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Little Amazon
Location: Seattle, WA
Shop Address: 10318 Aurora AVE N.
Reviewed By: Chrissy
Date Of Review: September/2005
Overall: Good
Times Visited: More Than Ten Visits
Freshwater Selection: Very Good
Saltwater Selection: No Saltwater Section
Stock Selection: Good
Staff: Good
Prices: Good
Comments: Little Amazon is an easy to miss small store nestled in a strip mall on HWY 99. There is limited street parking infront of the store only accessable if you are heading North on Aurora but if you circle the block, there is a fair amount of parking in the rear alley (and often some interesting people as well).
Inside it is small, cramped, humid, hot, and kinda smells like small animals. That being said, you if you are looking for something unusual, be it a freshwater Stringray or a 15" Pacu, try this place out. They have a limited amount of your usual community fish; Tetras, Livebearers, Cories and such, but they always have something interesting. They carry a lot of puffers (some of them quite large), New World Cichlids, and fancy Bettas.
Every two to three weeks they get 100 Bettas in and over half of those are Crowntails. If you don't see what you want, the owner will be happy to let you know when the next shipment will arrive. Its best to get there the day they come in, the Bettas seem to get picked over fast.
Every time I've been in there they are doing water changes on their tanks (they all run independantly, no centralized filtration system here) but after a week or two the Betta's water starts to get yellowish and there seems to be a lot of waste in the cups so I suspect they don't get the same level of care.
Some Bettas are kept in tanks of peaceful community fish but they do not have near enough room to house all their Bettas this way, especially since many of their tanks house large or aggressive fish.
In addition to many crowntails they also carry doubletails (they are the skinny-tailed DTs, I haven't seen any HM DTs yet), deltas, super deltas, plakats, and veiltails. I suspect if you are lucky, you could find Halfmoons and DT HMs. They also carry females from time to time which are usually large (the males they get in, especially the DTs, Delts, and SDs, are very young and small) and the ones I have bought there I suspect are female plakats.
All their fancy Bettas are labeled as Halfmoons and are the same price. Their prices fluctuate from $6-$10 depending on who you talk to, what day it is, how long they've had that shipment, how many you are buying (they are willing to give you quantity discounts for as little as 2 fish) and who knows what else. Many things aren't priced and you just need to ask. My plakat and females were $3, VTs are about that price also.
They also stock many Discus of various sizes and prices. they go from about $20 to $250. They almost always have Blue Diamonds, Pigeon Bloods, and some that look like Red Pandas as well as a rotating assortment of other colors. They appear to be healthy and they certainly are pretty but I am not a Discus expert.
I would assume this store takes trade ins (although I have never asked) because they always have an assortment of large fish. You usually have your choice of 10-25 New World Cichlids 10" or larger. Various colors of Oscars, Flowerhorns, Jack Dempseys, Green Terrors, Managuense, Red Devils, Peacock Bass, and others are common there. They recently had a pair of Managuense spawn in a 20g-30g tank and they have a few hundred tiny fry now. One of the pair violently tried to attack me through the glass when I walked by the tank.
They also frequently have very large Plecos, Kissing Gouramis, Pacus, Red Tail and Tiger Shovelnose Cats, as well as many Arowannas (some as large as 3'), Goldfish, and Koi. The first time I visited the store they had a huge Flowerhorn for $2,000 which was either sold or died as I never saw it again.
I like their selection of moderately hard to find fish, Gold Rams (which they have labeled as Tetra Rams), Khulie Loaches, interesting Angelfish, Kribs, Knives, and a good assortment of Shrimp and Crawfish.
There is a serious language barrier with the staff (which probably explains some of the interesting fish labels) which can be difficult at times. They are usually pretty busy but are friendly and willing to answer questions. This is a true Mom & Pop establishment and they work very hard to keep their store together. Now that they know me they cut me deals on pretty much anything I buy, especially since I go in and buy 4 or 5 Bettas at a time. They are especially willing to barter on sick fish although they do not medicate or treat their stock. If something looks very bad they will usually just tell you not to buy it and they leave it be. The owner and the one employee are very nice and have talked to me about Betta keeping in Vietnam and Betta breeding. The owner even gave me a few tips although I have problems understanding some of what they say.
It should be noted that this store does carry dyed fish. The only ones I have seen are Fruit Tetras but they've probably had others at different times. They have a lot of Blood Parrots too although none of them seem to be dyed.
Equipment, as you would expect from a family run store, is more expensive than the chain stores. I priced some light bulbs and they were around $2-$3 more which is reasonable, especially since you won't find a chain store willing to cut you a deal if you are a regular customer or buy in quantity. They have a nice selection of driftwood, sandblasted grapevine, and various types of rocks which are all heaped along the back of an aisle. They have a neat selection of tank decorations that you couldn't find at a chain store and the store is crammed with tanks and stands of different sizes. This store is TINY, they have 1.5 aisles of equipment, 2.5 aisles of aquatic stock, and small animals, birds and creepy crawly things in the back corner. I usually overlook those altogether on my mad dash to the Betta section and I can't comment on their health, selection, or pricing.
Overall, its hit or miss with the store. Don't go if you want to get the best price on some Neons, can't pick out a healthy fish, or want expert advise on how to set up your tank. Do go if you want something unusual. I like to just look at all the rare things they carry...afterall, I don't have the ability to keep freshwater stingrays or a 36" Arowana but its nice to look at them anyways.
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