Fish & Friends

Fish & Friends Fish & Friends is an aquarium store owned by two long time aquarium hobbyists.

Hey guys! I just received word that the mall will be opening two hours late today. We will see you guys at noon!
02/06/2025

Hey guys! I just received word that the mall will be opening two hours late today. We will see you guys at noon!

I’ve been having more and more customers ask for it lately, so I’m going to give it a shot. We officially have live brin...
02/05/2025

I’ve been having more and more customers ask for it lately, so I’m going to give it a shot. We officially have live brine shrimp for sale! If this batch sells well enough, I’ll start hatching some here at the store so we can have it available all the time! We also got in a small fish order, so check out what we got:

Albino Senegal Bichir
Marbled Bichir
Australian Rainbowfish
Albino Millennium Rainbowfish Pair
Millennium Rainbowfish Pair
Yellow Rainbowfish Pair
Dragon Goby
Amazon Puffers
VC-10 Hap
OB Peacock
Strawberry Peacock

Our future manager is up to 3lb 8.4oz and has upgraded to a less intensive NICU! We got to give her a bath for the first...
02/03/2025

Our future manager is up to 3lb 8.4oz and has upgraded to a less intensive NICU! We got to give her a bath for the first time last night and she did so good! It’s only a matter of time before she’s home!

Thank you guys so much for our biggest day yet yesterday! We had 50 customers and I still can’t believe it! I usually ge...
02/02/2025

Thank you guys so much for our biggest day yet yesterday! We had 50 customers and I still can’t believe it! I usually get one person a week that comes in at the slowest time of the slowest day and has negative comments like “why would you open in here?”, “I’m sure you don’t get many customers”, or the most common “what are you going to do when they tear this place down?” First of all, it blows my mind that people are that miserable that they feel the need to try and drag others down with them. Second of all, I feel like our store shows that if you are truly passionate about what you do, people will find you. It just takes some time to get the word out and answering a lot of phone calls directing people in because Google Maps hates us and keeps sending people to the diner next door.

I was scared for the longest time about what will happen to us if something happens to the mall. After seeing this, I truly believe that we’ve grown our customer base to a point that we will be ok if we’d ever need to find somewhere else to call home. Yesterday paid for all of our non-inventory expenses for the month and then some. If we keep trending in this direction, we’ll have the outside perimeter tanks running in no time along with the saltwater and reptile rooms!

No new fish are coming in today, so Tara and I are taking our first official day off since she’s been home from the hospital. We’ll have some fish and plants coming in next Sunday, so make sure to keep an eye out for that list and let me know if you have any fish requests! Also, check back tomorrow to see what all will be coming out of quarantine!

I just finished updating some of our existing mystery packs that had items that were out of stock and also made up a bun...
02/01/2025

I just finished updating some of our existing mystery packs that had items that were out of stock and also made up a bunch of new ones you guys have requested! I have yet to have a customer be disappointed in what they got. The value inside will always be equal to or greater than the value on the envelope. I know some of these have values inside that are $20-$50 more than what’s on the envelope, you just gotta be the lucky one to pull them!

The Yellow Lab Cichlid (Labidochromis caeruleus) is hands down the most recognizable African cichlid out there! Endemic ...
01/31/2025

The Yellow Lab Cichlid (Labidochromis caeruleus) is hands down the most recognizable African cichlid out there! Endemic to Lake Malawi, these bright yellow fish make you realize that you can have beautiful colors in an aquarium without spending saltwater money. You’ll just want to keep them with similar cichlids from Lake Malawi which belong to a group called Mbuna.

Mbuna is Tongan for “Rockfish” because these fish are naturally found amongst the rocks of Lake Malawi. When setting up a tank for these species, I prefer to stack rocks to make a rock wall with caves in them for the fish to swim in and out of. The different slates we carry are perfect for this as stacking flat rocks is way easier that round rocks. This is ultimately how they will make their territories and feel secure.

Yellow labs will eat whatever you put in front of their face. I personally like to feed my mbuna a diet that’s more algae based as they mainly feed on algae growing on the rock they live in. I was also always taught that too much protein can cause a condition called “Malawi Bloat”, but I’m starting to see studies that say it is actually a result of foods with high carbs. I’m not an expert on the matter, but I’ve had no problems feeding algae based foods as well as general cichlid foods to my mbuna over the years.

