This is so far, my favorite LFS. I love their display tanks and they carry so many great products at good prices. Their staff is so friendly, and eager and willing to help. The fish there are so beautiful (and friendly, yes, the fish.). I love all of the fish there. The products they carry are very wide in variety and convenient. My only complaint is that the Betta Splendens are kept in pint sized cups. They cups are kept very clean and all, and overall much larger and better than the cups at most pet stores, but still, they are cups. I feels like they could at least try better at that factor. Otherwise I would have given them 5 stars. But they are an overall great store and I would recommend. I've bought so many useful supplies there, and a little Zebra Nerite Snail as a tankmate for my Betta :) . They get along so well. (The reason some of you are seeing older bad reviews, and now good reviews, is because they are under new ownership and management. Before the new ownership this place was terrible, now it is amazing). read more

Exotic Aquatics - My Zebra Nerite Snail, Tod Jr. from Exotic Aquatics. - Pet Stores Near Me - Boulder, Colorado

I was confused about the reviews I saw here, I came to Yelp specifically to review this local fish shop because I had a great first and second visit. I think this shop is really impressive, I just went in to look around because I keep fish and like fish shops, and it was awesome!. I saw fish I had never seen before, they also have a great selection of healthy aquatic plants if you like aqua scape. Later, some shrimp I bought from Petsmart infected my tank and killed my fancy goldshish Fishna, so I sadly went back to Exotic Aquatics to start over. I ended up super stoked. I received fantastic customer service, the shop was beautiful and the fish all looked healthy. Most tanks were self contained. It was badass. It's been two weeks and my cardinal tetras are still healthy, the heater he sold me was affordable, I barely notice it in the tank and I'm so glad he made sure I needed one. I had a great experience here. Absolutely recommend this shop. read more

This is by far my favorite fish supply store in boulder, I would recommend it for all of your fish needs. The staff is very helpful and the environment is super friendly. read more

I was very torn about visiting this place. Many reviews mentioned the lack of care for the fish and other animals, but as an amateur hobbyist, I don't know exactly what criteria to use to evaluate that for myself. Since I've only recently gotten into keeping tanks, I also tend to rely a lot of the expertise of the fish community, and especially local aquarium stores. So, I went to check it out and buy a low-stakes additional for my tank that I had researched for a while, a Nerite snail. My first impression when I arrived at Exotic Aquatics is that they need to get better air conditioning -- the air was suffocating and incredibly uncomfortable. I don't think it's just a feature of a having so many tanks, it just seems careless. I was a little dismayed at the state of some of the tanks, but again, refrained from judgement because I'm certainly no expert. The nail in the coffin: I asked the (admittedly very friendly and nice) young man working there to help me get a Nerite snail. He led me to a tank with DOZENS of teeny, pointy snails and asked me how many I wanted. When I voiced my confusion at their appearance, he said, "Oh, no, this is what they look like when they're juveniles. They get larger and rounder as they age." I didn't remember coming across that in my research, but again, thought maybe I just hadn't read enough. I ended up going home with five Malaysian trumpet snails. They bred LIKE CRAZY in my freshwater tank and I had to get an assassin snail to help keep the population under control. I feel bad for them --- they didn't ask for this! I want to be a good steward of the animals in my care, but I don't have the space or time to let them proliferate. I found it incredibly unscrupulous that someone working at an aquarium store would knowingly take advantage of my ignorance to sell me a creature that I wasn't seeking. Either the young man definitely knew they were the wrong snail, or he didn't know and still lied to me about the "juvenile Nerites." If he didn't know, he should have straightforwardly told me, "I don't know what that snail is." It's a very irresponsible way to treat living creatures, and your customers. Next time, I will be more confident in my research, and also go to a different aquarium store. read more

