A Place for Pets- Burien

Overall Experience 5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

Over all 5
Cost 4
Quality 5
Variaty 5
Service 5

Overall Experience 5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 4

Overall Experience 5
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 4
Variety 5
Service 5

Overall Experience 5
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

Overall Experience 5
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

Overall Experience 5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

Overall Experience 5
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

Overall Experience 4
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 4.5

Overall Experience 5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 4

Overall Experience 5
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

Personable service, great price.

Overall Experience 5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

I have been buying fish from one of the owners for as many years as I can remember. Always see something new there just wish it was closer.

Overall Experience 5
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

simply the best IMO. i really wish there were more stores that would focus more on central and south american cichlids.

Overall experience 5
Cost 5
Quality of fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

This is what a shop should look and be like. Tanks are super clean, you get asked atleast 3 times if you need help. Fish are active in the tanks. No disease infested tanks. Everything a petshop should be. I drive an extra 20min to hit this spot. Bout time for a trip there actually.

Keep up the good work, clean tanks and customer service, you're good!

Hit this spot today. 5's across the board ofcourse. I did find something out that I thought was super cool and I'm pretty sure no other pet shops do it. These guys go out to schools and do like a show and tell with all types of their pets, snakes, birds and a lot of other stuff. I think that is awsome that these guys have the best shop here and still have time to give to the community. I was really amazed to see that they did something like this.

They should get a 10!

Overall experience: 5
Cost: 3
Quality of fish: 5
Variety: 5
Service: 5


I went in there yesterday and looked around, really liked there variety of fish bad thing I saw was the prices of fish and and merchandise. Maybe im just use to the prices of north.

Exp. 4
Cst. 4
Qlty. 5
Vrty. 5
Srvc.5

I've had many good visits and a couple of not as good, but great overall store
lots of knowledge and tons of info.
One of thier employees is responsible for my addiction. He never should have shown me Peacock Bass.

Overall Experience 5
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 4
Variety 5
Service 4

Usually a great plant selection.
Usually great service.
Usually healthy fish, though lately I've seen tanks with Ich.

Still my favorite overall though.

A Place For Pets.

Overall Experience 5
Cost 3
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 4


I was in Burien and google searched my favorite topic-Show me local fish stores!

I didn't realize that this store was here and a contributing member on this site. Great store, and I was amazed that there were as many tanks as there were fit into this small footprint! I wasn't greeted when I walked in but that was OK, I like to see what these store have before I start bugging them with questions. I was actually thanked by one of the employee's (sorry forgot your name man-he was thinning out on top and not the 'normal fish guy') for helping him teach some younger kids that wanted to stock a 10gallon. This was a first.

I saw that they had some pretty rare fish, Cichlaids aside, as they aren't my favorites, but If I was to by one, it would be here. They carried a really cool Bichir, but probably due to his cost, this was a bit higher than any of the area stores. Passed on the Bichir but found some huge(for a LFS) trio of Albino knives. I don't think I caught Kevin at a good time, because he seemed distracted and I don't think he was on his game. He misquoted me the price for the albino that had spots, he thought it was a normal knife. He noticed this when he caught it, but he stuck by his original price which was a good business move. I love integrity!

Definitely going back for the rare bichir when I have the cash, and I suggest that ANYONE in the area take a look at this store, cleanest tanks in the area and I travel! First place that I saw that is incorporating a drip system throughout the store, making all the tanks sparkle! And the long/wide/low tanks are very smart, room for the fish to swim, but the ability to have about 4x the stock in a given area-briliant design!

Thanks Kevin!

Overall Experience - 3

Cost - 3

Quality Of Fish - 4

Variety - 3

Service - 3

Neat little store. Alot of different kinds of pike cichlids.

Overall Experience 5
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

this place has a whole lot of choices and they take care of their fish. The tanks are clean and owners knowledgable.

Overall Experience 5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 4
Variety 5
Service 5

Great store! Large variety of cichlids (BOTH American and African). Will be my "go to" store for any future livestock.

I hate to say it, but since Matt left, the fish are not well. I was there today, and there were tanks that had a cocoon of fungus around all the fish. The whole tank was dead. I saw this a lot, in many tanks. I hope Kevin gets a Matt clone in there soon, or else I wont be buying there in the future.


TODAY:
Overall Experience 3
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 1
Variety 4
Service 5

Well I have to say that my fav LFS is looking better. I went in late last week and it looked soooooooooooooo much better.

I havn't seen as much new stock coming in lately, but the tanks do look real good now. Still lots of different types of fish, just not much on the new stuff.

