Aqua World

I just adopted a Betta fish and needed some additional supplies. They had the leaf «hammock» I was looking for, and I also got a net and a thermometer. The young man behind the counter was very helpful, and guided me to everything I was looking for and we chatted a little bit about how my Betta was doing. The Betta fish they had there were beautiful and are kept in larger containers that those little bowls you traditionally see them in. Great for getting the basics, I am by no means a fish enthusiast. The store is not as ascetically pleasing as a PetCo or PetSmart, but its it very convenient is you live in downtown Boston, as opposed to getting supplies shipped to you.
There are no magazines or DVDs being sold there currently, as some other reviewers mentioned in the past, and the tanks looked as clean, if not cleaner, than the ones I see at Petco /​PetSmart.

This place is great for avid Fishkeepers! A true LFS in the heart of Chinatown.
Pros
— Good selection of fish, ranging from typical tropical fish to more exotic varieties. GREAT selection of Betta fish at very fair prices. Fish are healthy and the tanks are clean! Tiger shrimp, cherry shrimp, and ghost shrimp available also when I went. May not find as much as you would at a chain store, but this is mainly due to the smaller size of the shop.
— Amazing selection of driftwood (Malaysian, mopani, cypress), rocks, and other aquascaping items.
— Knowledgeable, friendly staff who are more than happy to help answer your questions however they can, and go out of their way to adhere to your schedule (reserved a fish and picked it up the next day with no problems).
— Great selection of aquariums, all the basic rectangular sizes + some, and some smaller aquariums specialized for salt water tanks.
Cons (sort of)
— Since its in the heart of Chinatown, finding parking can be chaotic to say the least. Definitely pick a time to go when there is less traffic, otherwise you’ll find yourself circling the neighborhood 5 – 6 times. The pro? There’s amazing food and bakeries surrounding the store, so if you DO find parking, there’s much to be done!
I think this will be the only place I’ll shop for Betta’s. Not only are the fish healthy, but the colors seem to be more unique than what you would find at a chain shop. One pure lilac/​iridescent I purchased from here a few years back has proven to be one of a kind (literally, no one has seen the color since) and the second I purchased recently is similar and beautiful in its own way.
Thanks for a pleasant experience!

It’s really great! There’s a lot of selections and they’re pretty helpful with explaining to care for it. Their English isn’t so great, but they do their job! The water is clean too. Also, they sell bamboo that I use to put in my fish bowl to provide my fish oxygen! :D Price= amazing!

Aqua World is pretty much the only aquarium store in Boston that’s not a hike to get to. There is a Petco in Brighton, and another pet supply store with an aquarium section in West Roxbury (might actually be in Dedham), but those are both are inconveniently located.
The main thing Aqua World has going for it is convenience, if you find yourself downtown on a regular basis. The store and the tanks are clean, and the selection is decent. I wouldn’t go in there seeking a lot of answers and advice, as if the owners/​proprietors have a lot of information, they aren’t sharing it. That said, I haven’t asked a lot of questions, but I get the impression they wouldn’t be the best place to get advice on what fish to select, how to care for them, how to set up your aquarium, etc.
But, all that being said, the prices are decent, and the location is very convenient.
The fish I’ve gotten there have generally been healthy — I have had a few fish die shortly after getting them, but that was more likely to due to my own lack of experience (i.e. adding too many to the tank at once) than them not being healthy.

Recently I have been invested in making the most out of my 20 gallon aquarium and so I have been looking around the Boston/​Providence area for some of the best aquarium stores around. Surprisingly, they’re hard to find! Other than the one I routinely go to in my hometown is this one located in the center of Chinatown! If you weren’t actively looking for it, you’d most likely miss it.
When I was back in California, all the best fish stores were in Chinatown. They always had the healthiest fish and the most unusual things available. This place was no different. They have gar fish, various hard to find plecos, largemouth bass and many other things you don’t find even at your local fish stores. Their inventory constantly changes and they constantly sell out of things so if you see something you like you better purchase it then!
They also have a lot of other aquarium items as well including various types of aquariums. I wouldn’t use this place as your supply store but if you’re looking for lava rocks they do have a fair collection. The only thing that’s kind of annoying is the fact that their credit card machine is constantly broke and they force you to pay with cash. Generally when that happens I just decide to wait to purchase it the next time I came by. Parking is difficult but if you know where to look there are a few parking meters nearby and parking structures that you can «game» to pay the least amount to stop by!

this place gets 5 stars .has clean tanks and the owner is friendly. he carries a decent ammount of stock for the small space he is working with. the porn is all gone wich enabled him to have more room. def worht a visit as the only other stores that are around are in the burbs unless you want petco/​smart i like to avoid the chain stores. his prices are reasonable as well

Aqua World is the only true «local fish store» in downtown Boston. Aqua World sells both small fish for beginning hobbyists and more expensive larger fish (flowerhorns, arowanas, and one time, even a stingray). Live plants and shrimp are also available. The owner knows his stuff, and the tanks look reasonably well maintained.
While Aqua World is in a somewhat small space and only carries freshwater fish, it is a great place for fish keepers. Now that Unique has relocated to the suburbs, it is the only option for people that prefer a fish store to a pet store.

