I have made up a list of almost every saltwater fish store I could find that is still in business as of 12/28/12 in or very close by Minnesota. I personally love going to differnet fish stores and looking at all the selections they have to offer. Took me forever to compile this list since a lot of these kinds of lists online are extreemly out of date and half of the stores are out of business/closed. I am only including stores that carry some sort of saltwater life and I am only focusing on fish and corals not inverts. I will be updating the reviews as I continue to visit the other stores on this list. I plan on visiting every one on list. I have written a review of each place that my wife and I have personally visited. We combined our opinions on the places. As far as prices being high or low on fish and corals, I am basing it all on the different prices I have seen in Minnesota stores and compared them to Liveaquaria.com and their Divers Den prices. My wife and I have visited the divers den and went on the tour of their aquaculture facility and its hard to compete with their corals in my opinion. I love the hobby and hope this list will help others find new stores to visit and check out all the cool stuff they have to offer for saltwater tanks. If you have had a better or worse experience than me feel free to comment. I have no issues with any of these stores and my personal reviews are meant to be constructive.
If you are aware of any stores I might have missed please let me know. I would love to go visit the store sometime. I also purposly did not included chain stores such as Petco because theres too many of them to visit them all, they are easy to find, and most don’t have healthy fish in the tanks ive seen. Hope this helps people looking for new places to go.
UPDATE: Will be ranking stores on prices with 1 being dirt cheap and 5 being super high. Will also put weather or not I personally will visit store again. Added Cosmic Aquatics.
Aqualand Aquarium Center
5355 Chicago Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55417
612-825-5666
Prices: 3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Store located on corner of a block. Easy to see from street it is on. Only 1 entrance to go into if you drive a car. Will bottom out on 2nd entrance. Parking Lot is small. Strictly fish store only. large store with a lot of floor space. Had to go way in the back to the left side to see a whole room of empty tanks for sale. Store was dark and very poorly lit. Over half of tanks lights were not even turned on so could not see what stock they had for fresh and saltwater or condition of tanks. Staff did not acknowledge us until we were leaving. Store was overall dark and creepy feeling. They had a very large selection of new tanks. Had a lot a products in store. Wasn’t able to see prices on items. Tank prices seemed a little high for new tanks.
Aquatropics Aquarium Center
3549 Douglas Dr N
Crystal, MN 55422
763-252-1111
Prices: ?
Revisit: ?
Stocks fish only and no other pets:
Personal Opinion:
A Wet Pet
14860 Granada Ave
Apple Valley, MN 55124
952-432-3474
Prices: 4
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Store located in strip mall. Strictly Fish store only. Prices on saltwater fish are very exspensive. No corals really from what I saw. Tanks looked decent and didn’t notice any dead fish at all or anything that seemed sickly looking. Store was pretty neat and tidy as far as dry goods went. Owner seemed knowledgeable mostly about other fish store owners. Seemed irritated with the business and talked a lot about how he has been trying to sell his business.
A World Of Fish
1516 East 66th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55423
612-866-2026
Prices: 4
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Easy to see from main road it is on. Parking limited. Strictly fish store only. Big selection of fish. Good selection of corals and fish. Prices on corals and fish were a bit high. Store itself is a little cramped, not much space to move around between two people. Staff was nice knowledgeable and greeted us. Had a lot of nice info you can take for people just starting into the hobby. Prices on accessories seemed decent.
Cosmic Aquatics
1165 West 7th Street
St. Paul, MN 55102
(651) 348-8641
Prices: 2
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: This store is still fairly new when I visited it. Store was very nice and clean. Easy to find right on the street next to a tattoo parlor. Owner is very nice and wanting customer feedback. Prices were nice on fish and corals were decent. Not a lot of stock yet but store has only been open a weeks so to be expected. Did not have any tanks on display for purchase but could order. Will be looking forward to seeing how store shapes up over time.
