About
Aqua Lab Aquaria sits in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood, occupying a niche that few Bay Area shops attempt: a dedicated aquascaping and planted tank destination. The store carries a genuinely impressive range of hardscape materials, aquariums, live plants, and specialty equipment—including ADA products—that can be difficult to source locally. For anyone building a planted freshwater setup, the selection of driftwood, stone, and aquatic plants stands out as a real draw.
Owner Kent has earned loyal fans for his willingness to spend serious time with customers. Multiple reviewers describe hour-plus consultations where he walks through tank setup, plant selection, substrate choices, and fish compatibility. He's known to stay in touch after the sale, fielding texts and phone calls with detailed advice as tanks mature.
One family credited Kent with giving them the confidence to start an aquascaping project with pearlweed carpeting, corydoras catfish, and shrimp. The store stocks both freshwater and saltwater livestock, along with bettas kept in filtered individual tanks, cardinal and neon tetras, tiger shrimp, and various invertebrates. Equipment, fish food, and medications round out the inventory.
However, Aqua Lab's reputation carries real asterisks. Recent visitors have reported display tanks thick with algae, dead fish visible in some systems, and a noticeable decline in staffing and maintenance compared to earlier years when the shop was considered a showcase. The online store has drawn sharp criticism: multiple customers report orders that sit unshipped for weeks, unanswered emails, surprise shipping cost increases, and orders quietly canceled without communication.
Fish quality has also been inconsistent—some buyers have lost entire batches of tetras shortly after purchase. At its best, Aqua Lab Aquaria offers something rare in San Jose: expert aquascaping guidance and curated supplies under one roof. But prospective customers should visit in person rather than order online, inspect livestock carefully, and be prepared for a store that may be in a transitional period.
What they offer
Fish & livestock for sale at Aqua Lab Aquaria in San Jose, CA
Aqua Lab Aquaria stocks shrimp, betta fish, tetras, aquarium plants and freshwater & saltwater fish for sale in San Jose, CA. As an aquarium store serving San Jose, CA, it also carries aquarium equipment and fish medications and offers aquarium setup, aquascaping, aquarium consultations and tank maintenance.
- Livestock & products
- Services
- Specializes in
Highlights
What makes them special
- Extensive hardscape and aquascaping supplies selection
- Owner Kent provides detailed in-person and remote consultation
- Wide variety of aquariums and planted tank equipment
- Located in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose
- Carries ADA products and specialty aquascaping gear
From keepers
Customer reviews
“I ordered a glass diffuser bell from this place online but received the wrong item. I found out about it late because I had no time to open the package. I was able to contact them and told them ill stop by the store to do an exchange, which was almost an hour away. They told me to bring the orginal packaging which I did. So when i brought back the item with its original packaging, I expected to get a new glass diffuser bell in a box, but instead they gave me a dusty old glass diffuser bell with no packaging. I dont know if it was used but it was dusty and had glass or sand in the tubing where the diffuser is connected. But i decided to take it because there was only one associate working at that time and there were other customers and it was almost a 1 hour drive. But before leaving, i wanted something to secure it like a box or bubble wrap because it had a fragile glass tip and they were just handing it to me without any type of packaging. I had to beg the associate to give me something to secure it. Honestly not mad at the associate, he just did what he was told. Im mad at management who didnt tell me im getting a display item before i drove there. Believe or not I was actually thinking of buying 30 gallon UNS tank from this place but now, base on this experience, Im not coming back to this place.”
— George Miranda1.0a month ago“When I got plants from aqua lab, there was planaria on them, all the shrimps and snails in my tank died within a couple weeks and that was the last thing I introduced into my tank so I know that’s why. There was also string algae that ended up taking over another tank I added to. The guy working there with a beard and curly hair felt really condescending even though the products were bad quality.. I don’t trust him at all, he made a passing comment downplaying the holocaust which didn’t sit right with me at all, it was incredibly insulting considering my grandfather is Jewish and i’m non practicing but I still find it incredibly offensive and disrespectful..”
