Nearly three quarters of the animals at Second Nature Aquariums had died and almost all of the fish after the blaze cut the store's power, leaving the tanks without working air pumps.

But a little more than two months later and he has reopened his store, albeit a couple doors down from their previous spot at 161 Summer Street.

"We've basically been waiting on the insurance and the real estates on what we can do and waiting to hear if we can move back in and open up." Mr Loecker said.

"Then about seven or eight weeks after the fire we found out we could move shops so then we started looking and there wasn't much available."

He said the old store was still viable, but the water damage was just too much.

"The shop looked alright but there was water all over the floor," Mr Loecker added.

"The walls were wet and soggy and if you touched them they moved a little bit, but most of the stuff was alright."

That was when he found the new site at 149 Summer Street and was back in business on Monday, with customers already keen to check out the animals.

"We moved into the previous store just before Christmas so we traded there for three months and then had to move again. It's been painful and I need a new back," the business owner said.

"Now it's so much better than sitting at home waiting for calls and things like that. It helps fills up the bank account again."

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