Week of September 4, 2026 · Kearny Mesa & Mid-City, San Diego

Five shipments landed at our two San Diego stores this week, and it is one of the deepest restocks we have had all year. The shrimp wall is completely full again, the plant wall is the best it has looked in a long time, and there is a bichir on the floor we almost never get.

What landed this week:

• 18 freshwater shrimp color lines — Neocaridina, Rili, Caridina and Amano
• Seven Bucephalandra varieties across two plant orders
• Ten Anubias varieties, tissue culture and loose, including Pinto
• Cryptocoryne Flamingo and Rotala “Orange Juice”
• Ansorge’s Bichir, dwarf puffers and UFO hillstream loaches
• Live blackworms, in and for sale

Here is everything that came in.

Freshwater Shrimp: 18 Color Lines on the Wall

If you have been putting off starting a shrimp tank, this is the week to come in. Eighteen distinct color lines landed in one drop, and the freshwater shrimp wall has not been this full in months.

Neocaridina davidi

Fire Red · Orange Eye Fire Red · Bloody Mary · Cherry · Sunkist · Blue Dream · Blue Velvet · Green Jade · Yellow Back · Golden Dust · Snowball · Snow White · Black Rose · Calico.

Rili

Black Rili and Blue Carbon Rili — the split-colour pattern, clear mid-body with pigment at both ends.

Caridina

Crystal Red and Crystal Black.

Amano

Amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata) are back too. They remain the most useful algae crew you can put in a planted tank, and they will not crossbreed with anything else on this list.

Starting out? Neocaridina are the easier entry point. They tolerate a wider parameter range than Caridina and breed readily in a stable, established tank, while Crystal Reds and Blacks want softer, more acidic water and more patience. Keep one Neocaridina colour line per tank if you want the colour to stay true — mixed lines revert toward wild brown within a few generations. Bring us your parameters and we will tell you which of these will actually thrive in your setup.

Aquarium Plants: Two Orders, the Deepest Wall of the Year

We took delivery of two separate aquarium plant orders this week. Between them, this is the widest plant selection we have carried in a long time.

Bucephalandra — seven varieties

Sekadau Giant Blue · Mini Coin · Pink Lady · Brownie “Ghost” · Brownie “Purple” · Kedakang · sp. “Green”.

Seven varieties on the wall at once is unusual for us, and Buce moves quickly. Come see them side by side while you still can — the colour differences between Brownie Ghost and Sekadau Giant Blue are far more obvious in person than in any photo.

Buce is a rhizome plant, so it attaches to hardscape the same way Anubias does: tie or glue the rhizome to stone or wood and never bury it. It is slow-growing, low-light, forgiving of a beginner’s mistakes, and it is the single best way to make new hardscape look established.

Anubias — the full range

Pinto · Nana · Nana “Golden” · Nana “Variegated” · “Petite” · Nangi · Barteri “Round Leaf” · Coffeefolia · Wrinkled · Congensis. Tissue culture and loose, small through large.

Anubias Pinto is the one to look at first — the white marbling is genuine variegation, not a light artefact, and it does not usually sit on our shelf for long.

Cryptocoryne

Flamingo, Balansae and Thwaitesii Kirindoya Brown. The Flamingo arrived in a small batch. It is a slow grower with genuinely pink new leaves, and it does not stay in stock. Crypts sulk and melt when they are moved — that is normal, not a dead plant. Leave the roots alone and the new growth comes back adapted to your water.

Carpeting and foreground plants

HC “Cuba” (Micranthemum callitrichoides) · Utricularia graminifolia · Dwarf Hairgrass · Hairgrass “Mini” · Micro Sword · Staurogyne repens · Downoi (Pogostemon helferi) · Pearlweed.

Deciding between HC and UG for a first carpet? They want quite different things — UG is slower to establish but far more forgiving once it takes, while HC wants strong light and CO2 to stay flat instead of climbing. Our Aquarium Plants 101 guide walks through the difference, or ask us in the shop.

Red stems

Rotala “Orange Juice” · Rotala Wallichii · Rotala Bossii · Rotala Macrandra Mini · Ludwigia “Mini Super Red” · Ludwigia “Red” · Ludwigia inclinata “White Edge” · Ludwigia Repens and Broadleaf · Ludwigia peruensis “Glandulosa” · Ludwigia Sedioides · Alternanthera Reineckii in standard, “Mini”, “Scarlet Temple” and Rosaefolia · Alternanthera Lilacina.

Rotala “Orange Juice” is the standout of the group. Under strong light the new growth comes in genuinely orange rather than pink-red, and it is the fastest way to get a warm colour block into a green scape.