— Kaia McCabe1.02 months ago“I recently bought a house in San Jose that came with a pond. Unfortunately the previous owner had passed away and left no instructions, so I had absolutely no idea where to start. I’ve never had a pond before and knew nothing about how to maintain one. I called Aqua Lab and Kent was incredibly helpful from the start. He took the time to walk me through everything and explain how the system works without ever making me feel dumb for asking very basic questions. We decided to do a one-time deep cleaning to restore the pond. Before the scheduled cleaning, Kent stopped by to check out the system and figure out what actually needed to be done. He ended up fixing a broken part, doing a full deep clean of the pond and the filter/skimmer, and adding beneficial water additives. Since I live about 3 hours away, he kept me updated throughout the process with photos and messages, which I really appreciated. He even left me some pond tools to use and offered to come back another time, at no extra charge, when I’m at the house so he can walk me through the system in person and show me how to do the regular monthly maintenance myself (or help with that if I decide I’d rather have him handle it). His pricing was very fair and actually came in lower than other local shops I contacted. Overall just a really great experience. I’ve attached before and after photos of the pond. Highly recommend Aqua Lab and working with Kent. What a great guy!”
— Gordon Ho5.03 months ago“Love this place. Great priced and helpful staff.”
— P G5.04 months ago“I just bought 8 cardinal tetras for $48. 2 died when I just got home. 2 more died when I started to acclimate them in 15 minutes. After an hour of acclimating, I put them in my tank (planted, fully cycled for several months) and the rest died. This is the worst experience I got buying cardinal tetras. I bought from other LFSs and even PetCo and PetSmart before but never had a whole batch died like this. If you charge $6 for a tetra, it should be better than this. At least the tiger shrimps I bought seem to be fine. Update: the tiger shrimp died too. Just bought neon tetra from another LFS today and they seem fine so it was the fish quality, not the tank”
— Steven Do1.0Edited a week ago“Review for aquarium service - had a new tank set up in my home that I feared had cracked! Kent from Aqua Lab was super patient and thoughtful with helping me solve the issue. Thankfully it ended up being excess silicon that he helped clean up, but Kent took extra time to make sure my tank stand was level, adjusting the height of the stand legs and moving the stand. His help alleviated a huge stress on my mind, and I’m super thankful I can rest easy!”
— Andrew Zhang5.04 weeks ago“Good stock of almost every aquarium-related thing you could need. Prices are reasonable/as expected in the area. Bettas are kept in small, filtered tanks and look healthy. The person who helped me out seemed knowledgeable.”
— Alex Wong5.0a month ago“This is so sad ... used to come here all the time and i've never seen anything like this. Used to be a beautiful store with clean tanks, aquascapes and many animals. Went in today and there is dead fish, tanks overrun with algae and mold growing - what happened? Needs to be reported to animal welfare”
— Gene R1.0a month ago“Ordered my tank on the 2nd. I called them on the 8th and someone said they will check on it and call me back. I never got a call back and they canceled my order 2 days later. Horrible customer service!…. This place is a joke! They are sure fast to comment back on a negative post. Nonetheless now I would have to find order another tank and hope it would be here by Christmas. Since this company has wasted my time! What actually happened was they told me they have to reach out to the distributor. Which I was informed that they will call me back. Before the end of the day. Which never happened. Days after they canceled my order and still don’t see any refunds.”
— Ryan Garcia1.0Edited a month ago“We are brand new to aquascaping and so grateful these guys are in the Bay Area. We spent hours in the shop talking to their associate who walked us through how to set up our tank, gave recommendations, and worked through permutations of different fish we could get that would be supported in our ecosystem. I loved that we were able to give them the directive of “we are trying to do minimal upkeep and have an interesting tank” and they could work with that. Also we bought our tank and filter there bc their tanks are much cooler looking. Even now months later the owner Kent gives me very detailed and helpful advice when I call him or text him with questions and pictures of our tank. This is our 2 month old tank where we are growing a carpet of pearlweed and have 2 corydora catfish and some shrimp. Guppies incoming.”
— Gerrine Pan5.03 months ago
Reference
Frequently asked questions
Note — Store information and services may change. Always call +1 408-767-6994 to confirm current availability, hours, and services before visiting Aqua Lab Aquaria.