Pacific Coast Highway - Torrance, CA 90505. Just visited here a few weeks ago. Probably the best selection of plants I have seen in LFS. They also have SAEs, Otos and a variety of shrimp, none of which are reliably available at other LFS. Too far to visit frequently but good for an outing to check for new items.

405 Tropical fish 15222 Goldenwest St - Westminster, CA. 92683 - A small store with individually filtered tanks (i.e. no central system to spread disease) and outstanding discus.

Pacific Reef 2877 W Lincoln Ave - Anaheim, CA 92801. Don't get here often but their corals and planted tanks look pretty good. More fresh water and plants than the Fountain Valley Store

Bruce

**bblumberg** · 04-09-2006, 01:38 PM

Thanks, Mike. BTW, is Claremont Tropical Fish still around? They were about the most reliable LFS in terms of fish quality I ever found while we lived in San Diego (but that was 7 years ago).

Bruce

**turbomkt** · 04-09-2006, 07:25 PM

No...I believe they have closed their doors. They were off Convoy, right? I never could find them the last time I looked.

**bblumberg** · 04-10-2006, 08:12 PM

Yes, I think they were on Convoy. Too bad the store is gone. It was one of the most reliable places to buy fish I ever found in SD.

Bruce

erijnal · 06-11-2006, 07:00 PM

New Wave Tropical Fish
(714) 998-8209
1960 North Tustin Street
Orange, CA 92865

Nice little mom and pop shop. The owners are extremely friendly. Decent selection of both freshwater and saltwater fish, and an ok selection of plants. Sometimes they have cherry shrimp with their plants, so if you stop by there take a quick peek. The ones I got from there were REALLY red. Also sometimes stock amanos. If you're looking for community fish, this is the place to go. If you call them and ask if they have a certain fish, and they don't, they'll ask for your number and call you as soon as the fish you want come in.

Once again, I highly recommend this store over any others in the area if you're looking for community fish.

erijnal · 07-06-2006, 09:29 PM

All About Fish is a great store, better than Strictly Fish IMO. Went there yesterday to meet up with Kurtis to sell him the driftwood, and the owner (Kurt/Curt?) was cool with it. Talked with him for a while about plants and fish, and he discussed his breeding projects with me. Very impressed with his knowledge and his friendly demeanor. When I bought a Red-Nose shrimp from him, he spent close to twenty minutes searching for me (there weren't that many left and they're hard to spot), and picked a beautiful specimen for me, but thought that it was a little too small, so gave me a buck off. I really wish I lived in Long Beach, the store is top-notch. Oh, and by the way, he told me that he was planning on adding 50 more tanks to his store specifically for the small/interesting livestock, such as boraras(!!). He also had Scarlet Badis in, as well as some other cool fish.

GO THERE! I really wish the guy the best. The only downside of the place is that directions there can be a little confusing, especially the mapquest directions I used.

**turbomkt** · 07-06-2006, 09:51 PM

How open is he to plants? We can put him in touch with AquaBotanic...

247Plants · 07-06-2006, 09:54 PM

Im already on the case...I have talked to Robert and Kirt and we are just ironing a few things out....

**Cassie** · 07-07-2006, 02:26 AM

yeah, directions there can be a bit confusing...I got lost when I went there, but it was a great store! My mom got her cories from there. Good specimens and good prices.

ShortFin · 07-07-2006, 12:20 PM

I stopped by New Wave Tropical Fish during lunch today. I wasn't impressed with the fish selection. The only thing worth noticing was the celebes rainbow fish.