Been Coning here for generations. I Love the Chans Fish. In the early 80s Mr. Chan Taught me So much without alot of mumbo jumbo. Yes Now there older, yes not much to see if your looking for Glitz. Still ge has the Best .If you ha e alot of questions, get a book. If you know your fish.. This is it. This is as Old School as they come. Selling there Vintage metal framed aquariums. I love mine. The last of the Old school Breeders in Norcal. Thank you for all your years and generations of Fish . read more

Fairy Lake Discus Palace - Pet Stores Near Me - San Francisco, California

I came here based off the hours listed, Just to find this sign posted on the Front Door..

Dropped by for the first time today with my little sister, despite having walked past countless times. Loved the viiiibesss. it smelled like chinese food, there were little houseplants everywhere, the sound of bubbling air pumps was so calming. a strict looking cat was lounging at the top of the stairs, and the owners were sitting in the back room. old lady came out to nod her head at us, and i said hi and asked in cantonese if i could pet their cat. (both my sister & I were too scared though, bc her claws were out..) today i didnt purchase anything, but i'll be back! really cozy store, and everything looked so healthy. read more

Fairy Lake Discus Palace - Pet Stores Near Me - San Francisco, California

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"...But the most important rule, the rule you can never forget, no matter how much he cries, no matter how much he begs, never feed him after midnight." - Gremlins Ohhh gosh I love Gizmo! Gremlins! A movie from the 1980's that touched my heart! I can watch it today and it still gives me a warm & fuzzy feeling, well ok, I admit Phoebe Cates gave me that feeling too;) The story goes that a father wants to buy his son a special gift for Christmas, long story short... he finds himself in a junk shop in Chinatown and discovers a small hidden chest with a tiny creature inside. That's the gift he must get for his son! At first the shopkeeper refuses to sell him the Gremlin, but after much thought, and in desperate need of money, reluctantly sells it to the father provided he follows "the rules" that came with the little Gremlin. So what does that have to do with this review? Well, if you can imagine that junk shop being a "fish store" in the Richmond District of San Francisco... Fairy Lake Discus Palace: A small, cramped, out-dated aquarium shop in the basement of an old Victorian home. And yes, I've been coming here for years, sometimes just to browse, but lately not much to browse. As the shop and shop owner are getting older and older. You can still see many old newspaper clippings and old magazine articles of the shop, some framed, some taped on the walls, all fading with time. You can see a young "Mr. Chan" looking quite dapper in the 1960's or 1970's. Centuries later he's the grumpy junk shopkeeper from Gremlins. No longer the suave youngster of years ago, but a man that has lived his life selling tropical fish, year after year, to San Franciscans. His specialty is freshwater tropical fish, like Siamese Fighting Fishes, Guppies, Mollies, Algae Eaters, Corydoras, Angels, and of course the exotic Discus Fish, hence the name Fairy Lake Discus Palace. I'm sure after many decades of the same questions over and over and over he's become jaded with his own prospective customers. He's in no mood to give advice on flake foods & thermometers. Trust! Fairy Lake Discus Palace is no palace. Alas, like I mentioned above, it's small, cramped, out-dated, and hella seen better days. It has an aging "Mr. Chan" who can sometimes be down right rude. So besides the fish mentioned above, and limited aquarium supplies, why did I give this Gremlin-like environment 5-stars? Heck because everything I just said lol. You will probably be greeted by the resident cat (not for sale) who has the sweetest purrs anywhere! You will notice that the aging tanks are actually a good sign for healthy fish! You will notice the fish are fuller bodied and generally more active versus those at the glitzy modern aquarium stores! You will also notice the charm of the place... well that's if you're like me and love Gremlins /sigh. All in all, I recommend Fairly Lake Discus Palace, but with a splash of customer beware! Don't come here expecting glitz or millions of trendy fishes! Don't come here expecting to be given a lesson on beneficial aquarium bacteria! Don't come here expecting the customer is always right! You come here if you want to experience a relic of how aquarium shops once was... damp and mossy, sans the dapper gentleman and Phoebe Cates. A tad of Corey Feldman, but heck, I prefer "Mr. Chan"... Spoiler Alert: And so did the father and son follow "the rules" that came with the Gremlin? Of course not, it wouldn't be a classic movie if they did! Merry Christmas. The End. read more

