Concord Aquarium

Great customer service! Extremely helpful and informative. We upgraded our 10 gallon tank to a 55 gallon. Steve set us up with the stand, tank and everything that goes with it for a reasonable price. As we’re learning how to maintain the tank, we’ve had a few fish die along the way but Steve was nice enough to replace some at no charge. We brought back a glass top that somehow broke as we were unpackaging it. Steve swapped it out for another one without charging us. He takes care of his regulars.

Beautiful and well maintained fish. The owner explained to me that they go through rotations of their stock which is awesome! Very friendly. I’ve found my new go-​to place.

Interested in making a sale and not selling you the correct equipment (for a saltwater aquarium). They also try to get you to switch to freshwater as if something is wrong with preferring saltwater.

This’s a nice place to get fresh and salt water fishes. Also they have good price too.

Love this place! We shop here monthly for their great deals and service. They always have new fish in and we have never had any issue with sick fish that we have bought from here. Clean tanks and excellent customer care!

This place is huge upgrade from their old location. The owner is knowledgable and helpful. They have a good selection of fish, mainly freshwater, as well as products.

This is not the least expensive place for fish. However, the quality of the fish is leaps and bounds better than a Petco. It is totally worth the cost.
The owner is great! When we were first setting up the tank he counseled with us to not get too many fish at once. To help it develop and introduce fish a few at a time. As we come in for future visits we are going to bring water to test for free to make sure we have the right balance.
What did I learn today? Even community fish can be aggressive. I will avoid the barbs in my tank.

Always great at answering my questions and they have a nice selection. Have gotten a lot of my fish from here and I even got my first tank here too!

Great place, and will be better after all improvements are done. Love the location. Very friendly and helpful. I will go back many times.

Wonderful fish shop! The fish are healthy, the staff is extremely knowledgeable, and there is a great selection! Anytime I need anything for my fish tank, this is the place I go.

Best place to buy healthy fish owner is really friendly and helpful clean store we always take a 2 hour drive that’s how helpful an best fish he has best part is he has them mark as community fish and not community fish he will be really honest with you before u buy anything

Owner of store is beyond helpful! Went in to buy a salt water anemone and we explain our clown fish and it size he wouldn’t even allow us to buy the Anemone because the flow would kill it do to its size and we would waist our money! To me that is amazing customer service! I will absolutely be making this my fish store!

Steve is always friendly and his wife is, too. He will help you and educate you. I knew nothing about fish (other than grilling them) and I have become proficient in care and maintenance.

So, I’ve been back to Concord Aquarium a few times since my first visit.
He has a lot of new items you cannot find in other stores. Nice selection of driftwood, media, lighting, high end foods and medications. Tanks are still very clean and fish look very healthy. I have two main display tanks, a 90 gallon African Cichlid tank and a 55 gallon Angel tank. He doesn’t have much of a selection of cichlids, and the ones he has are your most common. ones found at most Petco or Petsmart stores. However he has some interesting selection of other tropical community freshwater fish.
His Dwarf Gouramis are expensive $ 12 ea, I bought 6 for $ 15 at Vallejo aquarium and they were same size. Rummy nose Tetra’s are $ 8. Roseline Sharks $ 15. I do like his Angel’s, I bought a 5″ Pearl Scale Koi for $ 25. He does have some two for 1 sales. He appears to be very busy, and I felt like I’d bug him if I needed to ask a question, although he never gave off a vibe I was bothering him or he was two busy, he just looked overwhelmed. I think he’s hired a helper which should help out.
So if you go, expect to pay a little on the high side, but his fish are healthy.
Still a great store for some hard to find fish.

