The Fish Bowl: 2117 E Race Ave, Searcy, Arkansas 72143
Central (North-East-ish) Arkansas
Positives: Kind of rare, sorta exotic fish, and a relatively decent array of dry foods, but its mostly Omega One, both dry and frozen foods. They sometimes have good pieces of Malaysian driftwood in stock. They have a relatively big indoor pond for koi/goldfish. The store goes into both salt and freshwater, and around half of the store is dedicated to fish; the other half is for birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, small mammals, etc. Also sells aquariums.
Negatives: ... Ok, first off, the store sells some very big fish in its very tiny tanks (Aros, "teacup" stingrays, oscars, large angels; all in tanks that are about 15 gallons). Some of the employees seem knowledgeable, but when I asked one for the scientific name of the teacup stingrays, she told me that I could go look it up. I saw a neon dottyback (saltwater) that can't have been bigger than a quarter of an inch, in a tank of seahorses and full grown pyjama cardinals. The corals are very expensive, and the selection of plants is...abysmal.
Ok, I feel the need to rant a little bit here. You don't keep arowanas in 15 gallon tanks, especially when the arowana is about half the length of the aquarium and has to turn around constantly. If you have a fish, and somebody asks for the scientific name, you don't just tell them to "look it up". Teacup ray-a generic name for ALL STINGRAYS; they also don't max out at 12-18 inch diameters (at least most of them). Paradise fish are NOT gouramis (saw them labelled as such). And for the love of all things fishy, you do not sell a common pleco to a person who's starting with a 10 gallon tank, just for it to eat algae!!!! The inch of fish rule is defunct, and neon tetras don't max out at just one inch! I don't remember ADF's being able to grow to "the size of a softball, and able to jump out of a tank", last I checked, they stayed small. When I saw what looked like a painted glassfish, the employee I asked said "look at the labels" which were just sharpie, and did not note that they had painted glassfish. More importantly, these people are still selling dyed fish. The corals are way too expensive. Juvenile ocellaris clowns are not meant to be housed with harlequin tuskfish. Pearl gouramis are not meant to be housed with opaline, gold, and "paradise" gouramis. Saltwater tanks don't just take 30 days to be ready for a saltwater fish. They don't keep up with people asking for special orders of fish, even those as simple as pygmy and panda corydoras. They still sell feeder fish. Half of the fish they sell, I don't feel should go in the normal aquarists aquarium (Mono sebae, freshwater flounder, teacup rays, ropefish, severums, and other fish). Disclaimer: as far as I know, and from what I've observed and experienced, this is not libel, as everything I have typed in the above, has been true. Should the store being described change in the future for the better, I will edit this post. Aquarists of Arkansas, please don't bother coming to visit here, it's really not worth your time.