Super nice owners. The place takes credit card. There a lot of beautiful fishes for you to choose from. The owners have two cats. Come play with them and shop for the fishes and supplies. read more

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My boyfriend and I were in SF the other day trying to find parking for a restaurant off the main street, and stumbled upon this hole in the wall as we were circling the block. It is very small with fewer selections, but had a homey vibe to it. My dad loves his lil fish aquarium at home so I decided to stop by and get him a new one to add to his collection. I got a blue and silver angel fish for $3.80, which is very reasonable. I wish I had more cash on me to buy more interesting and unique breeds of fish. The shopkeeper was an older Asian lady with few words, but very kind and loving of her two cats. I would definitely come back again if given the chance to purchase more fish and to pet her cats :) read more

My parents was coming here when I was real young, and the store been around for a real long time now. And when I got into fish I also been coming here to check out what they have. And that was when I fell in love with angelfish because they are so beautiful. The grandpa here is real knowledgeable with the fish here, and I learned so much about how to breed angelfish. Pricey is not bad, the fish is real healthy and real active, there discus and many other fish here also. If you got questions just ask them, and they will happily answer the question the best they can. I saw reviews about how the grandma was rude, I learn that they do have their down day. On most day they are awesome people! read more

Ok.... my girlfriend and I started keeping fish for a few months now and have 2 tanks and starting a third tank we had the idea of putting discus in that tank and upon reading the five reviews that this shop had about how he breeds his own discus we decided to check this place out. We went to the store ......doors open and people inside walked in started looking around (about five minutes or so) and nobody said "HI." still looking saw some baby discus and started pointing them out to my girlfriend a few minutes after that a short old man says "Closed!Unless you buy." ..........WHAT! im thinking in my head as my girl looks @ me with a stunned gaze so we left! Listen folks this is no joke and @ first I thought it was but old man wasn't playing!Was it because I look like i should be @ an Aesop Rock,Rob Sonic show pumping my fist to Hip Hop? Well ill tell you this im not going back and will stick to my normal stores Ocean Aquarium (Justin is the master),Aqua Forest (young kid with plugs and glasses really nice and helpful) and Lucky ocean (cause the dude that works their is straight forward and helpful)! So ill leave and ill never buy even though he did have some cool fish! read more

Never will I go here again. Today, I purchased two red eyed swordtails. I asked the old lady to get me the pregnant females because she wouldn't allow me to net out the fishes. She netted me out the smallest ones from the tank. Never again. read more

This place has been around for a long as I can remember!! That's a true testament in its own rights. Run by a really old Asian couple who speak limited English. Don't come here expecting to carry a long conversation about keep fish and aquariums unless you speak Chinese but they try to be as helpful as possible if you are looking for something specific. My brothers used to come here when they had fish in their teenage years. It's never really been cleaned up or remodeled since the early 90's (maybe even 80's) but it's got the basics and it's a straightforward little local shop. Oh! There's also an old cat there who watches you suspiciously as you browse. That somehow gives it a little extra charm. read more

This aquarium store deserves more than some reviews say. It is kind of dirty and worn out outside. Inside the furniture is worn out too. The aquariums aren't particularly good looking. BUT the fish look very healthy. I didn't see any parasites inside the aquariums. Each aquarium seems to have individual filtration system. They're not mixing water from all the aquariums it seems. The fish selection is good as well. You can tell the owner bred his own fish there. I only wish they took a week off and painted and fixed the place up so it would look nice because the fish and aquariums are really nice and clean. read more

Very Sweet lady and old school aquarium,last of the Mohicans. Will always patronize, please support your local businesses during and after Covid 19. read more

They do not care about the animals health! One prime example is alowing all the male beta to see each other, this makes them very stressed. They do this so that the beta show off their colors and sails but this makes them extreamly stressed and they probly kill alot of them just to try to make sales. So sad! read more

Terrible experience with this shop. Came here the first time at 4 even though the shop says they close at 5:30, they were closed. Asked some old guy there and had him yell at me saying its close and he doesn't care. Today I came here again at 1:26pm and they're closed again... Lost a customer. Never going to come back. If only I can rate them no stars read more

