I've been really happy with this place! First went in on the 19th and bought some Julii Corys--super healthy and active right from the start. No issues at all with them. Went back this past Monday (the 26th) and grabbed more, and everything's still thriving great in the tank. George (and the team) are awesome--asked about my setup from another store, and they gave solid, no-BS advice without pushing extras I didn't need. Planning to swing by again next week for some schooling nano fish. If you're in San Antonio looking for good tropical fish, healthy stock, and real help from folks who know their stuff, this spot's worth it. Definitely coming back! read more

They have great care for their animals and have great communication and help going on here!

What a gem! It's a large store with great prices. They have fish, birds and reptiles and supplies as such. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable too. I love that they have the fish areas marked for aggressiveness as well. read more

Went into the store today with lots of questions and not only did I get all of them answered but I got above and beyond customer service from joel. He helped me assemble my tank plus helped me pick out the perfect fish and frog! I would recommend this store to all of my friends and family! Thanks joel and the amazing guys at papa Jim's tropical fish! read more

The very best service ever I went in to purchase lovebirds and was greeted right away the staff went above and beyond to help me make my choice. Very helpful and friendly staff. Also the store is very neat and clean. I will most definitely be back. read more

Probably the best fish/animal store in on the south side of San Antonio in regards of animal variety and pricing. Huge selection of fish and reptiles, they also sell birds and hamsters in a small area in the back. I've found many cheaper options here than at any other store. For example they sell filter cartridges and decorations for a much cheaper price than say Petco or Pets Barn. The only down side to this place would be the employees unfortunately. Personally I haven't had a bad experience with an employee here, but I've seen the way they treat some of their customers. Yes I understand they would like to ensure the safety of the animals, but the employees seem overbearing at times. I've seen them hover in the general area of a person or people. Their attitude could be better, it always seems like they're annoyed or bored when they ring you up. Overall if this place had better customer service, it would be the best pet store hands down. Would still recommend this place to any fish keeper. read more

Bought a male beta today . He's happy and eating in his new large wine glass. Updated to a 3 gallon Aquarium. read more

Papa Jim's Tropical Fish - Bought a beta fish .from them . He's home and eating and happy in his new place - Local Fish Stores Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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I came here to look around to see what they had and they decided they were going to start feeding live baby mice to the snakes during open hours and the snakes weren't even eating them, babies were just squirming around cold. and to make it worse they had a sign Telling us not to take any pictures or record anything because it's like they knew we were going to show the bad things about them. The some of the goldfish weren't even swimming around because they looked sad and sick, and some of their lizards were starving. Although they have a large variety of animals, I think it's wrong to feed snakes during their open hours. That kind of thing scares kids. read more

Papa Jim's Tropical Fish - Skinny lizard - Local Fish Stores Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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Nice selection of fish birds reptiles some healthy some sick looking.. 1st time costumer but definitely my LAST!!! CUSTOMER SERVICE VERY POOR!! STRICT ON RULES!!! SPENT OVER $300 OF PRODUCTS but Lady manager of the Day can't even bend some rules.. didn't even give any discounts not even a DOLLAR and wont sell 1 Guppy that i really like. CommaN y'all.. way to keep a potential costumer but NO THANK u this wud be my LAST TIME due to not good costumer experience!!! Good luck on ur business but I'm sure ul have more SATISTIFIED costumer but definitely WONT BE ME!!! read more

My first visit to Papa Jim's I only expected to mostly see... well, fish and fish stuff. I can't say that I visit the southside too often but I was still interested in seeing what they had to offer. I found the business card at Bubblehead's and headed over to Papa Jim's. Driving there I noticed that the entrance to the parking area was a tiny bit tricky (mostly if there's a lot of traffic and since this is a bit of a major intersection, it can easily get congested). The entrance to their fenced in parking area can block cars from behind you into the intersection if they're not expecting it. The door to the shop faces the main street (Flores) and when I walked in, I was pleasantly surprised to see how clean and neat everything was. There were fish (surprise, surprise), geckos, tarantulas, other kinds of reptiles and bunnies! There were three black and white ones and each one was cuter than the next. =) While I browsed around, I was asked on a couple of different occasions if I needed help and to just let them know if I needed anything. In the back, there was another room with huge tubs of mollies, koi and turtles. I didn't purchase anything on my first visit but I couldn't resist the bunnies. So yes, I came back. When I did there was only one left - a Dutch - and the tiniest of the bunch. A male kit who's 8 weeks old and is now named "Momiji" (or Momo). The staff was especially accomodating when I purchased him and two Chinese Algae Eaters. We talked about my other bunny (my mini lop, Mochi) and getting them to mesh and so on and so forth. I definitely recommend this place. The prices are really good and the animals seem to be well taken care of. read more