Now, this is what your Local Fish Store (LFS) should be like. Hot and tropical on the inside with the sounds of air pumps pushing bubbles over every fish tank! For you «salt water» lovers, keep in mind that they’re more specialized in «freshwater». Although they do have a small selection for salt, a few corals, and products; I probably wouldn’t make this my go-​to place.
Here’s what makes Concord Aquarium my favorite:
1) Steve and Linda — Yeah Steve may have a dry sense of humor the first time you meet him. But once get to know him he’s really a nice guy, and he knows his fish! Always helpful, as is his wife Linda. She’s only around on weekends, but her passion shows. She wants to make sure you’re giving a good home to the fish
2) Location — If you’ve been to Steve’s old store, you’ll remember it was dark and muggy. Only went there a few times and just left empty-​handed. The new place is in a huge warehouse complex next to a dog daycare. Nice and open, with aquariums all around.
3) Fish selection — He constantly gets different types every time I pay a visit. Pricing is a little bit above average, but there’s usually a 2 for 1 offer. Beautiful looking dicuses and some koi. I only wish he had more plants.
4) They carry real bloodworms. This is always a treat for fishies!
You don’t have to agree with me, but these are my reasons why this is my LFS versus going to that money hungry jerkoff owner at All About Fish Etc down the street. Go to both and compare. You’ll see why Concord Aquarium is better. Steve and Linda will take care of you and all your fish needs!

I can’t believe I’ve never reviewed this place. This is the only local fish store I will shop at. I have had bad experiences at every other one I’ve visited. The owner is pretty much solo in the place. Once he’s gotten to know you, he encourages you to help yourself to what you want. But he’s still available if you want him. Which is kind of cool.
Also THANK YOU for having so many freshwater options. Saltwater seems to be everyone’s thing right now, but those of us who love our fresh planted tanks love your store.
I don’t really concern myself with his prices. The fish and supplies might be a buck or two more here and there, but if you’ve ever ordered livestock from the internet you know that the shipping costs are insane, so ultimately it’s a wash. Plus this way you get at least some say in what you go home with. He seems to make up for prices by doing 2 for 1 on all but the most expensive of fish, so just buy in even numbers and it’s fine. Most fish are supposed to be kept in groups of 3 or more anyway.
I do need to explain the one dropped star though. It can be a bit of a crapshoot coming here to buy livestock. The really basic fish that everyone has (tetras, mollies) are always in stock of course, and he always has his food and filters stocked up, but everything else is on kind of a rotating basis, depending on what his supplier has available. So if you are looking for something specific: even if he has stocked it before, you may have to come back another time. Given the out of the way location that can be a hassle. You can’t really call ahead either, he’s usually too busy with customers to spend more than a second on the phone (and as a customer in the store, I appreciate that).

Second time here. Awesome selection of freshwater fishes, prices displayed, clean store, great customer service by owners themselves.

Dropped by recently and found that the owner is running the place by himself… He’s friendly and helpful, they have a decent stock of dry goods, a good selection of freshwater fish, and a few saltwater fish. NO corals or liverock though
Prices are higher than some other stores

Really cool selection of fresh & saltwater critters, and the staff is always so helpful! Everything looks healthy & prices are good too! I wish they could expand the store to have an even bigger selection & carry even more stuff!

The Best aquarium shop in the east bay, period.
I’ve been coming to this family owned business for a few years now, and couldn’t be more pleased with them.
The owner and his daughter are super friendly and knowledgeable. They have a fun quirky sense of humor too, and offer excellent customer service.
They have tons of equipment! If you are looking for a good starter package, they have 10 gallon tanks with all the equipment necessary and a stand to establish your first basic fresh water tank. 50 bucks for a wooden cabinet stand, tank, filter, heater, thermometer, and light. Excellent for kids.
They have much larger tanks too of course, and what they don’t have, they will order for you.
As for livestock, they also have a very respectable selection of Salt Water fish and critters, and more than double that of freshwater. The stock are always healthy, and I’ve never had problems with any kind of fish disease from them like ick, or velvet, etc.
They seem to live a great deal longer than other fish stores I’ve dealt with too, whether the major chain pet stores, or there was another larger aquarium shop I went to in Dublin that had very, very poor quality fish.
They moved from their location off Clayton to this new spot on Arnold industrial (address in listing), and its a fantastic space! The new shop has a very open feel, warm, light and welcoming.
Can be a little tricky to locate as they are still working on getting proper signage above the store, but I love the new space!
Would go no where else for supplies or live stock. These guys are the best!