Fish stay alive when I buy from here! Mr. Chan Stages all the fish in a seperate tank for more than a week before selling them. This practice ensures that we get healthy fish! read more

A magical store well hidden by it's antiquated appearance. This is San Francisco's best kept secret fish store. The fish are beautiful and enchanting and the knowledge of the store owner is unparalleled. It is only here because of the care and passion that the owner has for the art of tropical fish breeding. I'm glad such places still exist. read more

The old man breeds alot of the fishes himself. Good price and healthy stock. His daughter helps sometime,which you gotta keep a eye on her because she can be rough on the fishes when catching them. read more

this place is not aquarium store, is just from a house with a display of tanks.. (just saying) that I believe they have it for themselves, and I believe they decide to sell their fish.... not a warming welcoming, what so ever. old lady just ask, are you here to buy fish.?... well now, I'm here looking for a fish. so, let me look... and if I find one, great. :) but don't do that. be thankful you are having one costumer.. I bet I was her only costumer that day.. lack of customers services.. :) no problem, I just go to 6th Ave aquarium, n find what I'm looking for, even though they have horrible reviews, I find that place ok read more

Highly recommended for most freshwater fishes, such as goldfishes and tropical fishes. He breeds alot of them himself and he's been around longer than I've been alive!!! read more

the place look run-down, family house style with a store in front. The dont have much fishes to choose from and That is my biggest factor to losing a lot of stars, same fish over and over, some look sick and it just a turn off to buy fish here read more

Great place to go for your fishes. Great selection and decent prices. The store front may not look like much but I would rather go there then the big box stores whenever possible. Fishes are their specialty, no dogs, cats, hamsters, etc. Support your local businesses!!! read more

Lovely place with happy healthy guppies! And of course the fat cat! Owner is very nice and prices are reasonable.

Great place to check out for your freshwater specimen. He breeds alot of them himself, so no worries on weird wild diease.

This is a horrible store with lousy customer service! They wouldn't take back a return and sold a miscount to boot and then accused me of taking out some packets from the box when it wasn't even there to begin with! I brought back the product because I am allergic to it and they would not refund me my money. I bought fish medicine in powder form (that I'm allergic to) so I asked for the same product in liquid form (which they don't carry) and they would not refund my money at all! what a lousy joint. There are enough wonderful fish/pet stores out there that we don't need to be treated like this! read more

I was feeling very lonely in my huge new Richmond apartment. It has three rooms and just one person living there. So I was out with a girl and we decided to get goldfish at the 6th Ave place on Clement St. I named my fish "Jawaharlal". Anyway, both our fishes died in a week. But before he died I decided I had to get Jawaharlal a friend because MIchael Grim said that being all by himself in a little bowl without a friend was a living hell. So I went to Fairy Lake conveniently located near Blue Fin Sushi and Tia Margarita, two places we go to eat and drink. So I went in told the old Chinese lady I needed a goldfish, a tank, a sunken pirate ship, some plastic plants, a scuba diver, some rocks, and a water pump and she helped me find all of that stuff. My new fish is named "Patel" and he seems pretty healthy and happy. Now that Jawaharlal has been returned to the ocean via our sewer system I'm gonna get Patel a friend from Fairy Lake. I think I'll name him Prakash. read more

wow they let us in when they were closed after 5 about 5:10 and the fish look better than any pet store i have seen healthy healthy health lots of discus and angels. wish it was closer. i bought a blue diamond. love her.. read more

This place has very healthy fish compared to other stores around the city like the 6th avenue aquarium. An old couple runs the store, and their daughter comes out to help every now and then. They have all kinds of freshwater fish and they're all very healthy. I got 6 angelfishes from here and they're all doing great! One thing you should do though is talk to the old man more rather than his wife. His wife is bossy and rude and rushes you just to get out of the store quicker. The old man is much more patient and will give u lower prices. Very healthy fish though. read more

Healthy, beautiful fish. Been in business for over 50 years - same owner. Do not let the humble appearance scare you. You won't find better quality fish. read more