Aquariam Adventure/Petland

abfleck

Active member
Visited this store in Schaumburg, IL today on the way to work and really not that overly impressed. This store has alot of neat freshwater set-ups (large and small) and such, but as far as saltwater, the tanks are a tad neglected. Must be cutting back on staffing. Anyways, there was a tank that had big clumps of macro algae and it had aptasia anemome's all over it. Yikes.....I would not be a happy camper it I brought this stuff home and found aptasia. I don't think I will be going back here. Looks like its great for freshwater, but not a great place for saltwater.

Thoughts?

AJ
 
I talked to a guy at the Bolingbrook one about their aptasia in a couple of the coral tanks. He said they used to rotate the live rock into the tanks with peppermint shrimp and that kept it pretty free, but he was told to stop doing that without explanation. Now they have aptasia. Sucks.
 
I talked to a guy at the Bolingbrook one about their aptasia in a couple of the coral tanks. He said they used to rotate the live rock into the tanks with peppermint shrimp and that kept it pretty free, but he was told to stop doing that without explanation. Now they have aptasia. Sucks.

Cutting corners in this hobby just does not work:( To bad because they have a nice set-up for saltwater, just need to keep up with them...
 
Did they still have the one coral tank being held together by quick-clamps? That made me laugh. I considered getting a part-time job there to clean that place up a little, but I'm pretty sure I would just end up being frustrated....
 
The Aquarium Adventure/Petland in Bolingbrook is horrible. Besides the fact that they charge atleast twice as much for for all of their livestock as everywhere else ($30 for a green chromis :lolspin:) the fish are never very healthy and the tanks are always dirty. They always have several tanks with mandarins and pipefish which are extremely emaciated and starving too.

I was talking to one of the employees there and he specifically told me that they don't try to sell fish to aquarists like me. He said that they sell their fish to people who are just entering the hobby and don't know any better. That way they can charge extremely high prices.
 
Yikes.....I would not be a happy camper it I brought this stuff home and found aptasia. I don't think I will be going back here. Looks like its great for freshwater, but not a great place for saltwater.

Thoughts?

AJ

I actually would, I have 3 Aiptasia eating mouths to feed. But I'm still not going there.
 
Did they still have the one coral tank being held together by quick-clamps? That made me laugh. I considered getting a part-time job there to clean that place up a little, but I'm pretty sure I would just end up being frustrated....

LMAO.....actually yes the tank had a clamp. Today there was a bonus towel, not being used to clean anything, hanging from the clamp. The place needs a few employees paid a little, to clean up the poor marine tanks:(

AJ
 
LMAO.....actually yes the tank had a clamp. Today there was a bonus towel, not being used to clean anything, hanging from the clamp. The place needs a few employees paid a little, to clean up the poor marine tanks:(

AJ

Just came back from the Schamburg Petland and gess what... they are cleaning the tanks now...lol ( must have heard you) =)
 
Just came back from the Schamburg Petland and gess what... they are cleaning the tanks now...lol ( must have heard you) =)



i just got home from aquarium adventure/schaumburg. they had ordered me a male blue throat trigger. i noticed 2 fish that were dead and mentioned it to one of the managers, i am very close with both managers and promptly they had employees cleaning tanks. yes some of there fish sometimes are dead in tanks but overwise i have NEVER bought anything from them and been dissapointed. keep in mind i spend around 150-200$ a month there or so... just my .02
 
i just got home from aquarium adventure/schaumburg. they had ordered me a male blue throat trigger. i noticed 2 fish that were dead and mentioned it to one of the managers, i am very close with both managers and promptly they had employees cleaning tanks. yes some of there fish sometimes are dead in tanks but overwise i have NEVER bought anything from them and been dissapointed. keep in mind i spend around 150-200$ a month there or so... just my .02


I appreciate your .02 cents and that they are cleaning up the tanks now. Just seemed that they needed a little touching up when I was there today :)

AJ
 
The Aquarium Adventure/Petland in Bolingbrook is horrible. Besides the fact that they charge atleast twice as much for for all of their livestock as everywhere else ($30 for a green chromis :lolspin:) the fish are never very healthy and the tanks are always dirty. They always have several tanks with mandarins and pipefish which are extremely emaciated and starving too.

