MastahBetta Fish Shop — Local services in Honolulu

The owner and workers are super friendly and helpful. They have a wide selection of fish, perhaps the most diverse of any local fish store today. And they quarantine their fish very well.

This is the best reflection of what fish stores used to be like decades ago. Sadly, what we see today are stores laden with low grade guppies, mollies, angelfish, tiger barbs and neon tetras,...stores that just push the common, commercialized, "classic" products (and occasionally misinform the consumer too). It's ok, if all you want to do is fill your five year old's ten gallon tank, but that's not MastahBettah. MastahBettah has superior quality fish...and the more exotic. These guys do fish. That's all (or maybe that's all I cared about so I was tunnel-visioned and overlooked the puppies lol).

I'm not rich by any measure, and if I have to work hard to earn my money...well, my hobby is going to be most enjoyed shopping at this store. I've seen so many fish here that I want because the quality and color are unrivaled, but cannot have because I don't have the tank for them. This is the store that tests my will power, my critical reasoning, and my maturity. And for the record, I'd still populate my kid's tank with fish from MastahBettah because his "classic" fish are colorful and healthy and CHEAPER in most cases.

My pics are intended to be a graphic narrative on how to find the front door, bc you almost have to be Indiana Jones to make it there with Google, not to mention the crazy construction. And even if you don't find the exact fish that you're wanting, I guarantee that you will enjoy the experience. I still pop my head into the other spots, but by far, this is my new favorite...

Been going to Mastah Betta for the past couple years, and I've gotten to know some of the team including Josh and Sigma, and spent more money than you'd imagine. In my opinion, the BEST aquarium store on Oahu in terms of selection, healthy stock, pricing, advertising, and promotions such as weekly deals and auctions. I've been in the hobby for over 20 years so I've seen many LFS come and go. It's refreshing to see an aquarium fish shop thriving and growing when it seems like most LFS have been closing over the years. I've seen the store grow and they've continued to make improvements rather than most pet stores, or local stores in general, that're content just doing the same thing. The website and social media presence are a huge plus for me so I know what fishes, plants and products are coming in and what's in stock. I can order my fish online to reserve them and pick them up when I'm free, which is much appreciated as I have a very busy job and I'm not able to be there on the days when new stock becomes available. I live in Mililani and drive to town regularly, and if you know Oahu traffic you'll know that if I'm willing to drive there I must really like what they're doing. Josh and Sigma have personally notified me multiple times about special orders for some very rare and special fishes (they knew what I was looking for). If you're looking for the rare and exotic stuff, or if you're just looking for the common stuff, these are your guys. Josh is also open to suggestions on what fishes to bring in next as long as they are legal to bring into the state. Very knowledgeable and friendly staff who're just as crazy about fishes as me. Shop...

The stores owner, Josh, is really knowledgeable about different fish and his products. Spontaneously took my son to this shop to look and ended up purchasing different kinds of fancy goldfish to fill the void of just putting our senior dog down earlier that day so we didn’t plan well nor have our pond quite ready with a pump. I explained this to Josh and he kindly double bagged our fish in an extra large bag with lots of O2 to last 2 days while we awaited our pump. Our fish lasted as long as he had promised in the bag.

Since then we’ve been going to this shop regularly to purchase mainly fancy goldfish a little at a time to build our pond once again. When I have questions or doubts Josh is usually responsive and educates me on anything fish related. Nice to have a shop like this with good ol’ customer service as...