I went into Exotic Aquatics today looking for ideas for fish for a new fish tank. The employee was friendly and asked if I needed anything, but spent most of his time on the computer in the back of the store. Its pretty cluttered inside, too, but it wasn't too hard to get around. The fish here seem to be a bit more on the rare (expensive) side, which is pretty much out of my budget - but that wasn't my issue with this store. Looking around at all of the tanks, they had some pretty cool fish, but the tanks were dirty and the sides of many tanks were covered in algae. Lightbulbs were out over several tanks, so I couldn't even see the fish in those tanks. Worst of all, though - and why I walked out of the store without purchasing anything - were the tanks that had dead fish in them. There was one tank that had a dead fish that was floating on the top of the tank, with another lying on its side clearly in the process of dying. It had something white growing all over it as well as all over the gravel on the bottom of the tank. Even worse than this tank was a tank of goldfish - more than half of the goldfish were dead and lying on the bottom of the tank! Several more were swimming sideways or off kilter, clearly not well. Both disgusting and sad, and shows they clearly don't even look in the tanks or take good care of the fish. I would never buy a fish here, because they are clearly not taken care of. read more

It's cluttered and sometimes you have to hunt around for what you want. Few of their dry goods are priced, and the staff has no idea what the price is. However, you can occasionally find a great bargain on dry goods and tanks here. Prices, when they are marked, or someone on staff actually knows it, are reasonable. Fish selection is mediocre, but they do a good job of ordering a fair amount of a single species and stocking it in a single large tank. Staff is generally friendly and helpful (in terms of promptly ringing you up or getting stuff), though not that knowledgeable. read more

This is a torture-chamber for freshwater fish. I stopped in (for the last time) today, and in walking through the freshwater selection, counted 5 dead fish, some dead long enough that bacterial mats had formed around them on the gravel. Not to mention so many dead bettas-in-a-cup that I couldn't bear counting. There was only one person working, and he didn't even notice me coming in or out. I badly wanted to save a cute little Corydoras catfish hiding in a mostly-empty cloudy tank with one big cichlid, a few dead goldfish, and a few shrimp. But seeing the 20+ daisy-chained, poorly filtered tanks, I just knew I couldn't risk hurting the fish I already have at home by bringing home a disease. I originally gave them 3 stars for their dry-goods selection. But this second, utterly depressing visit made me realize that I don't want to support this store and what they do to their fish, and frankly, you shouldn't either. read more

The staff here are friendly, professional, and knowledgeable. They clearly love reptiles. I, however, was fish shopping & got the impression that the staff was just as concerned with answering my questions as making a buck. I saw no dead fish in any of the tanks. While I don't like the bettas in cups, every place seems to have them & at least at Exotic Aquatics, said cups are a little larger than usual. I would definitely shop here again. read more

I been here a few time, sometimes I get lots of help and someone who really knows their stuff, other times the staff has no clue. The guy today was really smart and helpful, gave me good advice and wasn't pushy. It's called exotic aquatics, so I couldn't imagine they are that much into ponds, maybe, but I wouldn't expect it. It is cramped, and a bit "dirty", but to me that's part of the fun. If you want clean and industrial go to petco, they have bright isles and limited selection too. I'll keep going here and Aqua Imports. read more

Exotic Aquatics - Pet Stores Near Me - Boulder, Colorado

New Ownership early this year - shop is clean and organized! Great selection of freshwater and saltwater fish, shrimp and live plants! New brands/selection of aquariums including Mr. Aqua - lots of nano and large tanks. Store manager, Priscilla, is a rock star and is well known in the industry. Expert aqua scaper - knows live plants and nano fish! Love the new energy! read more

I went for the first time yesterday. I was on the hunt for some striped kuhli loaches and this place had 50+ of them. The store was a bit cluttered, but is to be expected of fish stores. I enjoyed seeing the selection of fish; the selection was not as diverse as some other place, but good none-the-less. Anyway, the owner accidentally grabbed me four kuhlis instead of three and gave me the fourth free - which was awfully generous. Go to pay and the card reader was not functioning, I didn't bring any cash. I suggested that I come in tomorrow and get the fish as well as pay, but he insisted that I take the fish and come back tomorrow to pay. I've never had an experience as trusting as that within a store. Give this place a try! They have an interesting selection. Also, to touch on a previous review regarding the bettas: I noticed the son of the owner was cleaning each individual cup and changing the water. It's unreasonable to expect bettas to have a larger environment than that when being sold since they are extremely spaced out in nature due to territory. read more

