Aquariums 2.0

Where are some great pet stores specializing in fish, aquatics and supplies in the Houston area?

I’m looking for some great pet stores (family owned, locally owned, small chains) that specialize in fish, aquariums and supplies. I love all fish, but I have only dealt with freshwater.

I live in Baytown, but it doesn’t matter which side of Houston it’s on. I’m just tired of Petco and Petsmart and the little pet shop we have here which is awful.

Thanks so much for your help!

Let’s see, it kind of depends on what you’re looking for. I’ll list a few of my favorites:

Houston Aquarium Warehouse in Stafford is a great place for discus and many other harder to find fish suitable for planted aquariums like rams, apistogrammas, tetras and small exotic plecos.

http://www.houstonaquariumwarehouse.com/

Xtreme Fish and Pets off of Bellaire has really good prices on live stock and dry goods. When the owner starts noticing that you’re a regular, he may start giving you random discounts. Great place for odd balls, you really don’t know whats going to be in the store week to week.

http://www.xtremefishpets.com/

While you’re in the area, might as well stop by City Pets off of Beechnut. They also have great prices and a lot of supplies for planted aquariums and are a distributor for ADA who make Aquasoil and other great planted tank supplies. There the only fish store in Houston that I know that you can get ADA blackwood.

http://www.citypets.com/

Fish Ranch II off of 59 and Larkwood has decent freshwater and marine livestock. Prices are reasonable. They’re kind of undergoing construction right now, but they got some good stuff including hard to find inverts like shrimp.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&q=fish+store+larkwood+houston&fb=1&view=text&latlng=10458669973666767009

Finally, the most beautiful fish store I’ve been to is Fish Gallery by Kirby and 59. It’s a very high end store, with pricey fish, but their state of the art facility usually has pretty healthy and beautiful fish. Large place with plenty of supplies, fresh water, marine and tons of plants.

http://www.thefishgallery.com/houston.html

They’re reasonably close together, so if you started early enough and brought an empty cooler to hold fish, you could spend a day going on a fish store crawl.

Who would you give new and used aquarium supplies to?