Congressional Aquarium have bad tanks

[AMANIQU77]

For anyone in the Montgomery County Maryland area who are familiar with congressional aquarium. They claim to have the cleanest tanks in town.

don't believe them. A lot of their specimen are dying from ich. And if you bought coral frags from them, chances are, you have imported ich into your tank.

Just a friendly reminder.

However, if you are interested in smart advice, and good old honesty, check out Tropical Fish World on Highway 355 & Shady Grove.

A cleaner shrimp was listed at $39.99. He sold me two for $42 bucks. Yessss!

Anyways, for Cichlid lovers, this is the place to get it. No one else in Montgomery County can you find these amazing (mostly wild caught) peacocks and frontosas for less than $50 (3 - 4 inches big) but Tropical Fish World.

Basically, this is a warning post for all you Congressional Aquarium frequent customers.

Their waters are bad and are full of ich. And if you understand ich, you know that their tanks are going to be dirty for a looooooong time. Buy from them at your own risk.

OK. Bye. I am just frustrated because I bought a hammer coral from them a week ago and my BHT just showed white spots last Saturday. I can't hypo it now. Not with this setup. It's too risky for the health of the BHT if I try to catch him around for QT. It will stress it to death before I catch him.

I am deeply frustrated at Congressional Aquarium. However, at the end of the day, the m o r o n typing this message was the one who bought the specimen and did not QT the coral.

I've bought corals from different places and never had to deal with ich. But Congressional is the dirtiest tanks in town.

[dskidmore]

You can always QT the corals. In a month the ick will die without a fish host.

They mix fish and corals in the same system?

[AMANIQU77]

Yeah, they do. They are sorted out by tanks. But those tanks are connected to each other by the same system. so there are ich-devoured tanks with dead gobies and mandarins and clowns, and then there are coral frags.

This store sucks.

[Devilishturtles]

I've heard bad things about it, but have never been. How easy is it for you to go to Baltimore? Plenty of good stores there. I drive there from Frederick when I need stuff. It takes a bit of time, but well worth it for the quality.

[roka64]

I like the one in Charles Towns, Wv. I haven't had a problem w/any of their livestock, although, their selection on coral is very limited....maybe about 10 kinds of coral... Place is called Fins Feathers and Friends:
214 W Washington St, Charles Town, WV 25414
(304) 728-7723

The only sick fish I have seen in there are the new arrivals and have only seen two dead ones. I go there every Satruday-except this past weekend, had a lot of "honey do" stuff...

[hollaatchun]

so whats a good place to go in MD with tons of saltwater fish/coral? i went to randelstown last week and they had nothing. whatever they had left looked like crap. i thought congressional had fairly decent looking fishes... thank god i havent started my tank yet or i would have gotten something from them. i also went to tropical fish last week but they had no saltwater tanks that had anything in it. i think they are changing the store a bit cuz it looked different from the last time i went. however the last time was a really long time ago.

[hollaatchun]

by the way, anyone know any good places that sells cheap large fish tanks? looking for a 150 reef ready. the best one was at randelstown for about 400 bucks.

[shawmutt]

House of Tropicals in Glen Burnie is good, at least it was a year ago when I went there last.

[Devilishturtles]

There is another thread here called 'Maryland Fish Stores'. Search back 1-3 pages for it. I'd link you if I could, but I'm using a mobile device.

HTH

[roka64]

Here it is...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=75667

[Devilishturtles]

That one...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=18615

...or this one.

[AMANIQU77]

Rick's is a no-no.

Tropical Fish Store is a cool store because of the people. Also, the price listed is negotiable if you know how to talk to the guy. However, prices are up there. $89.99 for a 2" blue hippo tang.

Congressional Aquarium sells teh same for $59.99.

Congressional has a bigger store. But their tanks are infested with ich. Also, David and Chris are cool to talk to. Everyone else in there are i d i o t s.

Aquatic Creations is down home friendly. Great selection of salt and fresh. But don't think huge selection. Just varieties. But the store is 40% pond business. They also buy back fish. They don't do 1/3 of selling price-type of deal. He holds the fish under QT for a couple of weeks. Then, when sellable, he gives you a receipt for store credit without asking. Usually up to 80% of selling price.