Rivers & Reefs Pet Center

I adore this little place. I always get friendly, informative advice and customer service from them. I no longer live in Austin, but it is my pet store of choice. I feel like they truly want the best for all animals and pets regardless of profitability. You may find cheaper prices elsewhere, but you won’t find that level of integrity at many big box stores.

I got the wrong food from them so I called and they assured me it was fine to give my cat the dog food. Well it turned out it was not fine and required two expensive trips to the vet. I shared this with the owners and it was no big deal to them. Sure you can return the food and exchange but the damage was already done. Based on their advice and the way the shop is arranged, all hoarder style with the food all mixed. A year after this very painful experience the owners wife brought it up just to rub my face in the fact I once bought the wrong food. She showed me how they are totally arrogant unprofessional and rude, too belligerent to see their negligence and the pain and suffering and expense they caused. It’s because of them I don’t believe in always going to mom and pop stores, they could use some corporate customer service training and a cleaning crew on that dirty hole.

Rivers and reefs is a great local pet store! I for sure love it and go there pretty regularly! They are pretty small but for the location size they manage to carry everything! Because they are a small place they only carry the best of the best! No low quality stuff! Each and every person there really knows their stuff and is so passionate about ALL animals! I fully trust their advice and I love how they are great at remembering faces and what animals you have and what you normally get! It really is a pet store that caters to each individual pet owner not just a bulk chain that wants you to buy everything and anything.
They are a bit more pricey than your typical chain but I have no problems paying just a bit more for great service from passionate people who love their job and want to make you the best pet parent you can be!
A must go if you haven’t yet! You will be so pleased with the service and quality of all their products

Great little spot– they have a full selection of raw diet food for cats and dogs which is great! I have been struggling with finding a place in Austin that carries Primal brand food. The staff has always been more than helpful and it appears that the owners know many of the customers by name, which is pretty awesome.

Minimal freshwater selection last time I went which was maybe 2 years ago. Saltwater selection was ok. Minimal staff but they were nice once I got their attention — although they weren’t very motivated/​forthcoming in offering their help. I asked them to special order me a certain type of fish which I don’t know if they did as I never heard back from them. Not impressed. Maybe they’re better now — dunno. Aquatek, Aqua Dome and Fish Gallery are better for fish. Their dog and cat stuff selection seemed pretty good though.

The Bad:
The store isn’t clean. Actually, it looks quite dirty… From the beginning I was worried about the environment being safe for my bird, but they seemed to know what they were doing and their prices are amazing for bird boarding. I’ve left my bird there a few times now, but after her last two stays she came back looking stressed and sick. They certainly didn’t clean her cage frequently enough (after a weekend stay it was a complete mess), and I imagine having a cat running around doesn’t help any of the birds with stress. I really can’t take my bird back there unless they do a serious cleaning overhaul.
The store itself looks and feels like a cluttered basement warehouse owned by a hoarder. Shelves and tanks and cages are stacked precariously high… It’s not inviting.
The Good:
The staff has always been great in my experience. They seem knowledgable, and genuinely care about your pets. Their rates for bird boarding are also unbelievably low — $ 2 a day for my cockatiel when I’ve supplied her food, and I believe $ 8 when they supply food. If I wasn’t concerned about my bird’s health, I would keep coming back.
TL;DR
I really want to like this place, but they need to close up shop for a weekend, clear everything out, and scrub the place spotless. Heck, I’ll even volunteer to help. So please clean up, Rivers and Reefs! For the wellbeing of your animals!

The owner is super duper friendly a real Austinite and is free to give great advise on all pets. A little light on saltwater fish and supplies, but they do have a fantastic frozen food selection. Only reason I hold back on the five Estrella rating is that the woman there treats you like you don’t know anything about salt water tanks. I’ve had one for over 30 years and currently have a 400 gallon system with a huge refugium. She is knowledgable to a point and is snooty about it which leaves you feeling shitty when you leave. Really plan to do my saltwater shopping at Aquadome from now on. Just not worth dealing with that.

A wonderful local establishment with a healthy selection of fish and other pet supplies. The best part of the store is the very helpful staff, that helped a novice like me put together my first ever fish tank. I highly recommend any aquarium afficienado stop by.

I really feel like R&R’s web site doesn’t do them justice, so I want to write a quick review to support this great local business.
When I wanted a new dog food for our dog, James and Rachel immediately ordered it and started to carry the whole line of food. How great!
The other reason I make sure to get all my pet supplies at Rivers and Reefs is because of their «Reef Bucks» program wherein they keep track of your purchases and give a discount when a level is reached.
It r really is a great little place with surprising selection.

