Aquarium aficionado turns hobby into business
Mike Tonemah was miserable creating artificial coral for a living, but now he’s happy as a clam because he opened a business that allows him to work with the real thing.
He and his girlfriend, Crissy Tarasiewicz, opened The Fish Shop at 9995 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 110, which marked its one-year anniversary Oct. 11. It sells a large variety of unique freshwater and saltwater fish, as well as a selection of corals. Aquariums and related supplies also are available.
Tonemah had worked for a company that built custom aquariums, but he found it repetitive. He said he had a particularly aggravating experience there one day and vented about it at home. That’s when Tarasiewicz offered to become partners with him on the new business, which Tonemah had been aspiring to open with a friend of his, but their plans didn’t pan out.
“He was complaining a lot,” Tarasiewicz said. “It was kind of just one of those things where it (his job) was kind of a dead end.”
Now Tonemah manages the array of sizable tanks and takes care of the fish inside his nearly 2,000-square-foot store with the help of one employee, while Tarasiewicz handles the administrative work.
“I take care of the accounting and emails and the customer service part of it, advertising — pretty much anything that goes on in an office,” Tarasiewicz said.
Tonemah is far from a fish out of water when it comes to taking care of them. He said he has been around them all his life, having grown up with a mother who maintained two tanks at his childhood home. He ultimately began his own collection.
“I had 17 aquariums before opening this place,” Tonemah said. “There hasn’t been a time I haven’t had one. I had a bunch at my mom’s. She’s responsible for all this. She’s the one who got me into the hobby.”
The store is split into two sections — one for freshwater fish and the other for saltwater ones. A separate tank in the saltwater section houses a variety of corals, some of them not much larger than seedlings and others as plump as cauliflower heads, all undulating and swaying as if caught in a soft breeze.
Tonemah said his main interest was in freshwater fish and planted aquariums before opening his shop and developing a new appreciation for sea life. He said he now prefers saltwater tanks because they bring him closer to nature.
“Once we opened this up, it started a whole new fish addiction and coral addiction,” he said. “It’s an eco system. It’s like you’re bringing rivers and lakes from different countries into the house — you’re bringing the ocean into the house. It’s colorful, and even some of the fish have personalities, and you’re pulling stuff from the coral reef.”
Prices at the store vary. In the saltwater section, a small, yellow, white and dark gray onyx perc went for $58. The majestic angel a couple of tanks away, featuring fluorescent blues and yellows, was $135 because the store was having a sale. Assorted damsels, meanwhile, were $15 each; they resembled the onyx percs.
In the freshwater section, a light green arowana went for $55, a blue diamond flowerhorn cost $74, and the vividly multicolored glofish were $10.
Tarasiewicz said she and Tonemah envision something larger scale in the future.
“We have plans to grow the business out and one day have a warehouse for wholesale distribution,” she said.
The Fish Shop is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays and Thursdays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Visit aquariumstoreinlasvegasnv.com or call 702-749-7879.
— To reach Henderson View reporter Cassandra Keenan, email ckeenan@viewnews.com or call 702-383-0278. Find her on Twitter: @CassandraKNews.