So new rankings:

TODAY:
Overall Experience 5 (still my fav store)
Cost 4 (would like to see better prices. But wouldn't we all)
Quality of Fish 5, (looking much better )
Variety 4, (for what he has, yes good variety. Like to see more S/C Am. Cich.)
Service 5, (always friendly and helpful)

endangered cichlids wrote:i visited the store about a week ago , there was iche and prices were wow , rich people live in burien ..enough said

Funny, I live about 3 miles from APFP and I think his prices are very reasonable. I guess I'm just one of those rich people..oh wait, I am..lol

Overall Experience 3.9
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 3
Variety 5
Service 4

Parking 1

Best store ever.

Ive been in this store once about 3 months ago and lets just say I wouldnt go back, very dissapointing from all the good ive heard.

overall experience-5
cost-5
quality of fish-5
variety-5
service-5

our favorite fish store

Addictedtofish wrote:Ive been in this store once about 3 months ago and lets just say I wouldnt go back, very dissapointing from all the good ive heard.

Place just isnt the same without Matt

It's been a while since I e posted anything, been busy with RL. anyways hit this spot twice in the last couple of months, 5's ofcourse! Kevin also hooked me up with some nice prices! Love it!

Overall Experience 5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

Checked it out today at around 5pm. The place was pretty cool. All the fish look super healthy and there where a lot. All the staff was very nice and knowledgeable. Their Duboisi where very pretty and i haven't found them anywhere else. A couple of fish where a little high priced but you find that at almost any pet store. I would suggest A Place For Pets to anyone and it is worth the drive.

Overall experience 5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5+
Service 5

One of the best, if not the best, freshwater fish shops in Seattle. When orders are in some of the most unusual species one can find in a pet shop.

Overall experience 5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5+
Service 4



We live only a bit north of Burien and APFP and always love going there for fish. The owners there recognize us the moment we walk through the door. They even offered to give Dad a ride back home if he needed instead of taking the bus it because he is vision impaired. I've never bought a fish from them that ended belly up the next day or so. They aren't the cheapest around but you can be sure your getting a good fish. And if you do have a fish that you feel was sick when you bought it they are the nicest people I have no doubt I could take something back to them for store credit.

Their service is good, we only had an issue with one of the women that work their argued with my husband about ghost shrimp. Saying she had counted out 20 even though we pointed out their were clearly only 12 in the bag and we got charged for 20. She wasn't to eager to fix the mistake. So we just try and stay clear of her when we go there.

Otherwise this is our favorite place to go!

Another great trip here! 5's all the way! Tanks looked great. Kevin hooked me up with a great deal on the fish I purchased :-)

I give all 5's except for price, I give it a 4. Honestly the prices are slightly below average of WA fish store's. They have a great variety..I dont know many fish stores that carry Petro's. My other problem is quantity of specific breed. I do colonies so this can be a issue for me.

-Chris

Other then that its a awesome store!

Overall Experience 4
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 4
Variety 4
Service 4

Stopped by Xmas eve, unfortunately they are closed today. There were a few fishes I would have loved to bring back to Portland, on top of tht 20% off sale on freshwater.

Overall Experience 3
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 4
Variety 5
Service 2

One bad experience throws out a bunch of decent experiences dealing with this LFS.

Overall Experience 4
Cost 3
Quality of Fish 4
Variety 5
Service 4

My experience was overall pretty good, is it worth me making the hour and a half trip often...no. For the most part the fish looked to be of good health. There was this one larger fish, don't know the name, that had something suspicious on it's fin. Certainly made me want to steer clear. I wanted some platys but they all looked icky. Not necessarily sick but very poorly bred. I was helped very quickly by whom I assume to be the very chipper owner. Prices were a little high for my taste. Would have liked to stay a little longer to look at the fish better but it was very cramped, could hardly get down the isles and it very hot.

I feel it's a win win buying from hobbyists. You know what you're buying is of good quality, they're not diseased. They get some mullah and you get an incredible price. Lately my stocking is worked around what the forum has to offer. I just got to the point where I was done dealing with the local stores.

Overall Experience 5
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

Just picked up 5 fish. Always a great time when I go. Kevin is always willing help with what ever I need. Great fish, good quality, can't ask for anything more.

im posting this in the hopes that a mod decides to come in and maybe clean up this thread a bit. APFP experienced some serious fungal issues in 2010, (some fish i bought ended up wiping out my tank) nearly ruined the hobby for me. but in the last two years hes gone a long way in terms of revamping his store back to its original glory. price is the only concern of mine w/ his store but hes also the ONLY store that carries much of what i need/want so charging a higher price to maintain his spot as the BEST pet store in WA is okay w/ me. again please clean it up a bit and lets get kevin the publicity he clearly deserves.

