Aquarium Artisans — Local services in Springdale

Edit: you guys really gotta get brackish tanks for brackish fish. The crabs are now labeled as fiddlers and they 100% need brackish. You also have some Green spotted puffers, while they’re super awesome and healthy they do need brackish as they mature.

ALSO; you guys may want to consider a power head for your bamboo shrimp, they need high flow to filter feed. Your bamboos are picking off substrate and that’s stressful and can damage their fans, leading to starvation.

And last but not least, why keep assassin snails in a tank with decorative snails? That’s just asking for dead snails, which is bad because all of your rabbit snails are wild caught. Therefore every order you make is taking them from the wild, those assassins are going to kill them, and that’s not a good thing.

As I said, prices are starting to get better and the inventory is getting better.. and as always, the service is fantastic even when the shop is slammed!

Original:

Beautiful shop, prices can be a little iffy at times.

$7 for a cherry shrimp is a little insane considering most pet stores are $3 and other LFS’ have them for $3-4 a pop, less if multiple. Granted pet stores are lower quality but I’ve seen beautiful examples at LFS’ for less.

Plant prices are a bit high, they’re from Dustin’s Fish and Dustin has some beautiful plants, but prices are a little on the high side.

Also, if you’re going to stock fiddler crabs, I implore the owners, please put them in brackish water. You currently have them in fresh, freshwater is not good for fiddler crabs, they get stressed in it, and they cannot live in it forever. It shortens the life of the crab dramatically. Please please please fix this, I’d love to get some fiddlers from you guys but I flat out refuse to buy a crab that has been living in freshwater.

From what I see it looks like they may be new to freshwater, I’d assume that the amount of saltwater posts here indicate their old store was salt. Something they need to realize is that people who do freshwater do it because it’s cheaper. I’d love to support an LFS, especially a store as nice as this one, but none of it is excusable.

On the other side of the coin, new store is beautiful and the owners and...

This is going to be a long review but one that I think is worth the read to anyone curious about this store, particularly anyone interested in saltwater. If I could give more stars I would. Aquarium Artisans has quickly became one of my favorite stores to visit. I come here weekly to get saltwater for my own reef tank as well as to shop around. I bought my first reef tank, testing kits, clownfish and coral from here and the majority of the staff (as I've only ever had one experience that put a sour taste in my mouth) have always been tremendous help, especially Tori. Their selection of saltwater equipment and livestock is unmatched by many stores that I have visited thus far. Their selection of coral, both frags and colonies, are very impressive. With this being said, the price of some of these coral is quite high, but understandably so when taking into account what they pay for the coral, how much of it they get, as well as shipping and the cost of taking care of them. When shopping for coral specifically, it is quite easy to tell which ones are not doing the best, so you can do your research to see what a healthy one looks like, or you can ask the staff and they will give you an honest answer. Also be sure to ask if you are ready for a particular coral or if you will be able to meet its requirements and they will give you their opinions. Regardless, whether you are a budget shopper or someone with some extra money to spend, this place has it all. Corals can range from $20 to $400+. I can't speak on the prices of the saltwater fish but I'm sure they are fair, and the variety they have is also impressive. Overall, it is one of my favorite stores to visit, would highly recommend to anyone that has any type...

We drove over an hour to visit this store. Judging by the photos on Google and their Facebook page, this place looked pretty interesting and I was excited to visit. But it was actually a little disappointing after we got there. I had hopes of purchasing an UNS aquarium, but they only had very small tanks displayed in this brand. If they would have had one around 10 to 20 gallons, I would have definitely purchased one and some plants. The prices on the aquariums and plants were very reasonable. They had a decent selection of plants and they all appeared to be in a healthy condition. Their fish seemed to be a bit pricey, but I didn't pay much attention to their entire fish selection because all the tanks were so dim, it was frustrating to view the selection. I was also hoping to shop for some quality lights for freshwater planted aquariums, but I only saw one light. Most of the store was dark, cluttered, and a bit messy, which made browsing frustrating. They were not packed with customers, and I wanted to ask if they maybe had any other tanks in stock that were not displayed, but the uncomfortable feel of the store and simply trying to figure out who I would even ask made me just want to leave. So we left empty-handed and a bit disappointed. But I would possibly consider making the drive again at some point for the plants. My 3 star review isn't because of the store not having what I was hoping to find, but because of the condition of the store and the lack of obtainable...