Papa Jim's Tropical Fish - My Momiji! He fell asleep when I first met him... was I that boring?? - Local Fish Stores Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

They have a ton of fish and birds and are very knowledgeable and have a wide variety. The neighborhood is a little sketchy but the guy who hangs out by the stop light will get your windshield clean while you wait for the light to turn green?"! read more

Stopped in and checked it out. Great variety of cool fish but I stopped in because it popped up when I was looking for saltwater fish. They do not carry any saltwater fish just FYI. read more

The most amazing tropical fish shop in town! They offer a wide variety of tropical fish, birds, turtles, koi, spiders, mice, they've got it all! I bought two fish here, Ferdinand and Isabella from the huge stock-tanks they have in the back. The fish lasted about three years!!! I like to buy all my pet food here because Papa Jim's is local, and the service is friendly. Yea, the prices are a tad higher than Petco, but this place has definite character, and this place offers something that those big chain stores can't possibly ever offer- It's connected to the Botanica next door that you have to check out... They have a wide assortment of birds, but I try to stay out of that part of the store. read more

Wow! I am so impressed! I called George for some advice on a pond that I inherited in the spring and I am so grateful for all the information he gave me! He didn't have to spend as much time on the phone with me as he did, and I couldn't be more grateful! I will definitely be using his services in the future. He comes across as very knowledgeable and honest! He even directed me elsewhere for the items I need. That's true customer service. Thank you again for the great info George! read more

I usually find so much comfort in this place I love this so much, but today I went in there & went to buy 5 dozen of feeder fish & over 15 fish were dead even before I left the store, I'm not the type to complain so I didn't but I'm very very disappointed, the man that was working looked like he Was very miserable & hated to work read more

I came here 2 weeks ago and bought some balloon Molly's they got out of a tank with live plants. I drove 30 minutes and today they tell me they have no balloon Molly's and can't sell the ones in the live plants! I won't be back! read more

Spectacular wonderful and awesome pets in the world and i like the turtles and fish their beautiful like a dolphin.

I hate this place. I wish they would go out of business. Their supplies are overpriced and if you catch them on an off day, you'll see that they don't treat their animals so "fantastic". Then again, if your one of those types of people who like to chain out your dog in the backyard in the blazing heat, well I guess you really wouldn't care about how animals are being treated around here. Go to southside Aquatics. Much nicer place. read more

Attached to the Botanical next store, Papa Jim's Tropical Fish is an aquatics and small animal store with a large variety. I haven't found very many pet shops that carry items for tortoises in the city, so I was impressed that they had an array of bedding and feeder options. I do sympathize with some Yelpers I've read from, because some of the animals are kept in quite close quarters, especially for those that are aggressive breeds. I have noticed that their turnover is fairly quick though so the animals are only kept that way for short periods. One can only hope that none are sick to infect others! I do enjoy going to Papa Jim's just for the experience sometimes. It's a fun place you can spend an hour in the AC browsing around, and it's almost a mini zoo to the little ones! Honestly it is as good as many aquariums I've been to. Put it on your to-do list at least once; maybe you'll visit on a rainy day! Rating system: 5 stars = I'll drive across town specifically for this, and rave to all my friends about it! 4 stars = Would recommend visiting. 3 stars = Average, acceptable, positive. 2 stars = You might be able to drag me here. 1 star = I will not be returning. read more