Discovery Aquatics
6253 University Avenue Northeast
Fridley, MN 55432
(612) 208-2657
Prices: 2
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Place is very easy to find. Located in strip mall. Store looked like was going through some changes. Had few empty tanks with no water in them at all. Store was good size and not too cramped. Fish in store looked healthy. Selection of fish was not very big. Had a very impressive display of corals to choose from. Had a nice stock of frags as well as colonies. Prices were good and very competitive. Ended up purchasing a few corals there even. Staff was very friendly and helpful. Not much in the way of accessories in store.
Fish Guy & Pet Supply
5623 Manitou Road
Excelsior, MN 55331
952-474-4688
Prices: 3
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Store pretty easy to find. In strip mall. Store is fairly big in size. Store relatively clean and organized. Had a nice selection of coral frags as well as big colonies. Decent selection of fish to choose from. All fish seemed to be in good health. Staff in store was nice but had to approach to get some help. Had an decent selection of accessories to choose from.
Fish and Pets
1201 South Broadway
Rochester, Minnesota 55902
507-281-4661
Prices: 3-4
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Big store in strip mall. Fish and other kinds of pets in store. Ample parking. Small selection of saltwater and even smaller selection of corals. Store and tanks are neat and pretty clean most of time. No dead fish or corals in tanks. Prices are a bit high on fish and really high on corals unless you go when they having a 30%-50% off sale. Staff is nice and most are very knowledgeable.
Forest Lake Pets
120 Lake St N
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-8982
Prices: 3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Store able to see from road its on. Seems small on outside but very deep. Store is fish and other pets. Fish are in back of store. Huge selection of freshwater. Very small saltwater selection and small coral selection. Prices on corals a bit high for what you get. Couple fish in tank were sick looking. One fish had bubble eye. Saltwater tanks seemed a bit dirty and neglected. Was only greeted when entered. Was not approched or offered help entire time in store.
Fragtastic Reef (Go to)
632 South Front St
Mankato, MN 56001
(507) 304 2579
Prices: 2
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Pretty easy to find. Hours are kinds wierd but I hear owner works a second job so its understandable. Place is definatly small but seemed pretty clean and tidy. Fish stock was pretty low but had a good size selection of corals. He had many different types and mostly frags. Had a few decent size corals/colonies on the better size of 2 to 3 inches. Prices were decent and not crazy high. Had very little in the way of accessories on the shop floor but he did have some nice high end wavemwakers. Vortex MP series.
Owner seemed nice and knowledgable.
Har-Mar Pet Shop
2100 Snelling Avenue North
Saint Paul, MN 55113
651-631-0117
Prices: 3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Store hard to find. Located in Har Mar Mall. (Havent seen a mall pet store in many years .) Store seems kind of small. Small selection of saltwater and small selection of corals. Prices are high on corals. Staff was nice but had to let them know I had questions. Was willing to feed any fish I asked about to show they are eating well. No dead fish in tanks. A lot of algae on tanks.
Murray's Aquatech
3406 Federal Drive
Egan MN 55122
612- 701-8774
Prices: 3
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Store is fairly east to find. Saltwater specific store. Store is very small. Had small selection of fish and decent selection of corals. Had the biggest clam I have ever seen. (was bigger than my head. no joke.) Coral prices were decent and resonable on most items. Most fish looked good and corals looked great. No dead fish or corals. A bit of algae growth in the frag tanks. Owner greeted us on entry and seemed very nice. Knowledgeable on different kinds of corals. Didn’t seem to have anything for accessories or supplies in store.
Olde Towne North Pets
1233 Caledonia Street
LaCrosse, WI 54603
(608)784-0316
Prices: ?
Revisit: ?
Stocks fish only and no other pets:
Personal Opinion:
Pet Expo District open
1800 Adams Street
Mankato, MN 56001
507-625-2505
Prices:3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Store easy to find. Reminds me kind of like a Petco as far as layout. Very clean and spacious where the aquariums are. Has alot of accessories. Their tanks were very clean and nice display of prices. Some of the fish were a little beat up possibly from bad tank mates. Didnt see any with illness. Stock for fish were very small. They did tell me they were trying to clean out stock on fish before new year and will order more soon. Their coral selection was very small. Basically one 55 Gal tank with corals scattered in it. Prices seemed high on corals and fish.