I visited this place yesterday for the first time. Please see my uploaded photos of this store. You get to Tyler Street by walking from Boston’s «South Station» Red Line subway stop to the great gateway to Chinatown, enter the archway (also called a Paifang or Pailou), and Tyler street (and the store) is a few streets forward and on the left.
The store was easy to find. It looked nice and clean and has the *best* assortment of fish tank decorations (both plastic grouped plants which looked amazing and figurines/​objects, a few of which were must-​haves) that I have seen at any pet store. Some of the prices for fish and aquarium items were lower than Petco and PetSmart, and some were higher.
The selection of fish was very nice — more than just goldfish and chiclids (such as small koi for about $ 15) — and even the DVD videos looked really cool, especially for someone who wants to learn an Asian language like Mandarin or Cantonese.
They also had a size T8 24″ 18,000k florescent bulb, which I have had a very hard time finding and I really want to get (plants will only grow if the bulb actually says 10,000K, 18,000K, or similar on it, even if it claims to grow plants, like the Zoo Med Flora Sun bulb, it will NOT work and you should get Zoo Med Ocean Sun 10,000K instead to get plants to grow.)
This is almost the perfect ideal store for those who harken back to the old days of non chain store pet fish/​aquarium shops. I bought a small tank filter and felt good about supporting the establishment. The fact that the cashier didn’t speak English was not an issue (the store owner did.) Returns would be nice but they say all sales are final, and I suppose they could have a bunch more fish, but they are probably harder to maintain. I will go there more often.

This place was great. I’ve been meaning to create a Unilocal!account because I’ve stumbled across a few places that make me want to write reviews, this was one of them.
As the other reviews point out, it’s a tiny, whole-​in-​the-​wall place in Chinatown, but they have a great collection of fish for varying price ranges. They have about 30 tanks with everything from goldfish to tiny stingrays. In the back of the store are the plants/​rocks that you can put in the tank/​bowl. Prices seemed decent.
Yes, there were fish for sale on one side of the aisle and DVDs on the other, different.
Over all it’s a great place in the city to get fish supplies!

Hands down the best fish/​dvd store on the east coast. I’ve seen better fish stores and I’ve seen better dvd stores but when it comes to fish/​dvd stores this one can’t be beat. The only thing which would have made this place more epic is if I could have located the porn other reviews speak of. No such luck.
When you come here you don’t speak you just point. No warranties, returns or anything. Once money exchanges hands your on your own.

the store had few options when it came to fish bowls and food and the asian porn was a tad off-​putting. However, i cannot complain because now i have a beautiful, playful new member of my family: Celeste the beta fish :]

This place sells three things. Bootleg DVDs, Koi, and expensive aquarium equipment. If you’re looking for anything else, you’ll have to get lucky and hope that they are carrying it at that time.

Pretty decent.
Before coming here for the first time a few days ago, I would get all my fish at Skipton. (Forget about Petco, with their ich-​infested tanks… *shiver*). However, when my German Blue Ram from Skipton died after a week, and the others they had were looking equally morose, I decided to stop by AquaWorld.
Yes, half the store is shelved with DVDs. Their fish selection is mediocre, basically consisting of goldfish, various cichlids, and just a few randomly assorted tetras and barbs. However, in general the fish seemed in good health, and prices were equal to or cheaper than what I was seeing at Skipton. To my delight, they had German Blue Rams, and I picked up a pair for $ 14 total – about the price I paid at Skipton for just one. The GBRs from AquaWorld were smaller than Skipton’s, but more colorful, livelier, and healthier. Of course, they still went into the quarantine tank – no exceptions – but I was quite happy with my purchase.
The woman who got my fish for me definitely did not speak English. (Fortunately, my years of speaking broken Chinese with the ‘rents sufficiently prepared me for this fish-​buying venture.) However, I think other people in the store (namely, the man who was behind the cash register) do speak English.

I stood outside Aqua World for about 10 minutes deciding whether the door next to the Aqua World sign was also the door to the DVD (cough cough Porn) store. I took a deep breath and walked in. Half of the store is fish– and the other half is DVDs. This is why I love Chinatown. I scoped out the fish– and was pretty surprised how pricey the little buggers were. One goldfish was $ 5– not too bad, but couldn’t I get like 2 for $ 5? I decided to buy stones and the fish bowl elsewhere figuring I could get a better deal (and I did) — so when I returned on my lunch break to pick up my new little friend (who was later named Beyoncé) — the guy from the store gave me enough air in the bag for Beyoncé to breath until I got home, and gave me an extra bag of tank water to use in my fishbowl. He was super informative about what I needed to know to keep her happily swimming and what fish food I needed to buy. So maybe the prices were a little steep– but the helpfulness, selection and ease of purchase (maybe too easy) made the experience a positive one. I will probably be going back to buy Jay Z.

