Congressional Aquarium in MD any good?

[tygger]

What do you guys think about Congressional Aquarium in Maryland? I've never purchased any fish from them, but their store/fish look good to me.

 

Any experiences?

[xabo]

Where are they located?

[Guest mikesroth]

I actually bought my 29gal setup from them.  They seemed pretty nice at the time, of course now I am thinking i should have taken more time to research what exactly I needed. (this was like 3 years ago).  Last couple times I have been in there, seems like they had more Freshie stuff than Salt.  And definitely more on the fish side of things.

 

Does that help?

 

Oh, they are off Rockville Pike, I think on Congressional Ave (?).  We usually stop in there on our Fish store trips....

[luceneck]

I don't think Congressional Aquarium is worth the trip from Fairfax.  I would not expect to go in there and be amazed at all!  They don't have much and the fish they do have is your traditional stock.  I asked the guy there how they keep their fish and he said that they use hyposalinity and copper on the tanks.  So they may know what they are talking about.  I have found their dry goods to be a bit overpriced.

[michaelg]

They are though the cheapest place to find saltmix!  They have a selection of the regular fishes.  I bought both my mandarin and my clarkii clown there.  They are close to me, which is probably the only reason.  The store is clean.  I definately would not make the trip if you are coral hunting.  The other store in our area is Tropical Lagoon.  It is on Georgia ave, near the beltway.  They have real good prices on livestock- usually date when fish are put into the tanks (which helps to know how long it has been in their systems).  An ok selection of LPS and soft corals- really hit or miss, but I have seen some nice pieces there at fair prices.  If you wanted to make a day trip, you could hit both stores, then venture down to roozen's.  At least you would see what is out there.

[Guest mikesroth]

Tropical Lagoon is just south of the Beltway?  With some weird parking?  Jen and I have driven past there a few times (if this is it), and from the outside it looks like it wouldn't be worth the effort to stop in.  I guess I will have to give them a try...

[michaelg]

Y'up that's the place.  Note- during weekdays, coming from the beltway, you can't turn left on the street after it (or most of georgia- it is a PITA).  Also, there is a surface lot at the end of the strip for parking.

[peacetypes]

EA is a good one in MD, HOT, and AC

 

Robert