New Wave Tropical Fish

This shop is fantastic! The owners take the time to listen and truly know what they are talking about. I won’t go anywhere else!

Nice selection of tropical fish and coral

HEALTHY CORAL & FISH! This is a great store. The owners (husband and wife) are very helpful and pleasant. I have bought a few fish & invertebrates and TONS of SOFT CORALS, POLYPS, a SPS from here and EVERYTHING has lived and flourished! I’m like a kid in a candy store with their mixed frag tanks. VERY COMPETITIVE PRICES!!! This is the best shop in OC!!!

When I come to this shop, I am like a kid in a candy store. There is a great selection of healthy salt water fish and invertebrates from which to choose. The reason I’m up writing this right now is that I woke early and worked on my reef tank (it’s 4 AM) and I starred thinking about the large frag selection of corals at New Wave. I want to add some zoanthids and mushrooms. I know when I go there I’ll have something interesting and different to choose from for my tank. I’ve been coming here since the 90’s and must say the owners are extremely kind and knowledgable. They are honest and eager to help whenever I have a question. I’ve learned most of my reef keeping skills from hanging out at this store and asking questions or simply looking at how they keep the livestock.

Great place for saltwater fish and supplies. The fishes are housed in individual tanks to limit disease infestations. The owner Chin Liao is a very knowledgeable aquarist that really cares about the livestock. He pointed out some incompatible fishes that I have which were sold to me from other fish stores. Love this place !!!

Nice owners. I go there almost exclusively. The lamp on my tank broke, and Chin helped me figure out the right starter to replace mine. I like the fish selection. They always ask about my family when I’m there. Now that my son is back from the Air Force, guess where he gets his fish and supplies?

I’ve been coming to this fish store for about 10 years, and always find the owners to be extremely helpful and generous with their knowledge of saltwater reef aquaria. They always have equipment that I need and have developed quite a propagation tank. Always a pleasure to upgrade and maintain my tank with New Wave.

My first visit was a very pleasant one, the owners knew their stuff and was very friendly and well as helpful to a first timer like me. For being around 20+ years, their tanks were pretty clean and well maintained. I bought some stuff to add to my HOB filter, got home and found out i had no space for it. No biggie. Ill definitely be coming back for all my future purchases.

Visited this shop in between classes the other day, and can only say that there service was okay at best. The shop itself is organized, but a little dark and the fish tanks are not the best-​looking but the fish were all active and healthy looking. I went there seeking out some guppies to start of my new 29-​gallon. There was only one lady there at the time, and she ignored me for the most part. When I asked her questions about some of the fish there, she gave me short answers or used hand gestures.
When I decided I wanted to purchase a female guppy, (she had led me to the tank earlier, it was in an inconspicuous place– on the floor under a shelf of tanks, not lit) I sought her out (she wasn’t very interested in helping me) and asked if she could help me pick one out as I was having a hard time distinguishing the females from the fry that were in the same tank. She replied «how am I supposed to tell those apart? They are just fry» and left me to my own devices. Maybe because I looked younger (I’m a college student) she may have mistaken my age as an indication of my seriousness about the hobby or my intent to buy something.
Overall, it wasn’t the inviting, friendly place I was looking for as a beginner aquarist. The (freshwater) fish selection was good but nothing spectacular, and the service there was just okay.

I like this shop. the husband and wife who own it were there and we talked to them about getting some small fish to use as part of our fish bowl center pieces. we needed like 70 fish and they were willing to work with us and help us determine how to best do the fish bowl center pieces :)

I’ve been going here for 15 years, and the owners are great friends now. They consistently have the healthiest livestock, compared to livestock I have purchased elsewhere.

I live in South Orange County and I have been driving to this particular store in Orange for 20 years. I have started about 4 reef tanks during those years, and the super friendly owners have always taken the time to help me through the various stages of the hobby. They have especially helped me with issues which often arise at the start of a new tank. It doesn’t matter how small of a purchase you make, the owner will take as much time as you need to make sure all your questions are thoroughly answered. Yes, they are a smaller store, and they sometimes run out of certain fish, but the overall health and quality of the fish and corals have consistently been superior to other stores. Whatever it is you’re looking for, if they don’t have it, tell the owner, and he will usually be able to get it for you, or tell you when the next shipment is arriving. It is well worth the wait.

The couple really know what they are doing. I had a 28 gallon nano cube with algae problems; no matter what I tried it always came back. This man showed me what to do, gave me some cheap bacteria, and in about 2 days it cleared up. I have been going to this guy for about a year now and all the fish I got from him are thriving. He’s really nice, and passionate for what he does. Not an ordinary mom and pop shop. It’s a little disorganized, but the couple know what they are talking about.

Not much bad could be said about this store imo. I’ve been coming in on and off for at least 10 years. Back in my freshwater days most of my livestock was purchased here. I finally stepped up to a reef tank. I buy all my water and supplies here. Over the years every time I come in to buy something it seems the price has dropped. Loyalty to your local fish store goes a long way with some owners in my experience.
Now lets get to the store. All tanks are clean at all times, fish always appear healthy, and they have a pretty good variety. I purchased my very first coral here from the $ 7 section of the frag tank. Just a common green Zoa you would find at most stores. I’ve been amazed at the health and growth rate of this bad boy. Especially looks awesome under the blue LEDs. Its one of the nicest Zoas I have.
As for the owners. They are a husband and wife who are some of the nicest most attentive people you’ll meet. Every question I’ve ever asked got a pretty straight forward answer. I’ve never felt like I was being BSed into buying something. I will continue to trust them and keep coming back for as long as I can.

Small mom and pop shop that sells aquariums, supplies, fish and coral (i think). They seem to have a vast selection of fish and out of all the stores I have been to I think their fish are the most memorable to me. Prices are a little high on supplies but owners are super nice and knowledgable.

New Wave is a small store that utilizing the space very well, lot’s of live stock and not too cramped. When I was in they had a large selection of tanks, fish and corals. The owner is friendly.

Small store that has friendly owners and good saltwater. The fish and coral selection is just ok, I’d love to see more and the prices are on the higher side.
That said, I purchased the healthiest rose bubble tip here that I have ever seen. It is thriving and not one if those pathetic bleached dying anemones most stores have.

One of the best. The owner takes the time to undersdand your tank and your interests and then makes spot on recommendations. My average age of fish species has improved 300% when I buy for New Wave. This place and Amazing Aquariums & Reefs on Katella are the only places in Central OC that I can say are in it for you, and not the next sale of a fish from the phillipines that will die in six months.

I really like the husband and wife that own the place. they are very nice, the fish that they have are extremely healthy. and not priced high at all. I have bought a lionfish and two puffers from them and they are doing great. their corals are priced a bit high or the sizes that they offer but again they are healthy. I fell in love with the shark mouth hanging above the register area and the guy sold it to me for a more then reasonable price. I just purchased a new larger tank and will be going here this week end to purchase water and order some fish.

only shop I was able to find any kind of moss
fresh water selection was no better than a petco or petsmart but the fish seemed healthy, couple arrows, discus and flower horn
higher end on the price scale
They breed red cherry shrimp in house but for almost 4 dollars a piece not worth it