To find the total number of fish in the pet store, we need to consider that there are 4 tanks, and each tank has k fish. The total number of fish can be expressed as follows:
\[ \text{Total number of fish} = \text{Number of tanks} \times \text{Number of fish per tank} = 4 \times k \]
Thus, the expression for the total number of fish in the store is:
\[ 4k \]