DO NOT SHOP HERE. This place is a graveyard for fish. We recently purchased 2 saltwater fish that promtly died within three days of getting them home. Might I add that we have tons of healthy fish that have joined the tank over time and nothing like this has ever happened. The tanks are overcrowded and dirty and the staff seems to just want to make a buck. HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT SHOPPING HERE. Love, an angry citizen. read more

Half of these reviewers seem kind of clueless and surprisingly none of them mention the things this store is actually good for. Also, regarding the bettas, how do you expect to keep 50+ betta fish? all in the same tank? LOL. I've actually spoken with their employees about the bettas, as he was changing the water in the cups, and have seen them change the betta water frequently, they even have some special water formula they use for those cups, so I don't know what all the fuss is about with the bettas, they are very well taken care of. Admittedly, not always the widest fish selection in the world, but they always have interesting things, especially in the saltwater area, i've seen stingrays, sharks, various tangs/triggers/mandarins/puffers. They've usually got some nice guppies too. And kuhli loaches, not many places have those. The good stuff here tends to go fast in my experience. They recently moved, so a lot of what the old reviews say may just be irrelevant to their new store, which I can attest is pretty nice. I think they also recently stopped selling reptiles, although they still sell cages/food/etc for reptiles. I never went there for that anyway...Good selection of frozen foods as well. I try to get as much of my supplies here as I can, as it's always a fun store to visit. The other thing I love about this place is that all the tanks are big. Like, nearly all the tanks are 65G or larger, regardless of how small the fish in them are. It makes it feel more like an aquarium and not just a store. It's not the kind of place you'll find a huge oscar jammed into a 20G Long, it'll be in a 100G+ tank most of the time. They really seem to care about the fish. They always take a fish or tank on donation too, they don't like seeing fish die. All the equipment and the brands they carry are generally decent stuff. They've got all the latest Fluval filtration stuff, as well as Aqueon, including the Aqueon Pro heaters which are my favorite right now. Typical selections from seachem, hikari, api test kits, etc...They can order EcoTech stuff too, but I wouldn't expect that to be in stock. This isn't always the place to go for instant gratification, this is the place you go when you've got a project. Which brings me to the main thing this place is good for. This is about the only place you can go for a custom job. Drill some holes in a tank? Or maybe a completely custom, hand-built tank? Find another fish store in Colorado that will even entertain the idea. Oh yeah, they do a ton of custom pond work as well, that's one of their mainstays from what I gather. As well as maintaining tanks and various commercial/residential settings, this is a full service shop that you can pay by the hour not only to maintain your aquariums, but to build, assemble, advise, you name it...I had them help build and plumb my tank when none of the other stories I went to were willing to help me. That alone is why this place gets 5 stars, because no one else would even offer to help with the work I needed done. read more

You couldn't find a more disinterested place to do business. It's filthy and I feel sorry for the fish in here. Not only that, but they couldn't recommend or offer a proper solution for removing chlorine from water for a large pond, and only handed us solutions for use in aquariums, yet the stock all kinds of pond supply. We went to another place, and they gave us what we needed right away, along with other great advice. read more

This is a nice little store. I grew up going to a fish store also named Exotic Aquatics, so when I found this one, I wanted to check it out. The owner is very helpful. I went in when I was setting up my tank I had just moved across the country, and he helped point me towards the substrate I was looking for. He even let my husband bring his new dog in as I shopped as we were trying to get her accustomed to new sights (abused rescue). He offered to order any fish I didn't see once I was ready to restock the tank. I went back recently to pick up a decent sized school for the tank. When I told him the number I wanted, he offered me a deal lower than the marked prices. It turns out he missed 2 fish on my desired number, but given the school size I assume he didn't realize. Given the price he cut me, I still got a deal even with 2 missing. I picked up the beginning of another school at another store, and plan on ordering from Exotic Aquatics to complete it given the kind service I received. read more

I shopped here often and they always had what I needed. The fish seemed healthy and didn't introduce new diseases into my tank.

