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Aquarium Adventure
Category: Active Life Aquariums Aquariums [Edit]
11 Golf Ctr # ASW Corner Golf Rd & Roselle Rd
Hoffman Estates, IL 60169
(847) 490-9334
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
11 reviews for Aquarium Adventure
11 reviews in English
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Review from Doug M.
2/2/2012 2 Check-ins Here
This is an aquarists' wet dream! They sell more types of fish and live plants, tanks, filters than any other place I know of. From the beginner, to the casual hobbyist to the serious saltwater types, this is the place to come.
Huge, impressive tanks, monstrous size, colorful tropical fish. Tank after tank of live plants, even coral!. Huge inventory of tanks and lights, filters, etc. There is a regular pet shop on the other side with cats, dogs, birds, etc. Bring the kids and make a field trip of it. -
Review from Kimberly S.
Palatine, IL
5/20/2012
We joined their "Fish Club", and go frequently to this place. It is connected to Petland, so there is a variety of pets and supplies, plus the entire other side of the store is all aquarium stuff. Great variety of fish, salt water and fresh water. They have an "OK" display of frags set up.
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Review from Kristen F.
Des Plaines, IL
1/19/2011
It would take a lot to get me to buy fish from here ever again.
On the surface, this place looks great, the tanks are normally well kept and very appealing to look at. The plant selection is great, hardware selection is great, food is great and most of that I would buy.
However, this place is frequently understaffed so service is often lacking, a little pricey for a chain store, and the employee's are just not that knowledable....sorry, it irks me to educate store staff. As for being pricey, yes, its probably a step up from Petsmart but its not THAT big of a step to justify boutique prices.
I've also been increasingly dissapointed in the quality of fish I've gotten. Fish that die just too quickly, getting home only to find the wrong type of fish and management that doesn't want to work with you to get a resolution (I was here yesterday, can tell you exaclty who helped me, at what time, have the credit card I used for the purchess, AND brought the dead fish in. You seriously can't help me here???)
Sure, this is a nice place to come in, look around, maybe picke up some fish food but I normally stop there. -
Review from Rob P.
Westchester, IL
2/7/2012
It's pretty obvious a lot of the negative reviews are Petsmart employees. I've been shopping at AA since November 2011. Purchased a new large tank and livestock. Yes, there are some employees who are young and inexperienced - but most of the staff are very knowledgeable and actually have fish in their homes. On a busy day the manager helped me with everything I needed for my new tank. He didn't try selling me the most expensive items, just those he has or would use himself. He actually discouraged me from purchasing items that were popular but unnecessary. I've also found their prices beat all the ma-pa lfs's and all the chain stores that I've seen so far. So all you haters from Petsmart - you can't beat knowledge, integrity and good prices!
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Review from Jose C.
Chicago, IL
8/14/2011
I had visited Aquarium Adventure once when they first opened, but have been there three times in the last two days. Especially considering this is a chain and a product of Petland, this place has THE MOST stunning array of fish for sale I have ever seen. They have fish that I haven't seen in years and some I have never even seen for sale before at all. They buy in bulk and sell at fairly good prices. We scored some nice fish with their current 40% off all livestock (!!), but have also had a setback.
There is someone here who knows what they are doing, but we didn't see him/her. The entire staff is extremely under experienced, and this may cause a problem for novices. We had a problem with an employee, who, when asked if he could bag up three panda corydoras, asked what a corydoras was. In a tank that only contained panda corys and tetras...an employee, even if relatively novice, should know what a cory is. He proceeded to catch three corys for us, but not before he tore the tank apart trying to catch them (and injuring two in the process). He noted that the fish had "bit" him, as he was bleeding on his thumb. I had to explain to him that the fish's pectoral fins got him, not mouth. When I returned home, I noticed that two of the cory cats had big red sores from being smashed against the rocks/glass with the net. These two died that same night. We had to go back today to bring them back for replacements. The manager defended her employee, telling me the fish are armored catfish and wouldn't have sustained such injuries by being mishandled. She replaced them anyway, and then the young kid behind the counter must not have seen that we had two fish in the bag, and so now we have our three corys and a credit for one more if we want, lol.
If you know what you want and know your fish, this is a great place to go to. Next time I might insist to catch my own fish to avoid injury to the fish. Overall, a great place, even though they ARE a chain. Never thought I'd say that! -
Review from Mark J.
Chicago, IL
3/22/2007
An absolutely stunning selection of fresh and saltwater fish, plants, corals, and equipment. STUNNING. In my opinion, it's the best place for all your aquarium needs in the Chicagoland area.
While I don't think the staff has an encyclopedic knowledge of fish (not that I expect that) ... they're always very friendly and cool with all your questions. Everything is clean and some of the display tanks are just amazing. I think a lot of people just kill some time there and browse around.