Petland
2123 Old Hudson Rd
St Paul, MN 55379
651-731-0556
Prices: 3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Big store. Reminds me of Petco type store. Store was pretty clean and easy to find. Had a decent selection of fish and some were in really rough shape. Mandarin looked borderline starved to death. Had a good selection of corals. Half of the nicer corals were not even for sale. Other coral tanks looked like the frags were thrown in and not displayed very nice. Looked like had decent supply of accessories but 1/2 stock was out. Had to track down a employee for help.
Saltwater Empire
680 West 92nd Street
Bloomington, MN 55420
(952) 838-0174
Prices: 2-3
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Fairly easy to find. Located on side of a building. Can't see store from main road it is located on. Store very spacious and clean. Decent selection of fish and good selection of coral. Fish looked mostly healthy and happy. Corals looked great. Prices on fish are a bit high and coral prices are crazy high for what I inquired on. Has a good selection of accessories and fish foods at a good price. (Carries Rods frozen) Staff was nice and greeted us on entry. Was not able to find out how good knowledge base was.
Sea Level Incorporated
8590 Excelsior Blvd
Hopkins, MN 55343
952-933-2244
Prices: 3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Place is easy to find. Very large store. Had alot of freshwater but dismal saltwater selection. Maybe 10 fish total and like 3 corals if that. Fish looked in ok shape. Was never approached or acknowledged in store. Had a large area with used tanks for sale. Most them looked like they have never been cleaned.
Something Fishy
14650 Glenda Drive
Apple Valley, MN 55124
952-388-1881
Prices: ?
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Havent been to new store yet. Employees were nice and knowledgeable in old store. Not sure if store will reopen after owners passing.
Wet World
3390 Coachman Road Suite 212
Saint Paul, MN 55121
651-686-8483
Prices: 2
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Decent size store. Located on side of building attached to a gas station. Fish only store. Able to see from main road it is off of. Store was not too cramped and clean. Tanks were pretty clean and well kept. Really good selection of corals decent selection of fish. All fish and corals looked good and healthy. Prices of corals was really good and competative. Owner was nice and very knowledgeable and seemed really into the hobby which was cool to see. Owner was also willing to answer any questions and just chat in general. Accessory prices seemed pretty good for retail store.
If you are aware of any stores I might have missed please let me know. I would love to go visit the store sometime. I also purposly did not included chain stores such as Petco because theres too many of them to visit them all, they are easy to find, and most don’t have healthy fish in the tanks ive seen. Hope this helps people looking for new places to go.
UPDATE: Will be ranking stores on prices with 1 being dirt cheap and 5 being super high. Will also put weather or not I personally will visit store again. Added Cosmic Aquatics.
Aqualand Aquarium Center
5355 Chicago Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55417
612-825-5666
Prices: 3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Store located on corner of a block. Easy to see from street it is on. Only 1 entrance to go into if you drive a car. Will bottom out on 2nd entrance. Parking Lot is small. Strictly fish store only. large store with a lot of floor space. Had to go way in the back to the left side to see a whole room of empty tanks for sale. Store was dark and very poorly lit. Over half of tanks lights were not even turned on so could not see what stock they had for fresh and saltwater or condition of tanks. Staff did not acknowledge us until we were leaving. Store was overall dark and creepy feeling. They had a very large selection of new tanks. Had a lot a products in store. Wasn’t able to see prices on items. Tank prices seemed a little high for new tanks.
Aquatropics Aquarium Center
3549 Douglas Dr N
Crystal, MN 55422
763-252-1111
Prices: ?
Revisit: ?
