About
Deep Blue Aquarium is North Hollywood's coral-obsessed reef shop, the kind of place Southern California reefers will drive across the valley for. Walk in and the first thing you notice is the darkened interior — sunlight is blocked out so every tank glows under proper reef lighting, and the frags inside pop with color. Reviewers routinely call it the best coral selection per square foot they have found, and it is easy to see why: the room is packed wall-to-wall with zoas, ricordeas, clove polyps, Xenia, blastomussa, and soft corals like the hard-to-find pink nepthea, plus plenty of rare varieties.
Recent visitors have singled out the rotating $20 frag deals as some of the best around. The shop is owned and run by Hong and Nu, and it has the honest mom-and-pop feel regulars love. Hong is repeatedly praised for his deep marine knowledge and his patience educating customers on keeping a reef tank healthy.
Beyond coral, Deep Blue runs an in-house breeding operation — its designer clownfish have a real following — and the tanks are stocked with sea anemones, including gorgeous Rainbow bubble-tip anemones that customers describe as some of the healthiest they have seen. If you are after live rock, anemones for sale in North Hollywood, CA, or a standout reef centerpiece, this is the spot. I.
water at fair prices — a genuine lifesaver for valley aquarists who need an after-hours water change, since Deep Blue stays open until 8 PM, later than most nearby stores. A few honest notes: weekends get busy, so come with patience, and not every frag is labeled, so ask about pricing up front. New corals are worth dipping and quarantining before they go in your display.
For sheer coral selection in the San Fernando Valley, this aquarium store is hard to beat.
What they offer
Fish & livestock for sale at Deep Blue Aquarium in North Hollywood, CA
Deep Blue Aquarium stocks corals, reef fish, betta fish, clownfish, anemones, live rock, rare and hard-to-find species and saltwater & freshwater fish for sale in North Hollywood, CA. As an aquarium store serving North Hollywood, CA, it also offers fish breeding and aquarium consultations.
- Livestock & products
- Services
- Specializes in
Highlights
What makes them special
- Best coral selection per square foot in the San Fernando Valley — wall-to-wall frag tanks
- Owners Hong and Nu give honest, hands-on reef-keeping advice
- In-house breeding program known for designer clownfish
- Rainbow bubble-tip and sea anemones customers call exceptionally healthy
- R.O./D.I. water available and open until 8 PM, later than most valley shops
From keepers
Customer reviews
“Online shopper here. The selection of frags available is great and the $20 deals are some of the best I have found. I also bought 3 Rainbow BTA's and they are gorgeous and probably the healthiest I've seen coming in from shipping. The order was placed on a weekend, packed on Monday, and at my door the next morning. Great follow-up service as well! I will be returning!”
— Geo5.0a month ago“Amazing store, well stocked and all the livestock appears healthy and lively. I was looking for a very specific fish, that has been very difficult to locate, but they were out of stock. I'll definitely be back to finish stocking my tank.”
— Larry Ballesteros5.0a month ago“This was my first time buying corals online and could not be happier with the customer service they provided. Hong made sure I was taken care of and set the bar very high for any other place I do business with. My new favorite store to look online for coral.”
— Tristan Hamlin5.0a month ago“Excellent for website orders! I was specifically looking for the hard to find pink nepthea and came across Deep Blue’s website. I ordered a number of soft corals for delivery to Albuquerque, NM. Before they shipped I wanted to add to my order. Hong began texting me pics and videos of different corals and answering all of my questions. He made the process of adding to my order easy. Once shipped, there was an unexpected weather issue which delayed the package and unfortunately, the rock anemone didn’t survive, but everything else was fine and all was professionally packed with heat packs. Again, Hong’s communication was prompt, and he followed through with a replacement nem. I highly recommend their website for out of state orders and I look forward to visiting their shop next time I’m in SoCal.”
— Breezy Reef5.02 months ago“Good if you are looking for corals, fish not alot of choices”
— Alfie Castillo3.04 months ago“Amazing LFS for corals. Has some of the best selections I’ve seen you can really spend all day here and still see something new. The lady working the store is incredibly nice, one of the best LFS I’ve been to.”
— Haadis Rahman5.0a day ago“Tanks need cleaning and so does the store, badly! Lady that is there most of the time isn't very helpful. Looked at me weird when I asked about a Blastomussa, like she did have a clue what that was. Pricing is weird $25 on the website for certain frags but the lady demands $35 for that same frag in store then pushes for 5 frags for $150 which isn't even a good deal at $30 a frag for 5 equals $150. Also not great compared to others like Vivid or UC or Aqua SD. They need to reconsider their pricing structure its terrible.”
— Sidewinder2.05 days ago“🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲 so nice gave me tears”
— Amir5.04 weeks ago“Best selection of corals I’ve seen in awhile and super friendly lady”
— DayTrip Podcast5.0a month ago“Cool store with a ton of corals...but the lady working couldn't really answer any of my question about the corals - she couldn't identify the different species, couldn't find specific ones even when I showed her pictures from their own website, and she couldn't even tell me how large certain corals would get at full size. I ended up buying three $35 frags (a Zoa, a Ricordea Florida, and a Clove Polyp) ALL of them were covered in algae. The zoa and mushroom had flat worms. and the zoa and clove polyp were infested with duster worms (never seen so many duster worms attached to frags). I had to spend another $50 and hours of my time cleaning the new corals before I could add them to my tank - and even still, I'm concerned about possibly introducing something bad into my tank because of these corals. The Zoa and the mushroom seem to be doing ok, but the Clove Polyp had the most algae growth on it and required cleaning with hydrogen peroxide and a brush...its still closed up after two days in my tank so I'm just hoping it makes it... I wish I could rate this store higher, because they have a big selection of corals....but I just cant trust the quality of their livestock after seeing how many pests were on the frags I purchased.”
— Collin Rodriguez3.02 months ago
Reference
Frequently asked questions
Note — Store information and services may change. Always call (818) 934-9716 to confirm current availability, hours, and services before visiting Deep Blue Aquarium.