What People Buy at a San Pedro Tropical Fish Store

IF THERE’S A NEIGHBORHOOD in L.A. that’s synonymous with fish, it’s San Pedro. You can buy a whole yellowtail at 3 AM at the Saturday morning fish market. You can admire a California grunion, a fish that comes out of the water to spawn onshore, at the city-run Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.

But for taking fish home alive, your best option in the neighborhood is 7Seas Tropical Fish: a 56-year-old exotic fish store owned and operated by the Marquez brothers, Adam, Fabian, and Juan. They’re second-generation owners whose father Adam Sr., a handyman who had been fixing the shop’s aquariums on the side, purchased the business in 1989 from a former proprietor.

While it isn’t set in stone that their own children will continue the fish-selling legacy — "we want them to venture out and do something of their own," said Fabian — the brothers say their shop is in a great position: They own the building, all of their competitors have gone out of business, and their shop was classified as essential during the pandemic, so they never lost income from closure.

Located on Gaffey Street on a block with salt-tinged air, the Marquez brothers’ shop is packed with everything a hobbyist needs: exotic freshwater and saltwater fish, high-tech filtration systems, coral frags, non-fish animals like turtles and salamanders, chemicals, lighting systems, and an entire showroom for tanks.

For Bestsellers, L.A. Material’s guide to the bestselling items at local L.A. businesses, Fabian Marquez (the middle Marquez brother, who specializes in saltwater fish) gave us details on his top five saltwater sellers for the most recent month — and how a 23-year old movie franchise continues to drive sales at 7Seas.

5. AUSTRALIAN WOBBEGONG SHARK

One of the shop’s most distinctive-looking fish is the Australian wobbegong shark, which has a bottom jaw covered in beard-like tentacles. "It's basically like antennas," Fabian explained. "They can sense fish from miles away. They're a stealth predator, so they camouflage to the bottom of most coral rocks. Fish don't even know they're there until they're too close."

For buyers who have $2,000 to drop on one of these sharks — which can run from three feet to ten feet long — 7seas recommends feeding it with "protein from chopped up frozen squid, defrosted clams in a half shell, silversides, krill, and other chunky meaty food," all of which they stock up in freezers for collectors of predatory fish and sharks.

4. BLUE HIPPO TANG

The blue hippo tang is one of three fish on this list whose popularity exploded after the release of Finding Nemo. The “Dory” fish is native to the Indo-Pacific region and has a distinctive triangular yellow tail.

7Seas carries many of these tangs due to their popularity, presumably reinvigorated by the release of the sequel Finding Dory in 2016. Each fish sells for $70 to $200 depending on their size.

3. DWARF ANGELFISH

Not to be confused with its freshwater cousin — which are, to be honest, kind of busted looking — the Marine Angelfish is a stunning species that Fabian describes as a “showfish” for home aquarium hobbyists.

The shop carries several varieties including the annularis (bluering angelfish), the passer (king angelfish), the ciliaris (queen angelfish), the asfur (Arabian angelfish, which he imported from The Red Sea), and the most popular variety, the dwarf — so popular it was sold out during our visit.

"A lot of these angels," Fabian said while pointing at a small blue angelfish, “have a different color pattern and as they mature, they morph into that other color. It looks like a completely different fish."

The dwarfs go for $60 to $120.

2. PORCUPINE PUFFERFISH

7Seas carries a variety of pufferfish, another fish that became a best seller due to an entire generation of children who couldn’t get enough of the voice acting talents of Albert Brooks, Brad Garrett, and Ellen DeGeneres.

It’s such a big seller at around $100 that, like the dwarf angelfish, it too was sold out.

Fabian showed off “the more exotic one, the rare golden puffer” — a gorgeous yellow fish that swam up to the front of the tank and gave a very Pixar-esque smile during our interview. The golden puffer goes for $1,200 and is imported from Indonesia, as well as the waters off Cortez in Baja Mexico.

1. CLOWNFISH

Thanks in part to a certain animated classic about fish desperately trying to live their lives out of captivity, the #1 best seller at 7 Seas Tropical Fish is the clownfish. And not just any clownfish: designer clownfish.

Just like with show dogs and cats, Fabian explained that there’s a whole world of fish breeders who propagate fish with different patterns and give them designer names. He showed off a variety of clownfish — storm clowns, long fin clowns, gold strip clowns, lighting clowns — with their own distinctive colorways and size.

7 Seas’ clownfish start at $30 for the basic Nemo varietal, up to the $100 to $200 range for designer clownfish. The store even sells male/female pairs for hobbyists who want to watch their fish do something besides swim and eat. (In this case, according to the Aquarium of the Pacific in nearby Long Beach, female clownfish lay trails of eggs on a rock and male clownfish swim behind them releasing sperm).

OVERALL BEST SELLER

Adam, the oldest Marquez brother, told us that the #1 overall best seller at the shop was not a fish but something that all serious fish collectors need: live aqua plants. 

"That's what's really hot right now,” Adam said about natural plants that play a role in regulating the delicate ecosystem of a fish tank, while also providing the fish with shade and hiding places. “The natural look is the hottest thing, instead of blue gravel and little trinket toys.”

“We have more wood than anybody,” he told us, pointing out the tiger wood, spider wood, and shrimp wood for sale. “I import two to three pallets once a year directly from Florida, where these guys pick up from the Amazon, the Mekong River, African lakes.”

“This is what you put down first and then you get certain plants you can put on top to make these things look like trees. It looks like an aquatic underwater forest.”