I would like to think that those that read these check the dates. I mean that's obvious. When I check the ratings or comments on hotels, I look at the dates. Everyone knows that the last post is the most current. And everyone would like to see growth or improvement. I am leaving it the way it is, though I have cleaned up the unnecessary comments that do not pertain to the ratings of this store.

Lets keep this thread dedicated to rating the store. Comments along with the ratings are welcomed.

Overall experience 4.5
Cost 3
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 4.5

I took my 1st trip to APFP a couple days ago upon a suggestion from a fellow forum member.
I'm so glad I did.
Those of us living in the Tacoma area are really missing out on a shop like this one. Especially if your keeping or looking to keep Africans.I honestly saw more variety for malawis in this store than all Tacoma area stores combined. Many of the species they carry I could only find at online vendors.
Although the drive was a bit long for me.About 40 minutes each way. It was worth it.
In my review score I docked a half point for Experience only because it was really cramped in there. I'm not a huge guy but, I felt like it was crowded with just me and 1 other person in a single fish tank isle.
I also docked a half point for service because once I got to checkout I made several compliments on the store but, the fella seemed almost like "whatever dude I just work here".On better service note however, I was asked at least twice if I needed help finding anything and the poor young lady who helped me by netting the very specific fish I wanted from two tanks was patient,and had excellent fish catching technique.
Prices were actually pretty good except for the fact that I was actually hoping to find a couple adult males and all the adult fish were fairly expensive.I think the fact that I left thinking to myself I wish I could spend more today is the reason I gave them a 3 in price,Honestly.
Apparently I can special order Tanks and Livestock as well. Just another plus For A Place For Pets,Also they have a Facebook page in which I posted stocking questions to them. They answered my question within about 10 minutes. I knew they had the particular species I needed before ever making the somewhat long drive. Which wouldn't be as bad if I weren't driving a'78 350 V8 camaro.

Overall Experience 2
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 2

OK, I love this store but maybe it was the mistake of going in on a busy Saturday or the fact that a newbie caught my fish or that the wife went with and helped pick the fish out. I dont know what the exact issue was but here is the story.

I have been wanting a pleco to go in my 210g to help eat a little algae growth on the glass and what not. After a ton of research I decided upon three that I would consider. The one I already had and added, an albino bristle nose. The other would be either an L001 sailfin or a Rhino pleco. I decided on the rhino. I knew a place for pets had them, so I made the drive from Tacoma.

Here is where it all goes wrong. My wife does not like to go to the fish stores with me and gets a bit impatient when we go. After looking a little bit I show her the pleco I want and its $7.99. She goes and grabs a young kid to catch it while Im still looking. There were only two tiny ones in the tank and they both looked alike so no problem, right? Well in the same tank there are two other pleco varieties and my wife does not know the difference and neither does the employee. So my wife asked for the biggest one which was double the size of the Rhino but it was also a broken line royal that was $15. During he whole process I was off looking at fish and the royal was bagged and taken up front. I go up to pay for it and the checker looks at it and asks if all I had was the pleco and I say yes and I look down and realize this is not what I wanted and she sees that it is a royal marked at $7.99. So of course the first thing I feel is embarrassed like Im trying to scam them out of a more expensive fish even though I had nothing to do with the actual catching of it or the whole process. And I did not want a royal anyway. So the young man who caught the fish to begin with is assigned to help me again. This time he starts to catch the other bigger pleco in the tank and it is also not my rhino but something else that is like $27. I had him bring it up closer to the glass so I could look at it and told him, no that is not the rhino, that is the other one listed on the front of the tank for $27.

After all the hassle and then the guy still not knowing what he was doing made me feel like it was a huge waste of time going up there.

So I guess there were a lot of variables in this story, but overall I still put blame on the employe not knowing what he was doing. So over all not the best experience.

Personal favorate aquatic store. I got to know some of the clerks and often got mark downs from retail when the right ppl were there

Overall Experience - 5

Cost - 2.5 (typical retail usually)

Quality Of Fish - 5

Variety - 5

Service - 5

Overall Experience 5
Cost 5
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

Went in today because of the 15% off freshwater fish on Tuesday. It was quiet and Kevin was there looking over everyone's shoulder so good experience over all. Got three baby red devils (from Mel O) a firemouth and an argentea. Very happy with the trip.

Overall Experience 4
Cost 3
Quality of Fish 4
Variety 3
Service 4

First time to the store to check things out but didnt end up buying anything. Neat store and Kevin is very friendly and helpfull.

Overall Experience 5
Cost 3
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 4
Service 5

Experience5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5


There is always to many fish I want here. And I'm always happy with the fish I get from apfp