Some people get intimidated with cichlids, but I would honestly consider these a beginner fish. I suggest a 55 gallon as a minimum size for a group of smaller mbuna. Due to their aggression, you’ll want to crowd them a little to help curb it which means you’ll also want to add addition filtration to the tank. Maxing out at about 4”, you can definitely fit a lot of them in a tank. As with all African cichlids, they prefer a higher pH with a range of about 7.5-8.5 and a temperature range of about 74-82. With proper care, you can expect to have these guys for about 6-10 years. So if you’re looking to dive into the world of cichlids with a stunning, easy to care for species, then stop in and grab some yellow labs!

Just realized that I forgot to post some of the new arrivals from this past Sundays shipment! I think the giant oto cats...
01/29/2025

Just realized that I forgot to post some of the new arrivals from this past Sundays shipment! I think the giant oto cats might be my favorite from this order. Definitely an interesting looking fish.

We got a restock on spider wood and Black Forest driftwood yesterday along with some more dragon stone, elephant skin st...
01/28/2025

We got a restock on spider wood and Black Forest driftwood yesterday along with some more dragon stone, elephant skin stone, and hakkai stone! We also got in more of the super popular bookshelf tanks! We got them in 3 gallon, 6.4 gallon, and 12 gallon! We also brought in some 3 gallon bow fronts and a 7.13 gallon cube tank! Lots of possibilities with these beautiful rimless tanks paired up with our continuously growing selection of hardscape! If you’re interested in bookshelf tanks, don’t wait! They sold out really fast last time and I don’t order from this company often due to higher minimums. Also, we will be placing another plant order for delivery on the 9th, so let us know what you’re looking for!

UPDATE!!!!Thankfully, I have friends that are way more tech savvy than me, so here is a link you can follow where I will...
01/27/2025

UPDATE!!!!
Thankfully, I have friends that are way more tech savvy than me, so here is a link you can follow where I will update our stock list at the end of every day! You can bookmark it and come back to it whenever you want to see what we have!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Oxu60qnZIoIqcRiqLDexQYoZNCXo9i0lipOsG9kF37k/edit

Here is our current stock list! A lot of people ask for this, but don't understand how tricky it can be at times to keep it updated. I only make these up when we're involved with a large event or a club wants to do a group buy from us. Since two clubs are doing group buys from us in the next few weeks, I have created this stock list to show all of the fish and invertebrates in stock. It does not include plants and live foods at the moment. Please keep in mind that this list is accurate as of 5:00pm yesterday, January 26th, 2025. This list will not get updated in real time as stuff sells out, so if you see something on here, please DO NOT assume it will be here if you come in at a later date. If you're making a trip out for a specific fish on the list, it is best to call to see if we still have it. We also do not ship at the moment, but it is in the plans in the near future.

01/26/2025

New fish day! Here’s what we’re getting!

Marlier’s Julie
Blue Panda Dwarf Cichlid
Longfin Panda Cory
Candy Cane Tetra
Emperor Tetra
Emerald Dwarf Rasbora
Bumble Bee Cichlid
Cobalt Blue Zebra
Snow White Cichlid
Redhead Cichlid
Perlmutt
Sun Loach
Frecklefin Eel
Burmese Border Loach
Siamese Algae Eater
Redtail Shark
Rainbow Shark
Bala Shark
T-Bar Cichlid
Threadfin Acara
False Keyhole Cichlid
Royal Acara
Elegant Cory
Emerald Catfish
Giant Otocinclus
Proteus Pike Cichlid
Gold Barb
Rusty Cichlid
Blue Badis
Harlequin Rasbora
Ram Cichlid
Wrestling Halfbeak
Dwarf Pipefish
Pea Puffer
Yellow Cherry Shrimp
Pom Pom Crab
Red Pumpkin Snail
Borneo Panther Crab

The Fireline Danio (Devario sondhii) is a very attractive schooling species from the clear waters of Myanmar. Like most ...
01/25/2025

The Fireline Danio (Devario sondhii) is a very attractive schooling species from the clear waters of Myanmar. Like most danios, they are very active and do great in most community tanks. I wouldn’t put them with anything super small, slow, or anything with longer fins as they can be nippy. They do like to swim against current, so a small powerhead or a filter with a higher output will be greatly appreciated by them. Growing to about 2.5-3”, they aren’t the smallest community fish, so just make sure you give them adequate space, preferably a long tank over a tall tank.