After killing multiple plants, I decided to get a pet that I couldn’t overwater. Instead of heading to a monster-​chain pet store I decided to do the local thing, and Unilocal led me to Aqua World.
Yeah, it’s small and underground. Yeah, half of the store sells DVDs. Sure, maybe you won’t immediately recognize it as a fish store from the outside. But the people there are friendly and nice (and speak English. whoever said they didn’t is wrong) and the fish there are clean and relatively inexpensive. There is a nice big selection of freshwater tank fish, mostly small guys, though no turtles when I was there. The tanks are crystal clean, and not overcrowded in the least, and there was no fish smell. They have a good selection of filters/​heaters/​food/​gravel/​maintainence supplies. I was less impressed with the bowl and aquarium décor selection, and saw no plants to choose from.
I came away with a happy little betta and some food and water conditioner. The man tending to the fish helped me find the right things without «wasting money» in his words. My boyfriend thought this meant the fish would die soon anyway so we shouldnt bother getting stocked up. I thought he was looking out for us. Either way, our fish is alive and healthy.

Pros:
–easily accessible by T. This matters a lot for a student without a car like me.
–decent variety of fish & necessities, especially given the size
–patient worker who doesn’t mind if you spend 30+ minutes just watching the fish to decide if you want one.
Cons:
–many of the fish and accessories are WAY overpriced. A «medium» goldfish (no, it’s more like a small by Petco standards) for $ 15? i must be missing something. Also, he sold me a small bowl for nearly what I paid for a tank at PetSmart. Yea … I was more clueless back then.
–some of the fish are not doing so well. Just look at the bettas, they will break your heart. I bought two (one male, one female) during my first trip. He told me I could put them in the same bowl (WRONG). I found out I shouldn’t (online), and got another bowl. Two days later my male fish was obviously very sick — why hadn’t I noticed before? He died within a few weeks.
–The worker’s English is not great, so communication is kinda tough.

I went here to buy my friend a pet fish for her birthday. They have a pretty decent selection of fish, but their selection of tank items is pretty sparse. There were very few bowls, gravel and tank decorations to choose from. Staff was friendly though and gave us helpful instructions on tank water cleaning, etc. If you’re looking for basics this is a great place, but it is by no means a whole world of aquatic pet gear. Maybe they should sell less dvds and more aquarium items?

I am a discus freak. I didn’t expect this little store carries discus from Hans. Customer service is bad coz they are not friendly. But they have the best fish and it’s clean. price is very reasonable.

of couse there is a fish supply store in chinatown. all the restaurants have tanks. This place is right next to my job and they sell frozen bloodworms which are not that common to find. the guy was nice and the tanks all clean. too bad he was keeping betas in the tiny jars like everyone else but that is sadly the standard.

So, on my birthday I found myself with a goldfish named Fin in a Ziploc bag sitting on my desk. Knowing that after work I had things to do (mainly punishing my liver for making it this far) I needed to figure something out so the poor thing didn’t have to sit in a bag all night. What’s a guy to do? Well, Unilocal of course.
After some digging for pet stores I found Aqua Way. Chinatown? Pet store? For serious? For sure. I was a bit nervous that there have been no new reviews since 2007. Was it closed? Only one way to find out:
RING RING *click*
AW: DGFUHLDHGEB, may I help you?
Me: Ummm. Is this Aqua World?
AW: Yes sir, how can I help you?
Me: Oh uh, errr… just seeing if you were still in business.
AW: Yes… open until six.
Handy. So to Tyler Street I go. How many times have I walked past this place and not noticed? It’s in the basement of a building and you can easily walk right past without a second thought. Once inside I was struck first by how effing humid it is. To be expected for sure but wow. Next thing I noticed was the DVD selection. Huh? Well, this is Chinatown so hey…
So to the fish and their supplies. First, the tanks are clean. I think this is beyond important and shows that they care about what they are doing. Second, they have a small-​ish but good selection of desk-​sized tanks, gravel, «plants», stones, and decorative items. For such a small space they really maximize variety.
It’s been ages since I bought fish supplies but I though their prices were very fair. I paid a little over $ 20 for a tank, gravel, plant, and water conditioner. Worked for me. They have air pumps for $ 10 and up and a variety of live fish to suit your pet fish needs. God forbid little Fin drift off to the great ocean in the sky, but should he do so I know where to get another goldfish on the cheap or a betta for $ 5. They were even nice while cashing me out.
This was a pleasant surprise and a great resource should you find yourself with a fishy trapped in a bag full of water some day.