I'd always duck into Northside Pet Superstore when I was going past, after picking up some quite rare fish for an absolute steal - browsing through all the standard guppies, tetras, platys and goldfish - nothing really unusual there, but it is a pet store, not a specialised aquarium shop - I found a tank full of algae eaters - again nothing unusual (and word of warning, they're only algae eaters when they're young, and hungry - as they get bigger, and find they can eat the food your other fish are getting, they get lazy - and they'll also latch on to slow moving fish, and use them as food too - not nice fish sometimes) except for five fish that definitely weren't your everyday algae eater - tall fins, and a much more elongated shape.
I asked a staff member what they were, she told me algae eaters - I took a chance on them, as they looked really interesting, and I knew I could find homes for them even if they weren't compatible with my fish, and took two of the 'algae eaters' home. Turned out they were a variety of Hemoloptera - lovely fish that don't grow too big, and sell for about ten times the price of an algae eater - and when I went back for the other three the next day they even gave me a discount on them... *bonus* :)
That aside, I see a good stock of the regular fish. There's often a special on something, tetras, goldies or guppies, which probably reflects a discount they've gotten from the suppliers, but it never hurts to get a good bargain.
Overall the store looks good - I don't pay a lot of attention to the rest of the livestock, unless the kids are with me, but they have a good range of animals and products. read more