In their natural environment, the water is pristine and has a lot of plant life, so it would definitely be wise to mimic this in the aquarium. Keeping up with water changes is a must as these guys don’t do the greatest when the water quality starts to decline. Other than that, they are very hardy and easy to care for fish. Fireline Danios are just as easy to s*x as other danios. Females will have the bigger bellies while the males will be more streamline. Males will also display more vibrant colors in mature specimens.

Like every danio species I’ve ever kept, these guys will eat you out of house and home. There is no food they will say no to. I would highly encourage you to mix some live and/or frozen foods into their diets. With them being so active, they definitely need a high quality diet to keep up with their metabolism. Not only that, but a high quality diet will also make their colors stand out even more.

As I mentioned before, these guys are easy to care for. They like their pH close to neutral, so shoot for anywhere between about 6.5-7.5. They are a good candidate for non-heated tanks, but can accept a pretty wide variety of temperatures. As long as you keep the tank at about 68-79 degrees, they’ll do just fine. With proper care, you can expect to have these guys for 5-8 years! So if you want an active, beautiful schooling fish, stop in and grab a group of Fireline Danios!

The Daisy’s Ricefish (Oryzias woworae) is a beautiful nano fish endemic to the Mata air Fotuno stream in Indonesia. This...
01/22/2025

The Daisy’s Ricefish (Oryzias woworae) is a beautiful nano fish endemic to the Mata air Fotuno stream in Indonesia. This is a slow moving stream surrounded by dense forest cover, so if you want to mimic their natural environment, you’ll want a sand and/or muddy bottom and some leaf litter. While it’s definitely not required to keep these guys, I personally will always try to push you towards a natural looking tank. I would also encourage you to put some live plants in the tank. Not only will it really make them pop, but they deposit their eggs on plants and breeding is bound to happen when you have a group. They tend to leave the eggs alone, but it seems like small fry are fair game.

They are a schooling species, so it’s definitely best to keep them in groups. With these guys only growing to an inch or so in length, I don’t feel like it would be very enjoyable to only keep one or two anyways. Daisy’s Ricefish are very easy to distinguish between males and females. The bottom one in the picture is the male and the top is the female. As with a lot of animals, the males tend to have more color and be more attractive. Clearly this isn’t the case in humans as Tara is WAAAYYYYY better looking than me, but I digress.

Caring for these little guys is extremely easy and I believe they would be a great candidate for a first fish, especially in a nano tank. They will accept any food that fits in their mouth, so crushed flakes and small live, frozen, or freeze fried foods like microworms, tubifex worms, and you could even chop some bloodworms for them. Given their natural environment, they do like their water a little more acidic, but they’ll gladly accept a pH range of about 6.0-7.5. They do like their water a little on the warmer side, but will do just fine anywhere between about 73-80 degrees. With proper care, you can expect to have these little guys for about 4 years. So if you’re looking for an attractive and hardy nano fish, come in and grab a group of Daisy’s Ricefish!

African Butterfly Cichlid Part 2I’ve had a few folks come in after seeing our post about this peaceful West African dwar...
01/21/2025

African Butterfly Cichlid Part 2

I’ve had a few folks come in after seeing our post about this peaceful West African dwarf cichlid and they still seemed skeptical about being able to put them in their community tank. Naturally, I did what any sane shop owner would do and threw my most expensive schooling fish, red tail penguin tetras, into the tank with them to show that I 100% trust these cichlids in a community tank. It has been several days and no losses or even nipped fins.

Please understand that I will NEVER give you false information to make a sale. I have lost a lot of money being honest with people. I could have told one customer that an axolotl would actually be ok in a 5 gallon or another customer that the oscar they wanted would get along with everything in their community tank. If you ask me something and I don’t have an answer, I will straight up tell you that I don’t know, but I’ll also find out for you.

The snow really put us behind yesterday and we were just trying to be in and out as fast as possible, so I only managed ...
01/20/2025

The snow really put us behind yesterday and we were just trying to be in and out as fast as possible, so I only managed to snap one picture of some of the discus that came in before we left. It doesn’t do them justice but these are definitely the biggest and nicest ones to date! I will also say that, even though I personally don’t like balloon mollies or any other short body variant of fish, they did come in EXTREMELY nice! Very large and very healthy! We also picked up a handful of pea puffers to hold us over until our large order comes in and they are all fat and happy as well!

01/19/2025

New Fish Day! Unfortunately, we have a double whammy this week as our Singapore order isn’t coming due to problems securing space to ship and there were some technical issues, so our Thailand order is also not coming. Here’s what we will be getting in though!