Nice selection of freshwater fish. The employees both greeted me and, when asked, had opinions on planted tank set up and maintenance. The owner was obviously experienced and knowledgeable. The selection of hard scape rocks trumps anyone else in town, in my opinion.
And for dog owners, they also have some interesting interactive dog toys/​feeders. I actively search for new stuff online and they had some brands I was not aware of. Impressive!

RnR replaced Tomlinson’s for me, paws down. First off, I don’t have to pay a yearly fee to get a decent deal on my cat food. The prices are the same if not better. Second, they are super knowledgeable about the various lines they carry, AND they have all sorts of redemption programs where you buy X number of a product and get an item for free. This is the case with the Acana dry kibble and also the litter that I use for my cats. ALSO, when you purchase $ 100 of product (they will keep track for you), you get a $ 10 credit to use on a future purchase. I don’t know of any other store who offers such a deal, and with two boy kitties on a student budget, this is a lifesaver for me.
One of my kitties has health issues, and they’ve always had excellent advice to help me manage his problems. I am in the store at least twice a month, and while it’s a small space, it’s never smelled weird to me, nor has it been unclean. I’m not a fish person, so I can’t comment on the tanks. But as far as cats and dogs, they know what’s up. And please do not be ignorant and compare an independent store to a big box like PetCo; RnR carries superior lines of food, and they do not have the space for seven aisles of toys. Derp.

The people at Rivers and Reefs are so nice. I stopped in the other day to get a harness for Tanner. He pulls and pulls and makes walking him an exercise in trying to keep my shoulder intact.
I explained the type of harness I wanted, and was immediately shown something much better (not more expensive btw). It’s a Sporn non-​pull harness and is akin to a miracle for dogs that have a lot of energy and make walking a chore.
Tanner and I both like it, and he’s much easier to walk now. Thanks Rivers and Reefs!

The people in this store are very nice and glad to help you with your hobby. I think that lots of the people that are bitching are just passive aggressive idiots. If you aren’t happy with a product then return it. They will accept it if it’s not right. I see others having problems but rather than addressing them directly with the store they just complain incessantly on Unilocal which doesn’t solve anything.
Another person said «nobody spoke to me». Well, maybe you didn’t speak to them either. You have to ask questions in order to get answers. Another comment of stupidity. Every time I have asked questions about aquariums these guys have been very friendly and helpful. The aquariums are very well priced from what knowledge I have of aquarium costs.
I have bought fish at Petsmart and they simply don’t live long. If you want to buy fish that will live longer then go to a store like this to buy them. Lots of people don’t know how to run an aquarium properly because they’re total idiots and never clean their tanks anyway which is why they have problems, or they don’t condition their water properly before putting fish in the highly chlorinated water from the tap.
Bottom line:
— People are nice but you have to ask questions
— Prices on aquariums are decent
— Some other reviewers posting negative comments are passive aggressive idiots.

These folks are great. You can tell they really care about your pet and you as well. They are good listeners and help you with your individual concerns.
My cat was having trouble keeping on weight and her fur was rather shabby. They helped me to find a food that was within my budget and it has made a huge difference. She is now healthy and happy, a totally different cat in body and attitude.
They only carry food they feel good about, not just to get your money on something that is not healthy or too expensive for what you need.

Let me start off by saying that I am ALL ABOUT supporting independent businesses and avoid giant chains if at all possible regardless of low prices. That being said? Wow! The HIGHEST prices I’ve ever paid for fish, and I’ve been keeping fish for the better part of 2 decades. I don’t mean simply that they’re higher priced, I mean that they are exorbitantly, ridiculously over-​priced.
Why did I buy them, then? I was pressed for time as I was purchasing these fish on the fly for a client (I own an aquarium maintenance and design company) who called me out of the blue and wanted to add new fish to her aquarium for a party that she was hosting. To accommodate her and beat the clock before her guests began arriving Rivers & Reefs was my only option. Sadly.
As another reviewer mentioned here, the employees (owner included) were yelling things to each other throughout the store. Since none of it was actually directed AT me it took me a while to realize that they were talking ABOUT me and the fish I was selecting. It’s akin to somebody talking about you in the 3^rd person when you are sitting right there with them. It’s one thing to ask a costumer if they know how to acclimate a specimen. I get that, but after telling them repeatedly that I was aware of the process, they opted to condescendingly take it upon themselves to tell me how important acclimation was to avoid fish loss. This is 1 but one of several similar occurrences that transpired during this, my first, last, and only trip to this place.
To top it off the girl «helping me» seemed borderline «pissed off» the entire time and didn’t so much as thank me for the business after dropping nearly $ 100 in the store.
I mentioned earlier that I shopped here out of necessity due to a time constraint. I should add that it took approximately 45 minutes for her to bag my fish for me. Most of which all came from 1 tank and I wasn’t asking for specific fish.
The one positive thing I can say about Rivers and Reefs is that the staff does seem to love all things animal, but that hardly is enough to merit my business.
To sum up:
The service was slow and condescending.
The prices are astronomical.
The selection is «meh» at best.