I could go on for a bit more ... but it feels like I'm ruining the ending to a movie or something ... so just go there and see for yourself! -
Review from Patty V.
3/28/2009
We want to love this place,but EVERYTHING we have gotten here dies in a short time. The place has an amazing selection of both fresh and salt water stock. Helpful and seemingly knowledgable staff and fair prices. They have some great selections of both hard and soft corals,but,again, the stuff we have bought here dies in a short time.Corals,fish,snails and invertebrates that we have already had and had success with,so not like we don't know how to care for it.Too bad,but we will go elsewhere for our saltwater needs.
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Review from Travis G.
Erlanger, KY
2/11/2008
Wow! This place is HUGE! I live on the north side of chicago so this was a bit of an outing. My buddy and I made it a double date. Romatic and lavish aren't we? Anyways, they were having a obscene sale and we decide we couldn't pass it up. It's a long drive, but I'm going to try and make it back here. Amazing display tanks, unserpassed plant selection, plumbing, fittings, and hoses, oh and a wide selection of fish. Unfortunately their prices seem a bit on the high side. The have a membership card that gives you 25% off but it costs you to join. If it wasn't so far away it might be worth it. Even with the 25% off these guys would be a little high on the price scale.
Freshwater tanks looked really nice, clean and organized. Saltwater looked a little neglected. Hard to say, as I said we were there for a big sale. So big in fact that the place was packed and I couldn't get any service. Understandable, but annoying since I really wanted those Botia Sidthimunki at 7.50 a piece (normally between 12 and 25 bucks a piece), and maybe some of those awesome looking plants - oh well.
Really couldn't give 5 stars for a large corporate warehouse store, and they lost a star for being one of these and not being cheaper. Still I wish they were closer. Still worth the trip just for the walk around. -
Review from Maya R.
Streamwood, IL
9/26/2011
I came here yesterday to ask questions about my fish tank and replacement parts, 2 employees didn't know anything and told us to go to Petsmart, they sell our product because it's a brand they don't sell, which can be bought anywhere. At check out we were over charged for a fish tank background, after telling the cashier it was wrong, the blonde cashier treated me as if I was stupid and couldn't read the price on it, it's not my fault they didn't change the price tag, it was $1.99, after a manager came, did her thing, she removed the tag (I'm sure to put the $2.99 price on it), short changed me, these people couldn't do simple math, I didn't want to go a third time and wait more, these two women were rude, unpleasant and plain ignorant. I did go to Petsmart and was glad they recommended me to go there, because they know what they're talking about, answered all my questions, employees were friendly, I will be going back to Petsmart. But I will not be returning back to aquarium adventure.
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Review from greg f.
Oak Park, IL
6/17/2009
Enormous selection of tropical fish (I'm limiting my comments to freshwater). Prices are higher than normal IMO, and that doesn't necessarily mean the livestock's any less likely to die on you in a day or so. It happens. Join their fish club customer loyalty program for $20/yr and get decent discounts.
My highest praise's reserved for their aquarium plants--these are literally the best I've ever seen and I have seen a lot.
FYI - tropical fish stores are torn between making their money on the livestock or the equipment paraphernalia. It never seems to be both and it goes in cycles.
AA uses common tank filtration. It's a great efficiency for them (other shops too), as long as you the customer is OK with the possibility of diseases/infections being readily transmitted from fish in one tank to any number of other tanks. UV sterilization lamps don't arrest 100% of the issues. -
Review from F D.
Schaumburg, IL
7/25/2008
I've been to this store several times, mainly to look around and admire the fish. On one occasion, I bought a gravel vaccum. It turned out to be too small for my tank, and I was able to easily exchange the opened, used vaccum for a different one. No problems; I left a happy customer. Last weekend I finally bought fish from this store. Of the 5 cardinal tetras and 1 otocinclus, the 5 tetras died within a few days (one after the other) in an established tank. The store is not far from where I live, and I took every precaution to slowly introduce the fish into their new environment. A number of factors could have been involved, but I didn't particularly like the way the staff had handled the fish when transferring them to the bag. She seemed careless and indifferent, and I think a well informed staff member would know that cardinal tetras are not hardy fish. According to the receipt, there is a 48 hour guarantee. Should the fish die within 48 hours, take the fish and a sample of the water to the store, and they will give you an exchange. No cash will be returned. I didnt bother with this warranty, but I would assume that there would be no problems judging from my gravel vaccum experience. Their customer service is just fine. They have a great selection, albeit a little expensive. The tanks looked clean, the store is big, and it's a fun place to take kids (not only for the display tanks, but the adjacent pet shop has a variety of animals to pet and ogle). I would recommend going just to look, but don't get attached to any fish that you buy.