Green stems and background

Bacopa Salzmanni Purple · Limnophila Aromatica Mini · Limnophila rugosa · Heteranthera Zosterifolia · Ammannia (Nesaea Crassicaulis) · Mayaca Fluviatilis · Hygrophila “Wisteria” · Nomaphila Stricta · Dwarf Hygrophila Corymbosa Compact · Staurogyne Bihar.

Ferns, epiphytes, moss and floaters

Java Fern in Narrow Leaf, Trident and Narrow Mini · Bolbitis “Asian Water Fern” · Mini Bolbitis baby leaf · Java Moss by the half pound · Vallisneria Corkscrew and Spiralis · Red Root Floater · Riccia fluitans · Hydrocotyle verticillata · Lysimachia nummularia · Schismatoglottis prietoi · Aponogeton Natans · straight Bamboo.

Running low-tech or no CO2? Java fern, Bolbitis, Anubias, Buce, Vallisneria and moss are the whole toolkit — and they pair well with a soil substrate. Our Ultimate Dirted Tank Guide covers the Walstad-style setup we use in the shop.

Above the waterline

Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon japonicus), Ruby Red Club Moss (Selaginella erythropus) and Purple Waffle (Hemigraphis colorata) also came in. These are not fully aquatic. They belong in paludariums, ripariums and terrariums, above the waterline — submerge them and they rot.

Tropical Fish

The rare one: Ansorge’s Bichir

Ansorge’s Bichir (Polypterus ansorgii), also sold as the Guinean Bichir, at around three inches. We almost never see this species, and only a small batch came in. Bichirs are prehistoric-looking, genuinely personable, and they grow — talk to us about adult tank size and a tight-fitting lid before you commit to one. They are escape artists.

Nano and schooling fish

Neon Tetra · Golden Neon Tetra · White Cloud Minnow, standard and Gold · Rainbow Badis · Longfin Cherry Barb · Tiger Barb · Zebra Danio · Congo Tetra · Orange Rice Fish (Medaka) · Endler Guppy. See everything newest first in tropical fish.

Centerpiece and oddball

Dwarf Puffer (Malabar, also sold as the pea puffer) at about half an inch — the nano tank favourite, and worth knowing up front that they do not cohabit with shrimp. Also in: Wrestling Halfbeak, Discus, Green Terror, Oscar, Blood Parrot, Mono Sebae and Red Honey Gourami, plus African Dwarf Frogs in Blonde and Zaire Platinum.

Bettas and livebearers

Show Quality Betta, Female Betta and assorted. Male and female Guppies, Short-fin Molly and Balloon Molly.

Bottom dwellers and cleanup crew

Otocinclus, Assorted Corydoras, Julii Cory, and the UFO (Reticulated Hillstream) Loach — a flat, fast biofilm grazer that sits right on your hardscape. It is one of the few algae eaters that actually looks like part of the layout instead of a maintenance crew.

Snails and clams

On the invert side: Nerite Snails in Horned Tricolor, Pumpkin Pink and Tiger, plus Golden Rabbit Snails and Yellow Mini Clams. Nerites will not breed in freshwater, which is exactly why they are the safe choice for a display scape.

Live Food

Live blackworms are in and available. They do not ship well, so this is an in-store item only — but if you have picky eaters, wild-caught fish settling in, or you are conditioning a pair, they are worth the trip.

Questions We Get Asked About This Batch

Which shrimp should a beginner start with?

Neocaridina — Cherry, Bloody Mary, Blue Dream or Snowball. They handle San Diego tap parameters better than Caridina and will breed on their own once the tank is stable. Start with one colour line.

Can dwarf puffers live with shrimp?

No. Dwarf puffers hunt snails and small inverts, and adult shrimp are on the menu. Keep them in a species tank and feed them snails and live food.

How do you plant Bucephalandra and Anubias?

You do not plant them. Tie or superglue the rhizome to stone or driftwood and leave it exposed — burying the rhizome in substrate rots the plant. Both are low-light and slow, so they are the safest plants in a new tank.

Do these plants need CO2?

The epiphytes, ferns, mosses, Vallisneria and Crypts do not. The red stems and the carpets — HC, UG, Hairgrass, the Rotalas and Ludwigias — will grow far better with it. See the step-by-step aquascape setup guide for how we build these tanks.

Do you ship, or hold livestock?

Livestock is in-store only, and we do not hold. Fixed pricing for everyone, no promo codes — the early crowd gets the pick.

Come See It in San Diego

Stock varies between our two San Diego locations, so give us a call before you drive out and we will tell you what is where.

Pet Zone Tropical Fish
Kearny Mesa — 4160 Convoy St, San Diego, CA 92111
Mid-City — 4266 University Ave, San Diego, CA
(866) 693-4749 · Hours and directions

We are San Diego’s first aquascape-focused local fish store — a design store, not a pet store. New arrivals land most weeks; the blog and our restock email are the fastest way to see what came in.