They do mail order dry goods and do livestock out of their store, it's not pretty, but have good prices and healthy fish.

Good fish selection, but with some really high prices and some of the staff are downright rude.

Well: I just got back from a short visit to Nippon Goldfish in San Francisco (sorry for taking up the bandwidth of people elsewhere...). I'm afraid I have to give this formerly good store a negative review.
The selection of saltwater fish was awful, Nippon used to carry a good selection but now their SW fish selection is pretty generic and it seems they've reduced the number of SW tanks. The selection of inverts is terrible and the health of the specimens was awful. I didn't see any corals that weren't showing some tissue recession and most of the specimens had multiple dead areas. They only have 2 tanks with any SPS in them and all of the SPS was advertised as "purple"; I would describe it as "brown and dying" with no new growth tips evident. Obviously they're saving pennies by not replacing the MH bulbs over these tanks. The clams were in no better shape, every single t. crocea and maxima was gaping, the derasas looked good though which again is an indication that they need to change the bulbs on a tighter schedule. The general condition of the tanks was C-/D+, a 180 turn around from a year ago, now there are aptasias bigger than the corals they're trying to sell.
The prices are awful, of course the prices have always been awful but paying $39 for a fist sized bubble coral is different than paying the same amount for a dying thumb-sized specimen. Nippon also used to have a good selection of dry goods, not so today. They used to carry a variety of lighting options, today it looked like no one had gone through that area in weeks. They used to carry RO/DI units in abundance, today I counted 1 spectrapure on a shelf 15' off the floor...so on and so forth.
Also, in 35 minutes of poking around no one asked if I needed any assistance...this is typical for Nippon but it used to be understandable: they were busy, today they were just indifferent. I'll probably check back in a month or so but it is sad to see a formerly B+/A- store turn in such a negative direction.-Ted

DATE:02/05/2005
With the exception of one visit in eight years the service has been excellent and intelligent. The advice has been very helpful, and the fish have been extremely healthy, unlike all the chain stores which have a habit of knowing little and causing my tank to go into death spasms.

This is the place to go in the greater Sacramento area! Thousands of fish for sale and display including fresh, saltwater, pond fish, plants, invertebrates... you name it. They also specialize in custom-made tank stands. The staff is very knowledgeable and helpful with meticulous attention to tank quality and fish health. It is truly an amazing store to visit!

While a relatively large store with lots of tanks, it doesn't treat it's clientele as well as it should--they work on commission, so they are sales oriented rather than information oriented to newbies. They had a lot of chiclids, especially Neotropicals, a diverse number of catfish and tetras--I saw no barbs--but maybe it's not the season. ~ 20 goldfish tanks; some other large specimens in various tanks. Active place, though ~ 1/3 people I saw there left without purchasing anything. Tanks were expensive as compared to other shops, and their well supplied hard-goods were slightly inflated as compared to other stores. But still, and nice place to visit.

While the 3,000 seems a little large for what the store says it is, it is still crammed with stuff. Impressive live rock and invertebrate setups; large tank with two sharks--one ~4 ft.; ~20 saltwater tanks; a fair mix of African cichlids & Neotropical cichlids; diversity limited in other species--but prices very competitive--about 80% of Capital Aquarium on fish and dry goods. Knowledgeable help who don't treat everyone as a commodity but rather as a client and friend. This is more like the old "mom & pops" of 30 years ago that I remember. They foster good will.

These guys are THE place to buy your fish in the East Bay. The staff is knowledgeable and helpful and the fish are very well cared for. They quarantine all their fish, I've been going there for years and have never seen a dead fish in their tanks. (Plus, their Bettas get to stay in tanks with compatible fish and plants instead of those tiny bowls.) The plants are healthy and labeled according to lighting requirements. Bloodworms and brine shrimp are always available frozen, and usually fresh also. The main attraction is the quality attention paid to the needs of their swimmers- you know you're buying a healthy creature.

The store has gone downhill. It is very hot dark and crowded. Many of the tanks are gone for redo. The staff is nasty and has an uncaring attitude. I always feel degraded by their comments. The owner is nice, too bad I never see him. They are closed on Thursday which is odd, but doesn't matter as I will not return.

Great LFS for the rare and hard to find fish. I've bought tiger datnoids, a black arowana and a couple jardini arowana's and flowerhorns from here to date and many other misc. fish at awesome prices! The owner is courteous and heck you can even bargain if the price is right!
Date of visit:
July 09
Your rating:
Excellent