Yellow Acara
Slant Bar Cory
Red Stripe Eartheater
Flag Cichlid
Oto Cats
Red Hump Eartheater
Four Line Pim
Elisae Cory
Green Fire Tetra
Brilliant Rummynose Tetra
Ember Tetra
Golden Pencilfish
White Cloud Mountain Minnow
Dwarf Rasbora
Red Cherry Shrimp
L018 Golden Nugget Pleco
L056 Chubby Pleco
L015 Candy Stripe Pleco
L067 Yellow Edge Pleco
Assorted Discus
Reticulated Hillstream Loach
Half Moon Red Dragon Guppy
Apple Tricolor Platy
Marigold Swordtail
Assorted Balloon Molly

You can take the shop owner out of the hobby, but you can’t take the hobby out of the shop owner. I shut down our fish r...
01/18/2025

You can take the shop owner out of the hobby, but you can’t take the hobby out of the shop owner. I shut down our fish room back in the summer of 2023 so we could focus our time and energy on building out the store. For those that don’t know, we used to operate a 40 tank fish room plus 5 displays around the house. I love breeding fish and participating in BAP (Breeder Award Program) with the two clubs we belong to. I even got Breeder of the Year for most species one year.

I’ve been telling Tara that I really miss it lately, especially seeing all of the fish come through the store that I’ve never had the opportunity to keep or breed before. Being the super supportive wife she is, she suggested setting up a few tanks in the back room to get back into it a little bit. While it won’t be 40 of them (for now…) a handful of tanks will hopefully scratch the itch I’ve been feeling to feel more like a hobbyist again.

So many of you ask about Clover every day and it truly means the world to us that you guys care so much about our little...
01/17/2025

So many of you ask about Clover every day and it truly means the world to us that you guys care so much about our little girl. It’s been a while since I gave an update, so here she is! As of last night, she is up to 2lb 7oz, has no tubes in her belly anymore, doesn’t need her bilirubin light, and is taking 20mL of milk every three hours through a feeding tube. She got bumped down a level on her cpap and will hopefully be able to use her new prongs today or tomorrow that are less bulky and more comfortable. Tara got to hold her for the first time on Sunday and I got to hold her for the first time Monday. She continues to make great progress every day and, in the words of one of the NICU nurses, “She doesn’t act like she’s three months early” and another nurse wears a clip on her badge that says “Due Dates Are Overrated” which is definitely a perfect fit for Clover.

The African Butterfly Cichlid (Anomalochromis thomasi) is a peaceful West African dwarf cichlid found in the tannin stai...
01/16/2025

The African Butterfly Cichlid (Anomalochromis thomasi) is a peaceful West African dwarf cichlid found in the tannin stained waterways of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Maxing out at about 3-4”, they can do really well in somewhat smaller community tanks. They can be a little on the shy side, but adding floating plants and dither fish seem to help. Normally for cichlids, I recommend different danio species as dithers, but the fast movement of danios seems to stress these guys out, so I would opt for something less sporadic like smaller barbs and tetras.

These guys seem to do better in small groups, so I would opt to grab multiples and try to keep the s*x ratio even or skewed a little female heavy if possible. If I were putting them in a community tank, I would do some densely planted areas as well as some driftwood and caves. I would also let the tannins go in the water. It mimics their natural habitat and this species looks much more impressive in a blackwater set up. They’re definitely going to spawn if you have both s*xes, so it wouldn’t hurt to add a flat rock or two to give them a designated area. This doesn’t mean they’ll for sure use them, but I always like to put prime spawning sites on the far sides of community tanks to help reduce the amount of space they try to guard.

As far as feeding goes, they’ll eat whatever you put in front of their face, so no special diets needed. They also aren’t picky with their pH, so anything between a 6.0-8.0 should work just fine. They do like their water a little on the warmer side, so definitely try to aim between about 73-81. With proper care, you can have these little guys for about 5-8 years! So if you’re looking for an uncommon addition to your community tank, come grab some African Butterfly Cichlids! Then you can also tell everyone that says “you can’t keep cichlids in a community tank” that they’re wrong!

Address

1155 Carlisle Street
Hanover, PA
17331

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 7pm
Tuesday 10am - 7pm
Wednesday 10am - 7pm
Thursday 10am - 7pm
Friday 10am - 7pm
Saturday 10am - 7pm

Telephone

+12232670957

Website

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