I was talking to one of the employees there and he specifically told me that they don't try to sell fish to aquarists like me. He said that they sell their fish to people who are just entering the hobby and don't know any better. That way they can charge extremely high prices.

I disagree. Some of the livestock is way overpriced. Some of it for no apparent reason and some of the stuff that newbs shouldn't be buying. Some livestock is pretty damn reasonable. The $30 Chromis are tank raised. The regular price on wild caught are much cheaper and often lower than any other LFS. My mandarin that died in my fire last year came from them and was very healthy despite warnings from this forum that it would be dead in a month. My current mandarin is happy and healthy and has been for 4 months.

They frequently have pretty good deals on frags too. Yes, you have to join the fish club to get the deal, but it doesn't cost any more than CMAS membership and you can use it more than twice a year. And you get discounts on hardware and food including Rods.

I understand the hate for big box stores, but AA isn't like your average big box pet store. I've had way worst service from small LFS in the area. I can't always justify a trip all the way out to Reef Plus.
 
I disagree. Some of the livestock is way overpriced. Some of it for no apparent reason and some of the stuff that newbs shouldn't be buying. Some livestock is pretty damn reasonable. The $30 Chromis are tank raised. The regular price on wild caught are much cheaper and often lower than any other LFS. My mandarin that died in my fire last year came from them and was very healthy despite warnings from this forum that it would be dead in a month. My current mandarin is happy and healthy and has been for 4 months.

Actually, the $30 chromis are not tank raised. They come from Sustainable Island which is a branch off of Sustainable Aquatics. All they do is catch the chromis when they are already post metamorphosis and give them a couple months in a tank to get them looking nicer (no torn fins, etc.) before shipping them out. I've talked to some other store owners who sell the SI chromis for about $10-15.

The staff member I was talking to was telling me all kinds of made up things about SI and SA. He said that they were actually catching mature tangs on the reef, taking their eggs and sperm, releasing the parents, and then raising the larvae in captivity. Of course, this isn't true.

But anyway, I can see how it might be more convenient to go to Aquarium Adventure than out to another fish store. There's just no way I can justify spending twice as much on a fish that is sub par (according to my standards) when for that price I could have a high quality fish, with a guarantee, shipped to my house from LiveAquaria's Divers Den. I don't want to offend anyone, just sharing my 2 cents...
 
both stores are owned by different owners.
if you dont like the price then dont buy. if you do some figuring live aquaria is much more expensive. also if you plan your purchases right you can join the fish club for life for free compared to paying the crazy prices you northerners are paying for anything.
many stores dont care about aptasia or mejanos period.
i go there from time to time and i have only had 1 fish die from there(fu man chu lion)period. their tanks are not the cleanest, but ive seen worse. at times algea and cyano do run rampant, its bound to happen.
 
both stores are owned by different owners.
if you dont like the price then dont buy. if you do some figuring live aquaria is much more expensive. also if you plan your purchases right you can join the fish club for life for free compared to paying the crazy prices you northerners are paying for anything.
many stores dont care about aptasia or mejanos period.
i go there from time to time and i have only had 1 fish die from there(fu man chu lion)period. their tanks are not the cleanest, but ive seen worse. at times algea and cyano do run rampant, its bound to happen.


Actually they're not. remember too that petland is right there with all the puppies. How north are you talking?
 
Actually they're not. remember too that petland is right there with all the puppies. How north are you talking?

since when? aquarium adventure is a sister company of petland. both are franchises. the closer you get to the city period stuff gets more expensive everything from gas to pet stores. unless your out by rockford.
 
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