When Jerry Johnson was 12 years old, he told his pediatrician the fish tank in the doctor's waiting room looked mighty dirty.

His doctor challenged him to clean it, and then gave him $5 when the job was complete. Soon, the doctor was referring him to other physicians, and Johnson soon had a lucrative part-time job cleaning aquariums. 

Jerry Johnson still maintains and cleans fish tanks in the area, including some for clients he's served for more than 30 years. When he's not cleaning aquariums, Johnson's focusing on his new business, Syracuse Aquarium & Pond Supply.

Syracuse Aquarium, which opened Feb. 10, 2000 at 4620 North Street in Jamesville specializes in selling exotic tropical and koi, or pond fish.

Syracuse Aquarium has more than 100 fish tanks with nearly 200 varieties in the 1,500 square feet store. They also carries aquatic plants and supplies, including aquariums, gravel, and other accessories.

The store features a kids' room with brightly colored gravel, fish tank ornaments and toys. Another specialty room is decorated all in black and hosts the more exotic fish varieties.

Jerry said what makes his store unusual is that he buys fish directly from their country of origin, and then stores them in a 30-foot by 60-foot tatchery tank at his home. Many of the exotic fish are shipped directly from Thailand, African countries, Japan, and Indonesia.

The fish range in price from 89 cents to $100 for some varieties of salt water fish, Johnson said.

"The store caters more to the serious hobbyist, both children and adults," Johnson said. "And I've been doing this for 36 years, so I have the answer to most questions."

Jerry first worked in a retail store selling fish at age 14, after regularly visiting the shop to buy cleaning supplies for his aquarium-maintenance business. He opened his first pet store, The Pet Shop, on Marshall Street in Syracuse in the early 1970's. He then began expanding, at one point operating five stores, including one in Shoppingtown Mall known as Syracuse Aquarium and Pet Supply.

When his leases expired, Jerry moved out of the malls and concentrated on his store in Utica. He closed that three years ago, and then decided to open up a retail shop in Jamesville.

"I'm going back to what I did in the beginning, Jerry said. "I'm doing this for fun."

One of the hotter trends today is to stock outdoor ponds, or patio gardens , with fish.

Syracuse Aquarium offers a program where people can "rent" a pond fish from his store during the warmer months, and then "sell" it back to the store during the winter, if the pond isn't deep enough to adequately shelter it or there's no indoor aquarium.

Jerry said consumers buy the fish, and then he returns a percentage of the sale price back to them in the winter.

"We think this is going to be very popular," he said.

"People really like to create their own environment with an aquarium, or an outdoor pond, and do their own landscaping and greenery on a smaller scale."

Story Printed in The Herald-Journal

Written by Elizabeth Doran