I have absolutely no idea what the fuss is all about. This store was smelly and crowded. It needs a serious merchandising overhaul, it’s difficult to shop here. I have cats, dogs, and several aquariums. We went there mostly for fish, if you have multiple aquariums, you’re always on the lookout for varieties of fish. No one spoke to me, but now, I’m glad they didn’t. I’d be quite annoyed at having to describe my filter mechanics before each fish sale. (I use double filtration on all my tanks, thanks. Ooooh, but what if they don’t like the brand I use??) And I’m surely not listing my entire fish population for you either. I did hear these conversations directed towards the other customers in the store, I just wasn’t aware that was directed towards *every* customer as other reviews state.
Back to the fish. Selection was poor, like I said, tanks weren’t pristine, as I expect. The tanks weren’t exactly something I’d want to buy a fish from. Dirty and with an overgrowth of algae. If I bought fish from here, I’d quarantine them for 3 months just because of how sad the tanks looked. Oh, but wait… unless I read the signs incorrectly in the store… they do that for me? The signs said (in red). all fish sold are quarantined for two weeks before leaving. Um… excuse me??? Correct me if I’m wrong on this sign owners, but I’m not buying a fish for you to «quarantine» for two weeks, and for me to drive back out to you, only for me to take home to MY quarantine tank. Negative. No.
After the huge disappointment the fish «section» (aisle) was, we moved on the the rest of the store. I saw nothing to impress me. No unique toys, and as usual ridiculously high prices of the local pet store. I love local pet stores, and I’ll support you. You can charge $ 1 – 2 more, but any more than that, and I’ll just buy from Petco and get my rewards «cash».
I left buying a rock, and bone treat for my dog. $ 4 total. Aquatek got all of my money an hour later.

The owner and staff are very friendly. I came here because I wanted to switch to Oxbow food and I saw they carried it (it’s the best). They have a nice selection of toys for small animals and some beautiful fish.
They have the best prices in town in addition to frequent buyer perks.

I LOVE Rivers & Reefs! This is the best store ever! The owners and their staff are awesome. I have hungry, finicky cats and I drop by there every couple of days to re-​stock favorites. James and Rachel very graciously allow me to return unopened wet canned food to trade out for something more delicious.
They take the time to educate their customers about the foods in their store and since they are also big cat fanatics, they have given me a lot of great guidance in all things cat-​related.
I used to shop at Bark n Purr, but they sell everything at Rivers & Reefs that I need, and they will even special order food for you.
Rivers & Reefs is so much more than a pet store. It feels a lot like a little community and if you go there often, you’ll know what I mean. You can’t get this kind of customer service anywhere else!

I came here for some amphibian supplies and was underwhelmed. What made me very uncomfortable, however, was the assistance given to a mom and her daughter in front of me. They bought a nice goldfish, with a little bowl.
Goldfish will die in a little bowl. They produce an enormous amount of waste and ammonia for their size and they need oxygen in their water. Goldfish, much more so than tropical fish, need filters and a good size area for them to live in. Most stuff I read about goldfish recommend ten gallons for every inch of goldfish to keep them healthy.
So, they just sentenced that fish to death. What a great lesson to teach that little girl who was excited about her first fish. Made me sick to my stomach. Completely irresponsible.
UPDATE: The owner contacted me recently and said that it is not their policy to let anyone do that to a goldfish and actually recommend 20 – 30 gallons of filtered water for each goldfish. He actually searched his records to see if this sale had happened because it would never have happened on his watch. Color me impressed. I must have seen an aberrant sale by a salesperson who didn’t know the policy. Now I know that they won’t do this ever again. Good to see people who respect the wonderful and underrated goldfish!!!

Amazing store! It’s a short walk from my house and has everything. The prices are very competitive. I had also been agonizing because I don’t currently have a car and it is a pain trying to walk home with a huge bag of litter, also a pain to carry on the bus, expensive for a cab ride, etc. They had a smaller bag of World’s Best Cat Litter that was carry-​able! I got 5 lbs of grain free cat food, a 7 lb bag of litter and some Feline Greenies for $ 30! I thought that was very reasonable. The woman at the counter was friendly and knowledgable. They also offer a punch card and you get a free bag of cat food after you buy 10. I was able to carry all of this home with just myself and a medium size messenger bag. A great experience! Please shop here and don’t patronize the huge retail chains! Shop local!