About Us
Photo credit: Daedalus Reef
The Ocean Floor is a family-owned and operated fish store offering all who visit an incredible and unique experience for decades. The hardwood floors, exposed rafters and huge dome ceiling convey the feeling of being in a shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean. Our remarkable store consists of a 17,500 sq. ft. in a historic converted roller rink. It is the largest tropical fish and aquarium store in the West. The Ocean Floor boasts many huge aquariums stocked with unusual fish that are on display for our visitors enjoyment.
Some of the things that make this super-store unique include the huge selection of unusual shapes and sizes in aquariums. If that is not enough, we can custom build an aquarium to fit your needs. We also carry just about everything you will need to maintain your aquarium and make it shine! We have the largest selection of stands, lighting, filtration systems, and fresh fish foods found anywhere. The variety of ornaments, decorative plants, backgrounds, plus barrels and barrels of colored and natural gravels is almost overwhelming. When you want to buy fish, aquariums, or decorations this is the place to go!
Tropical Fish Room
The Ocean Floor has over 150 aquariums stocked with a wide variety of goldfish, Koi, Tropical and Saltwater Fish. This is the place to go when you are seeking a rare fish. Because new fish arrive almost every day, there are great Specials on fish and aquariums each week. The store is very family friendly, and we welcome school field trips with prior appointment.
Come to the Ocean Floor for the fish and stay for the people. We pride ourselves in our passionate team of fish and coral experts, ready to offer sound advice and set you up for success.
Our Team
Mark
Mark is a family man who is proud to lead the Ocean Floor team. He has worked in the store multiple times, including right out of high school, helping him serve his life-long obsession with fish. Mark has many hobbies that each center on family, fish and nature.
Managing the Ocean Floor comes with the perk of feeding his passion with these majestic creatures. His favorite fish is Discus. He has curated a few successful breeding pairs in the store and keeps a beautiful tank at home featuring 12 Discus and several others like Fancy Plecos, Corydoras, Tetra, Dwarf Cichlids, and more. “They are colorful and visually stunning, like Saltwater fish, but also complex and moody, like people. Discus are very intelligent; they recognize me and react in very sophisticated ways.”
Mark loves everything about the hobby. “There are always new products and things to learn, new fish to see and my old favorites never get old. I really love talking fish with other hobbyists and my employees.” Helping customers enjoy and understand their fish and their tanks is Mark and the teams’ focus. “We get to create beautiful miniature worlds! This hobby brings so much joy and stress relief to so many people of every walk of life.”
Another point of pride for Mark and the team is prioritizing keeping as many fish alive as possible. At the Ocean Floor, we believe every fish life matters, no matter how small. Preserving and caring for these amazing little creatures and teaching others how to do so is endlessly rewarding.
Jamison
Jamison has been part of the team for over two years, starting as a maintenance worker who loved keeping tanks looking spotless. He worked on every tank in the store, which got him quickly familiarized with hundreds of species of fish! This sparked many late nights researching fish that arrive in the store and prompted a transition into the Saltwater department. As one thing led to another, Jamison eagerly set up a 75-gallon reef tank at home.
You can find Jamison fragging corals, working on tanks, and engaging with customers daily at the Ocean Floor. He says, “I equally enjoy the delicate livestock and the advanced technology that keep our tanks running well. In saltwater, we are replicating the most fragile ecosystem on earth with lights, wavemakers, and additives made by man. We do all of this just so we can have a little slice of the ocean in our homes.” Jamison loves helping customers learn to keep fish correctly and sustainably so they can be enjoyed for years and years.
Rosemary
Rosemary is an avid animal lover who has been with our team for over 15 years. She is a hard-worker and always strives to do her job well! She started working as a Cashier and has worked her way into management, now serving as the Merchandise Manager. If you have ever bought anything at the Ocean Floor, there is a good chance that Rosemary checked it in and priced it.
She says her favorite part of the Ocean Floor is that while it is consistent, it is always interesting. “There is rarely a dull moment! I love my job and enjoy being appreciated by my coworkers and bosses in a family-owned business. It really is like being part of a family!”
In addition to her job, Rosemary cherishes her husband and her pets (including a couple of cats, a white Cockatoo, and a beautiful Betta fish), plus her notorious long vacations, which she says took her a decade to earn!
Jason & Dan
Jason and Dan managed the Ocean Floor together for years. Raised in a family of animal lovers with a pet company, these cousins grew up with a passion for pets and an opportunity to learn.
Dan started working weekends at the Ocean Floor when he was 13, doing basic maintenance around the store and learning the ropes. Once he started driving, he began working 35+ hours a week while going to school. Once graduated, he put all his time into the store and servicing aquariums on days off.
To Dan, the coolest part of The Ocean Floor is the sheer size and variety of livestock. “I learned everything I know by living and breathing the different types of fish, corals, plants, and invertebrates here in the store. It has allowed me to learn a little about everything.” Over the years, he has owned several tanks, with Saltwater being his main hobby. A recent move forced him to part with his 45-gallon reef tank, but he is currently in the process of building out a 175-gallon tank in his new home.
“The people are by far my favorite part of working at The Ocean Floor. I got to come to work every day surrounded by those that share the same passion I do. There is nothing more satisfying than building relationships with our customers than being able to help them accomplish their living underwater ecosystem the way they envisioned it. I’m so grateful for the opportunity that I got growing up in this store and I can’t wait to continue to grow with the aquarium community.”
Jason put a total of ten years into the Ocean Floor, six of which he was managing the store with Dan. Just like his cousin, he started in high school learning the basics and then made the jump to full-time, each year making improvements over the last and building knowledge to make the store better and better.
In Jason’s opinion, the atmosphere is the coolest part of the store. “Fish lover or not, a couple of hours could easily be spent here just looking at all the different displays, feeding the Koi, and learning about the systems. We have plenty visitors who have never had an aquarium, some who don’t even plan on it, but they enjoy visiting with us nonetheless.”
Like most of us, Jason’s favorite part of the job has been making connections. “I met so many great people, employees and customers who I still have great relationships with to this day. I am still in touch with people I met in my very first year ever working at the store. The Aquarium community is small but very passionate, so it is so great being able to host events such as Frag and Plant Swaps to bring all the enthusiasts together.”
Jason and Dan oversee the Ocean Floor and our other pet stores from the office nowadays, but they keep their pieces of the Ocean Floor alive and well in their tanks.