Located northwest of Baltimore, the Aquarium Center is a shop that has unfortunately has, at this writing, past it's prime. The store is rather large at over 15,000 sq ft and is capable of having a quite large selection, but in recent times has not been as great as it once was. One is greeted with a musty scent of mold when entering the shop. Lighting in the fish area is dim and provided mostly by the tanks. While the store has many tanks and the capability to be stellar, recent visits over the past year or so have been disappointing. Tanks have been dirty and many turned off the main system to medicate livestock. The floors are usually wet and recently entire sections have been closed due to flooding. When it comes to plants the selection is quite large with 60 tanks available to house them, but again, as of late the quality of the plants has not been what it once was. Being this site is plant driven with a FW bend I will not go into the sorry state of the marine systems, refered to as "the aisle of death" on the local reef forum. Dry goods pricing is competitive and the store has a large dry goods display area, but recent visits have found many holes in shelves and lack of depth in stocking levels. The staff is mixed, one can find knowledgeable employees but there are many employees that seem disinterested and sometimes downright rude. It seems as this store is currently skating on it's previous glory.
Guys, your right about the crappy service, but they have alot of stuff to buy, its like Fish'R'Us and that why I always come back.
My worst experience there was the last time I went about a month ago. I bought a nice black top to go over my 46 bow, it was around 90 some dollars inlcuding the plants I purchased. I gave them 6 20's by accident(I should of gave him 5 20's) and the guy took my extra 20 and I didnt realize this till I got into my step dads car and we were driving home.
The employee took advantage of me most likely because I am only 16, and I dont think thats right.
Like many others, I know the experience of waiting for way too long for service at the AC. However, I cheerfully drive past numberous other pet stores and a few other aquarium specialty stores for a chance to wait patiently at this place. This is a well named store, because it really is the center of the aquarium universe for folks in the greater Baltimore metro area. I was in there last Sunday, 10 minutes before closing, and the place was packed, with more people arriving right up to last minute. At 10:00 on any Saturday morning, there is always a line waiting for the store to open. You can decide for yourself what would cause so many folks to flock to a particular fish store. I'll tell you why I go. First, I love being surround by so many different people all drawn to the same place by their mutual interest in our hobby. This place is the United Nations of fish keeping. Next, I find a greater variety of plants and fish at this store than any other that I've been to. Finally, I get down to earth, pratical advise from people who are not "fish snob". If you don't want to wait in line, stop by on a work day afternoon. If you want great advise about a planted aquarium, talk to Gloria. Whatever you do, don't tell her I sent you. She is already busy enough.
gnatster- You ripped that off a fish store commentary site without giving acknowledgement (I know this because I saw that entry)...
organic sideburns- I can say that the employee probably was having a busy day, and didn't see the extra 20 you gave him. Once when I gave the guy too much, he looked at me and apologized for his mistake (even though it was mine), and gave me back the extra money.
I've been to the Aquarium Center loads of times. Everyone was very knowledgeable, and would rather lose a sale then give me the wrong information. I bought my 90-gallon from there, and the guys were very helpful and nice. There was only two tanks with disease outbreaks, but they were new shipments under quarentine. I've had to wait a while to get service in the fish area, but the employees were trying to work the best they could.
The plants are healthy (except one or two that hadn't received enough light). The marine fish are always healthy and swimming around (except one or two in quarentine). All the reptiles look healthy and well cared for. It may be dark with only lighting from the tanks, but it gives it a public aquarium feel. I love the display tanks, especially the 125-gallon planted community.
I always recommend it to beginning hobbyists roud:. I can't say enough about it!
Every time I go there I see quite a few sick marine fish. I always end up telling the employees theres marine fish gasping or floating around and the plants are not very impressive but its hard to complain compared to Exotic Aquatics plant supply.
The EA employees also have no clue about fish... They sold a family who had obvisouly JUST setup their tank 2 microswords (and with the hoods from most kits... eww that must have made a mess) and 8 guppies.
One of the guys from their old location sold me 3 neon tetras and a "pair" of guppies. This was when I didn't know much, but I later discovered what he had claimed was the female guppy was just a plain male guppy. The so called "Fish Doc" who told me I couldn't get more fish but I could get a catfish said tiger barbs could live alone... As well as cories. YIKES!
They also keep a high-flow filter in the discus tanks. They had a tank of wild discus with a high-flow filter once, and those discus were just about dead.
Sorry if I'm getting off topic :icon_roll. Well, atleast if you know your stuff EA's got some healthy fish.
But I still LOVE AC- I'm going to get a pair of german blue rams and three more cories as soon as my 29-gallon settles down .
I like AC for the prices as well, the've got my business for the next tank im doing .. a 75 gallon but i do miss the quality of service from when they were in the deerpark shopping center and then at the beginning of the move to offut rd... now i still go there once in a while for a plant or fish either EA or tom's (dead fish city) doesnt have for example those german blue rams. The knowlegde of EA employees is lacking ... i asked a person what the difference between flourish and flourish excel was and the person told me it was a more complete version of flourish ... and i saw on seachems website its just more carbon! i felt stupid as well for not doing the research myself (i bought it)
I've found that the Aquarium Center's service depends soley on when you go. In the middle of the day on a Saturday afternoon, the store can be very crowded and that affects service levels. The staff seems to range from young kids whose main job is to just dip out fish and plants, to older folk who tend to know a bit more. In my opinion the prices tend to vary widely; some of the dry goods are a bit overpriced. The staff on the "dry" side of the store tends to be very attentive even on busy days. If you are a hobbyist on a budget, hit their website and sign up for their mailing list. The Aquarium Center has a clearance sale once or twice a year and it is a very good sale! Get there early (there was a line the time I went) and you can snag some real bargains.
What happened?!? I called today to see if they had a certain fish in stock and the message was "we are sorry but Aquarium Center is closed for buisness. Aquarium Depot will be opening again in the middle of March."
What happened?!? Did it go out of buisness?!? There website won't even come up... It says "thanks for your patronage for the past 25 years".
Don't bother. This used to be one of the better places for dried goods (and fish a while back) but when I was there a couple of weeks ago it was barren. The fish are the same. I personally go to exotic aquatics when I am in the area. Better stock and prices. Just my .02.
Technically Aquarium Center no longer exists. The previous owner went bankrupt and sold the place. It is now Aquarium Depot, but from the sound of things they are still getting things back in order. It'll take some time to bounce back from the pit it has become. Hopefully one day it will be back to its former glory.
I go there about once a month at least. I have noticed improvements. The place is restocking nicely. They have more merchandise on hand now. The selection of fish looks very good. I went to buy some plants the weekend before last and there was hardly anything there to choose from. I think they just happened to be sold out, as it was late Sunday afternoon. I know of no other place I'd rather patronize. Also, they are less than 15 minutes away for me. Petsmarts and Petcos just dont do it for me.
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