Stocks fish only and no other pets:
Personal Opinion:
A Wet Pet
14860 Granada Ave
Apple Valley, MN 55124
952-432-3474
Prices: 4
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Store located in strip mall. Strictly Fish store only. Prices on saltwater fish are very exspensive. No corals really from what I saw. Tanks looked decent and didn’t notice any dead fish at all or anything that seemed sickly looking. Store was pretty neat and tidy as far as dry goods went. Owner seemed knowledgeable mostly about other fish store owners. Seemed irritated with the business and talked a lot about how he has been trying to sell his business.
A World Of Fish
1516 East 66th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55423
612-866-2026
Prices: 4
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Easy to see from main road it is on. Parking limited. Strictly fish store only. Big selection of fish. Good selection of corals and fish. Prices on corals and fish were a bit high. Store itself is a little cramped, not much space to move around between two people. Staff was nice knowledgeable and greeted us. Had a lot of nice info you can take for people just starting into the hobby. Prices on accessories seemed decent.
Cosmic Aquatics
1165 West 7th Street
St. Paul, MN 55102
(651) 348-8641
Prices: 2
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: This store is still fairly new when I visited it. Store was very nice and clean. Easy to find right on the street next to a tattoo parlor. Owner is very nice and wanting customer feedback. Prices were nice on fish and corals were decent. Not a lot of stock yet but store has only been open a weeks so to be expected. Did not have any tanks on display for purchase but could order. Will be looking forward to seeing how store shapes up over time.
Discovery Aquatics
6253 University Avenue Northeast
Fridley, MN 55432
(612) 208-2657
Prices: 2
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Place is very easy to find. Located in strip mall. Store looked like was going through some changes. Had few empty tanks with no water in them at all. Store was good size and not too cramped. Fish in store looked healthy. Selection of fish was not very big. Had a very impressive display of corals to choose from. Had a nice stock of frags as well as colonies. Prices were good and very competitive. Ended up purchasing a few corals there even. Staff was very friendly and helpful. Not much in the way of accessories in store.
Fish Guy & Pet Supply
5623 Manitou Road
Excelsior, MN 55331
952-474-4688
Prices: 3
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Store pretty easy to find. In strip mall. Store is fairly big in size. Store relatively clean and organized. Had a nice selection of coral frags as well as big colonies. Decent selection of fish to choose from. All fish seemed to be in good health. Staff in store was nice but had to approach to get some help. Had an decent selection of accessories to choose from.
Fish and Pets
1201 South Broadway
Rochester, Minnesota 55902
507-281-4661
Prices: 3-4
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Big store in strip mall. Fish and other kinds of pets in store. Ample parking. Small selection of saltwater and even smaller selection of corals. Store and tanks are neat and pretty clean most of time. No dead fish or corals in tanks. Prices are a bit high on fish and really high on corals unless you go when they having a 30%-50% off sale. Staff is nice and most are very knowledgeable.
Forest Lake Pets
120 Lake St N
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-8982
Prices: 3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Store able to see from road its on. Seems small on outside but very deep. Store is fish and other pets. Fish are in back of store. Huge selection of freshwater. Very small saltwater selection and small coral selection. Prices on corals a bit high for what you get. Couple fish in tank were sick looking. One fish had bubble eye. Saltwater tanks seemed a bit dirty and neglected. Was only greeted when entered. Was not approched or offered help entire time in store.
Fragtastic Reef (Go to)
632 South Front St
Mankato, MN 56001
(507) 304 2579
Prices: 2
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Pretty easy to find. Hours are kinds wierd but I hear owner works a second job so its understandable. Place is definatly small but seemed pretty clean and tidy. Fish stock was pretty low but had a good size selection of corals. He had many different types and mostly frags. Had a few decent size corals/colonies on the better size of 2 to 3 inches. Prices were decent and not crazy high. Had very little in the way of accessories on the shop floor but he did have some nice high end wavemwakers. Vortex MP series.
Owner seemed nice and knowledgable.
Har-Mar Pet Shop
2100 Snelling Avenue North
Saint Paul, MN 55113
651-631-0117
Prices: 3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Store hard to find. Located in Har Mar Mall. (Havent seen a mall pet store in many years .) Store seems kind of small. Small selection of saltwater and small selection of corals. Prices are high on corals. Staff was nice but had to let them know I had questions. Was willing to feed any fish I asked about to show they are eating well. No dead fish in tanks. A lot of algae on tanks.
