Freshwater fish, saltwater corals, live plants and kits — sorted by habitat, sold from what is on the racks today. Reserve it, and collect it in Sacramento.
Freshwater is not one habitat but several. A fish raised in soft, planted water will not settle into a hard-water community, and Sacramento tap water is a starting point of its own. So the freshwater tanks are grouped by the water each fish came out of — you can tell whether a specimen suits your setup before you commit to it.
Everything here is live stock, kept in the shop and reserved against what is actually on the racks. Tell us what you are after and we hold it for collection.
Planted tanks with gentle flow, for water that has been running a while.
Straight from the tap, no remineralising, happier in a busy tank.
Sand rather than gravel, somewhere to hide, an established filter.
Unheated setups that follow room temperature through the year.
Aquatic plants, potted and bunched, grown for submerged life rather than a windowsill. Ask which ones tolerate low light, which want added carbon dioxide, and how deep each should be set into the substrate — planting depth is where most of them are lost in the first month.
Marine stock is listed with the conditions each specimen needs — light, flow, where it sits on the rock, what it feeds on — because a coral is not a decoration you slide around until it looks right. Placement decides whether it opens or sulks.
Reserve a piece and we hold it for collection. Bring your water parameters if you would rather have a second opinion before it goes into the tank.
Testing is the cheapest thing in the hobby and the one most often skipped. Bring a sample in a clean jar and we read it at the counter, then talk through what to change before anything new goes in — because most of what goes wrong in a new tank was already in the water.
| pH | How acidic or alkaline the water sits, and whether it holds there. |
|---|---|
| Ammonia | The first sign a filter is falling behind the stocking. |
| Nitrite | The middle of a cycle, and the part most new tanks fail on. |
| Nitrate | What accumulates between water changes. |
| Carbonate hardness | The buffer that decides whether pH stays put. |
| Salinity | Read before anything is added to a marine system. |
| Temperature | Tank and room temperature matter whenever livestock is moved. |
Kits chosen as a set, upkeep for tanks that need a hand, and the counter at the end of it. Nothing here is a warehouse listing — it is what is in the shop today.
Tank, lighting, filtration and heater have to be chosen together or they argue. Tell us the space you have and the water you are starting with, and we will put a kit to it — freshwater or marine — and hold it for collection.
Reserve a kitOngoing care for tanks that need a hand: water changes, filter cleaning, glass, and a look over the equipment before something quietly fails. Tell us the size of the tank and what has been going wrong, and we will go through what a visit covers.
Ask about a visitLivestock and tanks are sold from live shop stock with local pickup in Sacramento. Send the reservation form, we confirm what is in, and it is ready when you arrive.
Sacramento onlyNote Stock moves. If something you reserved has already sold, we will tell you before you drive over.
Tell us what you are after and when you can come in. We confirm what is in stock and hold it at the counter — livestock bagged, kits boxed, water tested first if you would rather have the numbers in hand before you buy.