Anyone who knows anything about fish in Boulder knows to go to exotic aquatics. With over 35 years of doing business in Boulder they have established a reputation of being the best. Spend some time getting to know the staff and you will see that they are knowledgable and hard working people with a love for the hobby who want to see their clients tanks thrive. Get to know the owner and you will see that he is an honest hardworking American who cares deeply for his clients and has an unrivaled knowledge of the hobby. No other store in Boulder takes the time to quarantine their fish like this place does. Their fish are kept in large display style aquariums and anyone who knows enough to know what to look for will see that the fish are disease free and strong eaters. Just ask an employee to feed the fish for you and see for yourself. Don't listen to joe-Petco-shopper's review. Trust the professionals who care and stick with Exotic Aquatics. read more

Exotic Aquatics - Exotic Aquatics storefront - Pet Stores Near Me - Boulder, Colorado

I like Exotic. I have now been doing business with this store for years. I must say that you shouldn't go to this store if you are in a hurry. This store is small and has a lot of different items for different tanks (ponds, salt water, fresh water, and even reptiles). However, you will get helped and you will get what you need. I've had the owner help me out in times of dire need with the salt water tank. He has even had to come to my home. Their pricing is normal for their products. I always find this store is helpful and has a very cool selection of salt water reef products. The staff is also friendly and upbeat. read more

Anyone interested in getting started with fish-keeping should come here instead of petco or petsmart. The staff is extremely friendly and knowledgeable. They genuinely want to help you and are passionate about what they do. We came in at 5:45 pm (right before they close) and they didn't rush us at all! Exotic Aquatics has competitive prices that are the same or better than online. We will return here again when we expand to a bigger fish tank! :) read more

Pretty decent pricing on fish and a good selection. I've had great service the few times that I've been here, so I can't speak to the bad experiences of others. I will update if my experience changes read more

I just got off the phone with Sai, the owner. He personally answered all my questions about Tiger Salamanders, a native Colorado species which we love. He was extremely knowledgeable and engaging, and I've purchased other reptiles from this location before. These guys really care about what they're doing, and care about the animals they sell. Sometimes, yes, they're interested in "giving the customer what they want," but it is a business, after all. If you know the questions to ask, and are a true animal lover, this company has all the knowledge and equipment to help you be a great owner. They're my go to for all my exotic reptile/amphibian needs! read more

This place is great. They really know their fish and their prices are reasonable. The staff take time w the customers.

Wow. I drove from Fort Collins to check this place out (40 miles). I should have listened to the reviews. When we walked in, the place was hot like a sauna. Water on the floor on one aisle (real safe guys). All of the tanks were dirty and overgrown with algae. 2 men were talking in the aisle over from us. We were not acknowledged or asked if we needed help. The shop is small and the entire place was dirty and in disarray. Even if they had the fish I was looking for I would have never purchased them there. One would think that the owner would have read previous reviews and tried to clean the place up. Disgusting. read more

Huge tanks with overcrowded and stressed out fish. Standard kind of gross aquatics store.

Gross store. Everything's sick and dying. The staff don't know the first thing about fish. Just out to make a buck. Would never go here again. read more

We continue to support this great local aquatics supply store. Very knowledgeable and friendly people. Not much money in this kind of business, I think they really are committed to the hobby. I've always seen healthy fish, clean well maintained tanks, decent plants, etc. Not as big a selection of retail accessories as the big box stores of course. Lots of experience that I have learned from. They will adopt your fish if you want - is apparent that they care! read more

It's just sad. I shopped here for over 20 years at 2 locations. Two years ago was my last visit. It was gross and depressing and there was one employee who didn't care. The floors were rotted and the tanks were either empty, diseased or up and running with dead fish. Looked like they were going out of business. Horrible. So so sad. read more