Murray's Aquatech
3406 Federal Drive
Egan MN 55122
612- 701-8774
Prices: 3
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Store is fairly east to find. Saltwater specific store. Store is very small. Had small selection of fish and decent selection of corals. Had the biggest clam I have ever seen. (was bigger than my head. no joke.) Coral prices were decent and resonable on most items. Most fish looked good and corals looked great. No dead fish or corals. A bit of algae growth in the frag tanks. Owner greeted us on entry and seemed very nice. Knowledgeable on different kinds of corals. Didn’t seem to have anything for accessories or supplies in store.
Olde Towne North Pets
1233 Caledonia Street
LaCrosse, WI 54603
(608)784-0316
Prices: ?
Revisit: ?
Stocks fish only and no other pets:
Personal Opinion:
Pet Expo District open
1800 Adams Street
Mankato, MN 56001
507-625-2505
Prices:3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Store easy to find. Reminds me kind of like a Petco as far as layout. Very clean and spacious where the aquariums are. Has alot of accessories. Their tanks were very clean and nice display of prices. Some of the fish were a little beat up possibly from bad tank mates. Didnt see any with illness. Stock for fish were very small. They did tell me they were trying to clean out stock on fish before new year and will order more soon. Their coral selection was very small. Basically one 55 Gal tank with corals scattered in it. Prices seemed high on corals and fish.
Petland
2123 Old Hudson Rd
St Paul, MN 55379
651-731-0556
Prices: 3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Big store. Reminds me of Petco type store. Store was pretty clean and easy to find. Had a decent selection of fish and some were in really rough shape. Mandarin looked borderline starved to death. Had a good selection of corals. Half of the nicer corals were not even for sale. Other coral tanks looked like the frags were thrown in and not displayed very nice. Looked like had decent supply of accessories but 1/2 stock was out. Had to track down a employee for help.
Saltwater Empire
680 West 92nd Street
Bloomington, MN 55420
(952) 838-0174
Prices: 2-3
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Fairly easy to find. Located on side of a building. Can't see store from main road it is located on. Store very spacious and clean. Decent selection of fish and good selection of coral. Fish looked mostly healthy and happy. Corals looked great. Prices on fish are a bit high and coral prices are crazy high for what I inquired on. Has a good selection of accessories and fish foods at a good price. (Carries Rods frozen) Staff was nice and greeted us on entry. Was not able to find out how good knowledge base was.
Sea Level Incorporated
8590 Excelsior Blvd
Hopkins, MN 55343
952-933-2244
Prices: 3
Revisit: No
Stocks fish only and no other pets: No
Personal Opinion: Place is easy to find. Very large store. Had alot of freshwater but dismal saltwater selection. Maybe 10 fish total and like 3 corals if that. Fish looked in ok shape. Was never approached or acknowledged in store. Had a large area with used tanks for sale. Most them looked like they have never been cleaned.
Something Fishy
14650 Glenda Drive
Apple Valley, MN 55124
952-388-1881
Prices: ?
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Havent been to new store yet. Employees were nice and knowledgeable in old store. Not sure if store will reopen after owners passing.
Wet World
3390 Coachman Road Suite 212
Saint Paul, MN 55121
651-686-8483
Prices: 2
Revisit: Yes
Stocks fish only and no other pets: Yes
Personal Opinion: Decent size store. Located on side of building attached to a gas station. Fish only store. Able to see from main road it is off of. Store was not too cramped and clean. Tanks were pretty clean and well kept. Really good selection of corals decent selection of fish. All fish and corals looked good and healthy. Prices of corals was really good and competative. Owner was nice and very knowledgeable and seemed really into the hobby which was cool to see. Owner was also willing to answer any questions and just chat in general. Accessory prices seemed pretty good for retail store.
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