Key West Aquarium — Attraction in Key West

I'll start with the good, the staff is super knowledgeable and patient with kids. You can bring your dog, which is very cool. I really didn't mind the size of the aquarium for the price, I understand that maintaining tanks like those are expensive, there is a lot of species to look at.

The bad: I'm super super careful only to go to aquariums that are mainly housing rescue animals (this is the case for the turtles), but would never go somewhere which the animal care was lacking. Typically, I avoid places with orcas, dolphins, and belugas (sometimes seals/sea lions if they aren't rescue) because there is no way to keep these animals in good conditions. I have never gone somewhere and been concerned about sharks. Big sharks are usually housed in fairly big tanks with lots of other species, plants, coral, etc. This was the worst tank I've ever seen. There were over 5 nurse sharks about 7-8 feet long housed in pool smaller than some blow up pools I've seen. They could barely move and the rays (fairly big) were in the same pool with a wall dividing the two. Nothing in these tanks, no enrichment. It was really sad, they barely moved. It seemed to be a life of sitting on the bottom waiting for feeding time. The turtles are also in small pools for health reason, though it was explained that can't be put in a larger pool the turtles were exhibiting obsessive behavior, swimming in circles which indicate psychological distress. The turtles also need enrichment.

The other problem is the tanks aren't clean. I've had salt water aquariums and know keeping it clean is a big job, and sometimes algae growth is not a indication of poor water quality but because these tanks are on display for the public I think the aquarium could clean them better. The snake is of course in a too small enclosure (typical of most Burmese). And there was a dying snapper in the mangrove big game tank.

I would pay more if it meant the animals had adequate room and the tanks...

Worse aquarium me and my family have ever been to! Honestly it’s not even about the size of the entire facility, which is not adequate for the amount of animals there are in there, but about the awful conditions those animals are in. Tanks are extremely dirty and poor maintained. The main tanks in the middle house the bigger fish like small sharks that are definitely not in a adequate amount of space for them. I can’t imagine they are happy swimming in a 40x15x2 ft tank (approximate). It’s just too small. Outside, you would think that the tanks would be kept cleaner since it’s next to the open ocean but they were covered by animal waste, you can barely see the bottom of the tank, plus the water was green. The price is outrageously expensive for the amount of time you realistically want to spend watching sad and unhealthy looking animals. I regret giving my money to these people. I understand that it is privately owned and operated but their main priority should be to care for these animals. I don’t think they are doing it well. I’m sorry but I just want to warn people that they should not support this place. It’s a shame they are still...

wow. It should be free or $3 at most. Completely disappointed with this so-called aquarium. It was maybe 1200 sq ft, actually seemed even smaller than that, one room with/ dirty tanks, and most fish you can see just swimming around at a beach or canal. Then there's the shark feeding .... LOL! Sounds great, right? It is a guy dumping a pole with food at the end in and out of water trying to get an already full small shark to eat. We got 1 glimpse of the shark and it was maybe 3-4 feet and just swam out of range quickly. We stayed the entire "show" maybe 20 min. There was a little pond outside with sharks sleeping on each other. I don't know if they were fake props or what. They were laying on top of each other and not one moved an inch. The touch tank had a tiny ... tiny horseshoe crab, The tank was so deep that when we lifted our 4-year-old to reach in, the water went past his elbow and his face was ready to go in and he still couldn't reach. RIDICULOUS Absolutely not worth $20 per ticket. Look off a pier anywhere in Fl and you will see 90% of what they have in dingy...