Bellingham Pet Supply & Aquatics - Bellingham

[Jeffro]

Overall Experience 3
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 3
Variety 3
Service 2

They sell freshwater and saltwater fish, food and supplies, live plants, and dog/cat food and supplies. There are some pond fish, snails, plants, etc. as well.

After Clark's burned down this has been the only local pet store with fish that I now of. The owner is nice and helpful, but the service isn't always good...simply because the employees sometimes don't seem to have customer service skills or don't care. The website is also unfinished and left with missing content.

I do buy supplies there and help support the store, but often the supplies I'm looking for aren't carried at the store. They added freshwater fish and have rearranged the store, but it is a bit awkward as the freshwater supplies and fish are in different areas which require walking around more than necessary. Not a big deal, but the store is a bit messy/disorganized.

The freshwater aquariums aren't clean looking and the fish don't always look healthy, so I haven't bought any fish at all. They do not stand behind their fish, accept any trades, or buy fish either. I'm not sure if they quarantine, and I don't think they medicate incoming freshwater fish. They charge to test your water, except for one day a week.

The saltwater fish and corals look awesome! It might be a better experience for people into saltwater fish. The Dog and Cat stuff seems organized as well.

I still shop there and try to support them, but hope to see an improvement in the service, cleanliness, and fish guarantee.

 

[DMD123]

Thank you for the new post making us all aware of this place.

@Ruturaj Hagavane, could you add this to the public map you created? Thank you

 

[Ruturaj Hagavane]

Thank you for the new post making us all aware of this place.

@Ruturaj Hagavane, could you add this to the public map you created? Thank you

Would do.

 

[Jeffro]

Overall Experience 3.5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 3.5
Variety 4
Service 3.5

I still continue to shop at this store when I can and I’ve noticed some improvements over time.

Employees have come and gone but seem to generally enjoy the aquarium hobby and are friendly.

The layout has changed significantly and seems much more organized, giving the store a cleaner look.

There is a selection of aquarium plants.

More and larger aquariums have been added for freshwater. They also stock some pond fish and plants starting in the spring.

Fish seem to be healthy looking and they do quarantine new fish, medicating if needed.

They expanded into some basic reptile supplies as well.

Overall, the store is looking good.

 

[MegaraSai]

They've changed their name to Red's Aquarium & Pet Supply, in honor of the owner's dog.

Overall Experience 3.5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 4
Variety 5
Service 3.5

Their prices are on par with Petsmart and Petco, and they have better fish, particularly the bettas. No ciclids, mostly community fish, bettas (including less common species), goldies, and discus. They also occasionally have had freshwater stingray pups. They no longer have the smaller saltwater tanks, now everything salty just goes in the big tank with their porcupine puffer. They also have a few small tanks of cherry shrimp from a local breeder I was told.

They also occasionally adopt out 'rescue' bettas, and have done away with putting bettas in anything but the regular tanks. They used to keep them in half gallon jars with sponge filters and catappa leaves, and personally I think the dumbos and dragons would be better kept in the jars (just at the store), as they are such HAPPY little active buggers in the tanks they shred their own fins before they find a home.

They have continued to improve a lot over the last year, particularly with regards to tank cleanliness and quality and variety of plants. But I stopped buying nerites when I noticed an increasing number of upside down empty shells, indicating that no one was regularly checking on whether any needed to be turned over.