Ely's Tropical Fish — Local services in Florham Park

All the locals know that if you’re setting up a tank or trying to revive a dying one, you get your fish at the big box stores. Once you’ve serious about adding interesting, healthy, mature fish, you go to Ely’s. The owner and staff are knowledgeable and the selection is wide and very tempting- you almost want to overstock you’re tank because it’s so hard to limit your choices.

Yes, it’s snug inside and not very pretty inside or out , but I’m not there for comfort. I want good sized, interesting fish that are going to survive in the water specifications of my tank.

For you naysayers who need friendly, attentive service all day, every day, it’s not going to happen (Visit the big box stores instead.)

I’m not making excuses, but the owner is what he is. Somedays he’s chatty, but most days he’s restocking fish and merchandise, or cleaning the tanks, and you need to go to him and start a conversation. Once he gets to know you, he can chat up a storm.

And last, but not least, there’s the pricing. I live on the Morris/Essex county border and I am unaware of any fish stores with the variety and good size of fish that Ely’s has. Therefore, Ely’s prices have to be looked at as relative to the prices and quality at the box stores and those of the single, stand-alone storefronts. There’s no comparison, so you either pay the prices (for what cannot be a very lucrative or easy business to run) or find someplace else to buy fish.

Remember that you are going there for the knowledge, selection and quality of fish, and you won’t be...

I've been hitting Ely's going back to at least the 70s.

What I've come to expect is a wealth of knowledge, a dearth of plants, occasional oddball fish, the usual suspects & a maze of a joint sitting on a land locked tide marsh tucked just off the road between Florham Park & Morristown.

Some days you're met with a grin & welcoming face, or like today, a chance of curmudgeonry. If you haven't experienced it, that can really off-putting, but over 40+ yrs I've come to welcome it in Ely's.

I like the place, always have.

From the pond out front, the tubs of pond plants along the walk way, which I am always amazed aren't a mosquito farm, to the near never ending jingling bell as you enter & close the door eventually overrun by the din of bubblers, & the smell of millions of drips of water off the fish nets & catch tanks.

It's a memory trigger like little else. It's also a good fish store if you're an aquarist.

Not always the greatest selections, but what they have is usually in tip top health, displayed almost identically as I remember as a kid on dad's arm in the 70s. Biggest difference is the little metaframes have mostly yielded to allglass tanks.

All I can say is you must make an occasional trip both down memory...

My partner and I purchased a water filter here a few months ago, and we've recently started wondering if the way we placed one of the hoses is correct. Since we were going to stop by anyway to purchase gravel for our turtle, my partner decided to ask the owner about the hose placement, and he was shut down and interrupted as soon as he started asking. The owner seemed so annoyed and told him to call the manufacturer. If he had just let him finish, I'm sure he would've been able to help us because they use the same kind of filters in the shop. It was very disappointing. The young man helping in the shop wasn't any better with the attitude when asked about the gravel. They both seemed to be in a bad mood and were very rude. This isn't the first time my partner was treated this way by the owner, but we figured he was having a bad day the first time it happened. Now we understand he's just a rude person overall. We ended up not purchasing anything and leaving. We will try to purchase online instead, it'll probably be...