Social media star thriving at Oregon brick-and-mortar fish store

Published 5:00 am Thursday, June 4, 2026

Fish enthusiast, influencer and now small business owner.

Wood Village’s Britney Ta has accomplished some pretty impressive things at just 24 years old. She has a massive following of more than 8 million people across her social media platforms, has cultivated a rare fish to the delight of hobbyists across the country, has invented products to aid at-home aquariums, and has opened a brick-and-mortar business.

But all that is thanks to her love of fish.

“My dad is from Vietnam, and when he was young, he would catch bettas all the time in the rice fields,” Ta said. “Fish keeping was his hobby, and soon it became mine at a really early age.”

That hobby pushed Ta to start her own YouTube channel, Fish4Ever, back in 2013 when she was 13 years old — her very first video is still online. That foray into digital video sharing spurred everything to follow. It took about eight years for things to take off.

“I originally started posting just out of love for the hobby with no expectations at all,” Ta said. “It took about eight years before I really started getting recognition for my content.”

From there, social media content creation became her full-time job while she was in college.

“I was able to grow something I genuinely enjoyed,” Ta said.

While caring for those fish and making her videos, she stumbled upon a type of guppy that further changed her life. Four years ago, Ta came across the glass-belly guppy, a rare see-through variant. When the females are pregnant, you can see through their belly and see the tiny eyes of their babies.

“I was completely fascinated and in love with these little creatures, and unintentionally started breeding them as a hobby,” Ta said.

At first, she sold those special guppies to followers/supporters on social media. But she struggled to keep up with the demand, as it was a hobby. She kept getting more and more tanks until her mom’s house more closely resembled an aquarium. The living room had been completely filled with 30-plus tanks.

“That is when I realized it was time for a dedicated space,” Ta said.

Fish4Ever

Fish4Ever Aquatics, 23609 NE Halsey St., in The Byways shopping center in Wood Village, had a grand opening at the start of the year. It is open from 12-6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, and 1-6 p.m. Sundays. The shop has everything you need to build and maintain your dream aquarium. There is a mix of rare and common fish, axolotls, plecos, shrimp, live plants, and invertebrates. They have tanks, filters, lighting, substrates, decorations, live/frozen/dry foods, and decorations.

A great place to start for an aquarium newcomer is a Walstad tank, which allows a person to stock it with plants and animals that create a self-sufficient ecosystem. That keeps everything healthier and removes a lot of the cleaning/maintenance demands.

“We want to try to mimic nature as closely as possible,” Ta said.

Continued growth

Things have been going great in Wood Village.

“I’ve been shocked by how many local fish lovers there are in the area,” Ta said. “When I opened this space, I thought it would just be for storage.”

When the shop first opened, she imagined most sales would remain online, given her early days of shipping fish across the country. But, to her surprise, more than 70% of Fish4Ever Aquatics’ customer base is local.

“We’ve even had customers travel more than six hours back and forth to pick up their axolotls,” she said. “I have met so many fish and axolotl lovers, even some who have been watching my videos online, and it’s been awesome building relationships with regulars who share the same passion.”

The space has high ceilings and plenty of room to grow. There are 76 tanks in the shop and more than 100 types of fish. The online store is still up and running: fish4everaquatics.com. You can also special-order fish using Fish4Ever’s distributor network. And the team of employees, made up of fellow hobbyists, has been a boon.

“My team is the best. I couldn’t do any of this without them,” Ta said.

Running a physical business has been a learning curve. There is also something new to tackle.

“I’m really grateful for all the support so far and hope even more people come check out the store,” Ta said. “Thank you for believing in me — this is all because I love this hobby so much and want to keep sharing it with others.

Fish4Ever Aquatics

Where: 23609 NE Halsey St., Wood Village

Hours: 12-6 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 1-6 p.m. Sun.

Website: fish4everaquatics.com