# Where are the Tropical Fish in Orlando, Fl



## robeclay (Dec 20, 2013)

Hey Everyone,

I just moved from Dallas, Tx to Orlando, Fl. I have been searching the city looking for a freshwater tropical fish store. I'm not interested in cichlids (too mean, makes me sad) or discus. I found one store in Altamonte Springs (Fishy Business) and I was not impressed. I have visited other LFS that claimed to have tropical fish and upon arrival they only had saltwater. I expressed my frustration with the management and they all gave me snarky replies that saltwater fish are tropical (what?) and that since we are surrounded with oceans there is no freshwater. NO HELP... The tanks at FB were dirty and they had a very poor selection of freshwater fish. Everything else I've come up with is Petsmart or Petco. If anyone knows a good tropical fish store in or around Orlando, Florida please let me know. You can reply or send a PM. I live on the south side of the city near Seaworld (Westwood to be exact) and I'm willing to drive up to an hour for a quality fish store. Getting desperate. I want to pick my fish out, not hope for the best via aquabid. Thanks in advance for any help and to you other Central Floridians, I love it here so far.


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## NJDfan1711 (Mar 1, 2011)

Hello, glad you're liking Florida so far. I am in Sarasota/Bradenton, about an hour and a half or two hours south of you. I'm afraid I probably can't be much help because I get most of my fish from the local stores, Petsmart or Petsupermarket, and I also have cichlids which I know you don't want. The LFS's have never steered me wrong though -- and by that I mean I have never gotten a bad or sick fish from them, and so forth. Their advice isn't always the best, but most of the workers I've talked to are fairly knowledgeable, and they seem to care too.

I would definitely be interesting in finding an independent store that carries fish just to see what type of selection they have that might differ from the chains, but I haven't even found one around me, let alone in the Orlando area.

Sorry I couldn't be of much help.


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## jspleco (Jun 4, 2014)

robeclay said:


> Hey Everyone,
> 
> I just moved from Dallas, Tx to Orlando, Fl. I have been searching the city looking for a freshwater tropical fish store. I'm not interested in cichlids (too mean, makes me sad) or discus. I found one store in Altamonte Springs (Fishy Business) and I was not impressed. I have visited other LFS that claimed to have tropical fish and upon arrival they only had saltwater. I expressed my frustration with the management and they all gave me snarky replies that saltwater fish are tropical (what?) and that since we are surrounded with oceans there is no freshwater. NO HELP... The tanks at FB were dirty and they had a very poor selection of freshwater fish. Everything else I've come up with is Petsmart or Petco. If anyone knows a good tropical fish store in or around Orlando, Florida please let me know. You can reply or send a PM. I live on the south side of the city near Seaworld (Westwood to be exact) and I'm willing to drive up to an hour for a quality fish store. Getting desperate. I want to pick my fish out, not hope for the best via aquabid. Thanks in advance for any help and to you other Central Floridians, I love it here so far.


Hey kind of a late reply I apologize, but in the central florida areas there's not a whole lot but there's a few good ones. I'm from east orlando and the reason FB wasn't so great was because the original owner just took it back because it started to really decline. they should start to get a little better soon. there's also one specific petland on south semoran that has a good selection of fish sometimes. ocean blue on aloma ave is a reputable saltwater carrier that just recently started carrying some decent freshwater livestock. a place I've been going to recently is dark water aquatics on michigan & orange. I really like the store and they have some pretty interesting stuff in there. pet supermarkets can normally order some stuff in depending on what you want with no extra charge and that's where I'm currently employed at. hope this helped at least a little!


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## LongTimeAquarist (Jan 16, 2014)

Not all cichlids are bad. Rams are small, peaceful fish that can get along with just about anybody. Anyway, how big is your tank? and here are a couple of online stores to consider: Liveaquaria and Petsolutions.


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