I gave this place a chance, i wanted to support a small business, I went and purchased 14 tropical fish, brought them home, left the bag in the tank for 15 minutes and then let them out like the guy said... well it's two days later and I have 10 fish. Yup, 4 died. 3 the day I purchased and another this morning. And how convenient there is no warranty. Never again. read more

Best pet store in San Antonio, cheap, high quality, huge selection of animals from fish to reptiles to rabbits and birds. Super clean animals look healthy and happy, and helpful staff to assist when you're ready. Recommend to all fish, reptile and small animal enthusiasts. read more

Very knowledgeable in reptiles, reasonable prices on starter kits for reptiles. Answered all my questions involving my baby boa will definitely go back as a customer. read more

This place is awesome. Great prices, huge selection and some of the coolest animals in any pet store. For daddy day this place makes a great cheap alternative to going to the zoo. read more

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Well I bought some meal worms to feed my bearded dragons and later on that evening one was dead and in the morning another had died called to let them know they had no sympathy didn't even care will never buy anything to feed to my animals. read more

I have had lizards for 12 years and the way they had care for there animals is awful I would like to help them and maybe talk to the owners to see what I can do to help. The iguanas were housed together in a small tank then the other lizards had burns on there backs. I am not trying to be rude I just want to help so these animals will not be going to a home then die after a few months then the owner of that animal will be mad. read more

Got a female Guinea Pig and after having her for almost 3 months came home to find out that she had given birth to 3 still born babies... we didn't know she was pregnant. And she was way to small to be having babies. Buyer beware! Since they keep both male and females caged together! It would be nice of them to give you a warning instead of just telling you NO returns if the genders wrong. I will not get any other animals or fish from this store. read more

So I now almost exclusively do business here. Great place don't listen to bad reviews.

I have been buying fish here for a couple of years. They are friendly and knowledgable. Just this morning, I "returned" two Koi and a couple of 'gold' catfish. In a couple of months they had grown too large for my outdoor 60 gallon stock tank. We horse-traded and I left happy with a couple of small Koi, snails, and a water plant. read more

Great store for koi fish. They receive koi fish every other Friday. The guy helped me is very nice. I will come back for more koi

This place is so sad to look at. The animals are overcrowded in tanks. The place smells horrible I expect a pet store to not smell the best but this smell made me nauseous. The reptiles are all stuffed in glass tanks except the "expensive" pets. I only come here for fish food since it's close to my house but after today I will no longer help fund this place.There were several instances where we had to inform the employees that something was wrong with their animals,they were caught in something,or in danger. The employees would just say "oh it'll be fine" and would never help them. The tanks and cages are filthy and look like they are never cleaned. This incident just did it for me. I walked to the bird area and see they have about 12 chicks in a small tank. I look closely and see what I thought was a dead chick. It had no feathers left it looked like they were torn off. It's neck looked broken and it was limp. I look at the stomach and it's still breathing! It was alive and soaked in feces and urine! It was paralyzed and the other chicks were walking over it. It was so sad all it was doing was breathing. It looked like it had been there at least a day or two since the feathers were completely gone. I walk to the front and see the two employees texting and eating in the office by the register. I can't believe this place does not even check on the animals for days at a time. read more

We go here a lot and they have a decent variety of tropical fish, ranging from betas to cichlids. They used to have some salt water but I think there isn't much market for it on the south side of town. They also have small pets like birds, bunnies, ferrets, lizards, and turtles. We have bought tons fish from them in the past couple of years and also three turtles. :) The staff may seem a little aloof but if you talk to them, they are actually really friendly, especially Hugo. He's really knowledgeable, so if you have questions about fish compatibility or set ups he is a great resource. The parking lot is the biggest drawback. The shop itself isn't fancy and can use a face lift, but I think that is true of a lot of the smaller, older mom and pop shops so I wouldn't judge on that. Their supplies and such can sometimes be more expensive but again, they are a mom and pop shop but I think that their fish prices make up for it. I like that this isn't a chain store, and they also have a loyalty card for 10% off all purchases, and that's just $5 for a year. Which as much stuff as we buy (we have a lot of animals) it pays for itself in the first visit or two. read more