Caleb Gipson has turned his childhood hobby into a business venture.
The 31-year-old Navy veteran owns Midwest Aquatics, 4413 Jeffco Blvd., south of Arnold, and his goal is to make fish keeping accessible and affordable.
“I am not in it to try to rob anybody,” said Gipson of Barnhart. “I am in it to make the hobby big again, make it cheap again. I want anybody who wants an aquarium to have an aquarium.”
Gipson said he started keeping an aquarium when he was 13 and continued the hobby until he enlisted in the Navy in 2013. He said he restarted the hobby in 2018 after leaving the Navy.
Gipson said he was not planning on starting his own business, but a shop owner in Sullivan decided to retire and the ball started rolling toward Gipson opening his store on Nov. 1, 2025.
“He decided he wanted to sell,” said Gipson, who grew up in the Arnold area and attended school in the Windsor C-1 School District. “I offered him a price, and he agreed to it. I bought everything he had in July. I looked for a place to set up, and this place became available.”
Gipson said the building just south of Arnold city limits was ideal for him because there are few specialty aquatic stores in the area, leaving most people’s options to purchase fish, aquariums and equipment to large box stores.
“When it comes to aquatic stores, the closest you have are in Mehlville (in St. Louis County),” he said. “Outside of that, they are all in St. Louis city.
“There are quite a few people in Jefferson County who keep ponds and aquariums; I wanted to come out here closer to people. I have people driving up from Ste. Genevieve. I had a gentleman stop in from Bloomsdale. He said this was the closest place he could go outside of a Petco or PetSmart.”
Gipson said his shop offers more specialized equipment and may help customers purchase fish that are not readily available at box stores.
“I have the oddball stuff,” he said. “In one tank, I have an elephant-nose fish. You don’t see that at box stores. I have rope fish. They look like little snakes. You don’t see those at box stores. At box stores, you can get guppies and mollies and common African cichlids. When you come looking for specialty stuff, you are not going to get that at a box store.
“I am setting up one tank to hold freshwater stingrays. I have a lot of customers who look for monster-style fish, anything that grows over two feet. That is redtail catfish. You won’t find that at a box store.”
Gipson said he purchases fish from two businesses, which have operated for years and ship fish in medicine to ensure they are not diseased. He said by purchasing fish in bulk, he can typically sell fish for lower prices.
“I had a customer come in the other day saying a store was going to charge him $70 for a 3-inch fish,” he said. “I am going to sell that 3-inch fish for $20 because of how cheap I am getting it.”
Gipson has 100 tanks at his shop along with numerous tank options and accessories.
He said he can cater to nearly all fish keepers from those just starting to customers who have hundreds of tanks to breed rare fish.
“You have general fish keepers, and they will get goldfish, guppies or mollies,” he said. “Then you have the true aquatic keeper who is going to keep a specific type, and they are going to breed them out because they are near extinction.”
Gipson said he can help people start an aquarium. He said he will talk with people who are keeping fish for the first time to find out what they want out of the hobby.
“I try to point them in the right direction,” he said. “If someone likes an Oscar because it looks cool, well, an Oscar grows up to be 10 inches. At 10 inches, you are going to need a 55-gallon fish tank, and they only want to have a 20-gallon fish tank. That is not going to work out.”
He said some of his customers have fairly basic small tanks with some sand and plastic plants for guppies. He also said some of his customers have 10 different tanks or a 210-gallon tank. Gipson said someone starting to keep fish will typically spend less than $100. He said tanks usually cost approximately $2 per gallon of water, and a 10-gallon tank with a filter and heater may be purchased for about $30.
“It is really not super expensive when it comes to animal keeping,” he said of fish keeping. “That price (for tanks and accessories) does not include fish. Some fish will cost $1, and some fish will cost $10. It all depends on how rare they are.
“I will say with my prices, I am not out to rob somebody. Some of my fish, like an elephant nose, sells online for a minimum of $55. I have it in store for $35.”
Gipson said for the first three months that he has been open, he has only carried freshwater fish. He intends to expand to having saltwater fish in February, and in the spring, he will begin carrying pond fish. He also said he has partnered with a contractor who can build ponds to keep fish.
For more information about Midwest Aquatics, go to midwestaquatics.net, call 636-223-0269 or email CalebG@midwestaquatics.net.