Anyone here go to Jack's Aquarium and Pets?

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flipz

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Mar 30, 2004
Messages
874
Location
Raleigh NC
Hi all. I'm not sure I'll even get a response as this seems to be a somewhat dead forum... but I was wondering if any of you Ohioans go to Jack's Aquarium and Pets? They seem to be centralized around Columbus and Dayton. So if you aren't near there, you most likely haven't heard of them. It's a company owned by husband and wife, but they have 15-20 stores.

Anyways I was just wondering what everyone's experience has been with them. I've been to 6 different stores, 3 in columbus, 1 in springfield, 2 in dayton. Every single one seems to be different. Some have amazing setups, with the best looking fish you have seen, and some, half their tanks have dead fish floating in them, and are being treated for 1 thing or another. I have asked and they all get their fish from the same place in Dayton... so just how the employees are taking care of them I suppose.

-brent
 
oh, by the way, they are mostly in ohio. I believe there are 2 in kentucky, and one in like orlando, florida or something. I go to the one on colerain ave. (near cincinnati) It does seem like some stores are maintained better than others though; I have also been to the one in tri-county, and it was not nearly as good. I do know that they are packed with customers on the weekends tho, and the employees seem to have at least some knowledge of what they are talking about unlike some bigger stores.
 
I was going to Jack's for a while. That's where I actually bought my 55 gal set up. The one near us has sort of gone down hill. Dirty, not really taking care of the tanks. I found Aquarium Adventure up off Sawmill and have been going there for fish.
 
I go to three different Jack's locations, depending on what part of town I'm in. It depends on the day as to how the tanks look. Sometimes they are spotless -- other times, there are floaters everywhere. I do wish I had other options, but Petsmart doesn't have near the selection that Jack's has. :(

Does Jack's get their fish from Gerbers?
 
All Jack's get their fish from a breeder in Cincinnati.

That's all I know. haha. I don't know who it is or anything, but that's what I was told.
 
hey, i used to work at jack's (a long time ago). they don't even compare to gerbers. i am always cautious when i buy live stock from jacks.

if you guys are interested check out our web site www.cincyreef.com its pretty cool and a lot of knowledgable people that live in our area
 
i usually go to jacks at millrun, it being 5 minutes away and all or aquarium adventures. earlier this week i visited most of the aquarium stores i know of just to see their stock. my trip: aquarium adventures => petsmart sawmill => jacks millrun => petsmart hilliard-rome => petland broad st => jacks broad st. i skipped petco on sawmill, ive never purchased anything from there. the petsmart on sawmill has less selection than the one on hilliard-rome, but seemingly more knowledgable staff. the jacks at millrun i also found to be superior to broad. petland didnt carry much but i was suprised they had titanium ebo heaters. i still love aquarium adventures. i became a member of their discount program. $50 lifetime membership. 25% off all fish and plants. so anyone into salt water would be wise to join. $200 in fish (which could just be one at the rate marine fish go for) it pays for itself. hope any of this was worth reading!
 
Sorry, flipz, but what you were told, is wrong. I actually work at Jack's warehouse, in their fishroom, and very very few of the fish come from breeders. The majority of all the fish come from large scale wholesalers in FL. What was said about each individual store varying, is absolutely right. The staff at particular locations, are much better than others.
 
flipz said:
gerbers doesn't sell brackish fish...? or are they just not on their site

If your talking about the gerbers in Dayton. They do. I used to buy from them all the time when I had a brackish tank. Now I hardly buy from them at all because of some bad experinces with them. I now goto Jacks in Huber or petland in Piqua.
 
what bad experiences have u had at gerbers. i know for a fact taht petland in piqua gets most of thier fish from gerbers from talking with the lady that works in the fish. last time i was at petland most of their fish looked pretty sick.
 
gerbers steered me all wrong on setting up my tank. They told me that they could sell me everything to set up a 75 gal sw (live sand, lr, & sw) for $200.00. So when I go down the next day after draining and cleaning my 75 to buy the 40 lbs agronite, 40 live sand, and the 75 lbs live rock ( i mixed my own sw) the guy I talked to the day before proceeds to tell me that he couldn't sell me all that for $200 like he said the day before, After a little discussion about the price and what he told me he tried to tell me that he meant it would be $200 just for the lr. Which I then asked if he was going to sell me 75 lbs or lr for $200 and then he backed out of that. So all I walked away with from them was 80 lbs of sand. If I would have known it was going to cost me as much as it did I would have never gone sw, i would have stayed with my brackish that I had for 5 years.

My sister has been fighting over a nano cube that they sold her about 2 weeks ago. It had a faulty ballast in it when she got it home, she called and they told her that they would not replace the nano cube and that she had to bring the hood down and that they would fix it. She went down and had it fixed an then 1 week later it goes out again and she had to "cause a scene" to get a new hood for it. They wanted to fix it again. That cube was only 1 week old.

Yea petlands tanks look nasty right now Rob told me that gerbers sold them 700lbs of "cured" live rock and when they recived he shipment it ended up not being cured and it realoly thru their system outta wack. I like petland alot (I try to deal with Rob). I'm going to have to wait awhile before I buy anymore fish anyways.
 
o well thats not good. i have had really good experience with gerbers so far and they helped steer me in the right direction to set my tank up. have u ever checked out marine solutions. its in waynesville. not a large selection of fish but a really nice store but is a nice trip. i am from troy as well and it stinks that there is no stores closer wit the kind of selection like gerbers has.
 
Yea i know. I did hear a rumor that there was going to be Jacks somewhere by walmart. I'm pleased with gerbers fish selection but I just have a problem with that one salesman. Honestly though Jack's prices are cheaper than gerbers.
 
i just think the people at gerbers know more about the fish than people at jacks and have really gotten to know the people that work there and are very helpful.
 
mitche8359 said:
I was going to Jack's for a while. That's where I actually bought my 55 gal set up. The one near us has sort of gone down hill. Dirty, not really taking care of the tanks. I found Aquarium Adventure up off Sawmill and have been going there for fish.

not that i think you guys exist anymore, but you went all the way to jacks in toledo to get fish? and you live in columbus?
 
Has anyone bought one of their saltwater pro kits with the aquarium when buying one at jacks? It comes with filter, live sand etc etc, the 55 gal with stand was a bit less than $650 I believe. Are these good deals for their saltwater kits or is it best just to price out other places ( online / other pet stores etc). I use to live in Columbus, but now in Findlay and my choices are limited to Pet supplies plus and jacks when I'm up here. I am in Cols. often ( and miss aquarium adventure!) but I wouldnt want to buy a fish from there and subject it to an hour and a half in a car. anyway.. are the saltwater kits worth it when starting up?
 
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