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Please note:
These articles, written 2003-4, were intended not just for the benefit of local aquarists and visitors to Vancouver. Rather, they were written as part of the Travel section of Aquarticles, to show people from other cities and countries what the retail aquarium scene was like in Vancouver at that time. The articles will not necessarily be updated and things will inevitably change, so use caution if actually using the articles as a guide.

The Aquarium Stores of Vancouver Canada
by Howard Norfolk
Original to Aquarticles.com

Part X:
Fin-omenal Fish and Exotics
160 - 8180 No. 2 Road, Richmond.  604-274-1602
E-mail: info@fin-omenalfish.com
For location go to MAP

Kathy and Dawn were factory workers on the production line of a pharmaceuticals manufacturing company, doing what Dawn calls "menial blue-collar work." But then they were both laid off and had to find something else to do. They had been keeping fish for fifteen years and had fifty tanks in their garage  at home, so they decided to take the plunge and open their own aquarium shop.

They had no previous business experience, but were helped by the Provincial Government's Self Employment Equity Programme.

Fin-omenal Fish opened on October 15th, 2002, and when I visited in early October 2003 Kathy and Dawn were looking forward to celebrating the store's first "birthday."

   Fin-omenal is located in the centre of a new small open shopping centre in a residential area. To the left is a large drug store, and to the right a pizza parlour.

Click on photos for enlargements, then go "Back"

   
Kathy is posing by her favourite fish, the bettas. Dawn is busy at the counter.

   The shop is small and neat. Here is the dry goods area.

   This nice wall decoration is a killer whale in native Indian style.

   Like other local municipalities, Richmond recently passed a by-law restricting the sale of exotic reptiles, so Kathy and Dawn have downsized their reptile department. They still stock a few reptiles such as this bearded dragon, but otherwise sell locally bred reptiles on a one-day pre-pay order system. Live foods and accessories are still available.

   Books for sale

A long wall in the store is lined with 40 tanks for freshwater fish. Six more tanks were set up awaiting a shipment of fish for a new saltwater section.

      Sales tanks

Kathy and Dawn get some of their fish from local wholesalers, and also have good contacts with local breeders who supply such fish as bettas, killies, angels and African cichlids.

The tanks are clean and well maintained, with lots of healthy fish:

     
Platies and swordtails....cobalt gouramis, $10....Congo tetras, $7.88....

     
Threadfin rainbows....large pearl danios, $2.88...African cichlids

      Discus

   An adult flower horn cichlid, $100

  
Dawn said that she likes to pick up unusual corys, plecos and loaches when she can. The beautiful  red-tailed loach, $10, on the right, is not often seen in Vancouver.

The main fish specialty that Fin-omenal is known for is the Siamese Fighting Fish, Betta splendens. Fin-omenal has the largest selection of bettas in the Vancouver area, with a minimum of 80 varieties on hand at all times.

    Bettas are displayed in squared glasses in a custom made shelving unit, accessible from the back

   Above the shelves are trophies that Kathy has won for her bettas, from the Pacific Northwest Betta Society.

Here are some of the fish that I liked. They varied in price from $3 to $20, and even nicer and more expensive specimens are sometimes available or can be ordered.

   There is a special display of betta bowls and accessories. When novices buy their first betta they are given a handout on how to keep them. Live foods such as microworms and vinegar eels are on hand.

A small room at the back of the store was no doubt designed to be a staff room or an office, but Kathy uses it to breed and grow-out bettas:

    
Betta breeding and grow-out tanks  

   A bubble nest in half a plastic cup

Kathy and Dawn are involved in the foundation of a new local club, the B.C. Betta Association. Thirteen people attended the first meeting, and new members are welcome.

   A sideline service is house calls for aquarium or pond maintenance - very useful for people when they go on holiday.

Fin-omenal has its own web site www.fin-omenalfish.com/ which offers to ship fish anywhere in Canada or the U.S., and has some useful links to betta sites.

Fin-omenal is open 7 days per week: Weekdays 10-7, Saturdays 10-6, Sundays 12-5. Kathy and Dawn don't hire any extra help, so not surprisingly they "don't breed so many fish at home any more."

If you like bettas, or think you might become interested in them, Fin-omenal is the place for you. Dawn says that the store is also for all kinds of aquarists, from novice families to expert breeders. A steady clientele of regular customers is being built up due to Kathy and Dawn's focus on customer service. They have "survived" their first year. Let's hope the store's growth continues to be "fin-omenal!" (Did you get the name yet?).