Western Maryland: Aquarium One (former owners of Congressional Aquarium)

[archie1709]

Tired of Congressional Aquarium? Had similarly bad experience with them that didn't seem to be that way before? That's because the previous owner of Congressional Aquarium has sold the place and opened its new LFS: Aquarium One.

They've been open for six months. Thanks to TRT, and the locals that have helped me find Aquarium One. Thanks to all the peers who have empathized with my grievance and gave amazing comaraderie.

I bought LARGE nassarius snails from them at $8.99 for 4. That's about $2.25 each; almost a full dollar cheaper than Congressional. And as opposed to Congresional's nassarius, these nassarius snails are much larger and a lot healthier. To top that off, I bought eight of them and Paul, the owner, threw in a couple more for free!!

I also bought Hermit Crabs at a dozen for $16.99; that's less than a dollar and a half. These red legged hermits are failry large, although there are varied sized depending on your preference. Congressional has them at $3.99 each and are much smaller and look very stationary and unhealthy.
To top it off, he threw in two large red legged hermits for free. Now, I feel like the same great service I used to get from Congressional Aquarium back in the days. And ofcourse! The owner of Aquarium One used to be the owners of Congressional before they were sold to the now owners of the place.

I bought purple up at $21.00. Marine Depot sells them at $14.99 plus shipping which is the best price. Congressional sells them at almost $28.
For anyone in Western Maryland area, DC, and Virginia, Aquarium One is the place to go. Their coral selections are amazingly diverse. Their store is clean. And customer service is A1!!! Prices are cheap-to-median!!
You no longer need to tolerate Congressional Aquarium, their bad pricing, and unparralelled lack of customer service.

Ask for Paul! There are two Pauls in that store but you will never need to figure out which one. Both are amazingly nice, courteous, and customer friendly!!!

Thanks again to my local peers who directed me to them.
see? You don't need to stick with one LFS that treat you bad just to say that "you support the LFS". There are better LFS in the area worth supporting!! Give them a try!

They are not found in the yellow pages yet. So here's the info:
Aquarium One
835-I Rockville Pike
Inside the Wintergreen Plaza
Rockville, MD
(301) 294-3474

[skeety]

Can you elaborate on this?

I was in congressional...but it was like 2-3 months ago. And the same managers were there that have always been there. Or at least in the last 3 years that I've been going there.

I'm not doubting you...I guess I'm just confused. Please elaborate.

I know Congressional moved it's store to nextdoor, cause it was larger. Are you saying that after that move, someone bought them out? Now the original owners have opened up another store?

[archie1709]

As far as what Paul has told me when I asked him when they opened, he said they've been opened since the last quarter of 2006 and they were the previous owners of Congressional Aquarium. In terms of when the switch of hands happened, I am not sure. I apologize.

The staff of Congressional, for the most part, are there. One of their seasoned employees moved to Tropical Fish World. The others no longer work there. There are still, however, a good portion of them that are still at Congressional. David, I believe he's the manager and I think that's his name, still works there. He's very knowledgeable. But I think because of their new overhead cost in the new place, they had to end up hiring high school students who can accept lower pay than the seasoned aquarists that may want a higher pay. those are just my speculation.

I have a feeling that the compromise in service that a few of the hobbyists in the area noticed happened when they moved to a bigger place and increased their overhead.

Aquarium One is a much smaller place than Congressional but is a pretty good mom and pops LFS type of place.

I think that Aquarium One, if exposed more locally, can actually be good for the climate of competition in Rockville and also provide Congressional an opportunity to improve their overall business. I guess there was once a time when Congressional is the only LFS in Rockville and that was a good thing for them. Now that Aquarium One is there to compete, this can improve the overall shopping experience of hobbyists because competition means better things for consumers, I think.

...with that said, I am not an economist...I just like variety. Don't count congressional out yet because I think when competition becomes heated, they can turn things around.

[incuhead2000]

Originally Posted by archie1709

Tired of Congressional Aquarium? Had similarly bad experience with them that didn't seem to be that way before? That's because the previous owner of Congressional Aquarium has sold the place and opened its new LFS: Aquarium One.

They've been open for six months. Thanks to TRT, and the locals that have helped me find Aquarium One. Thanks to all the peers who have empathized with my grievance and gave amazing comaraderie.

I bought LARGE nassarius snails from them at $8.99 for 4. That's about $2.25 each; almost a full dollar cheaper than Congressional. And as opposed to Congresional's nassarius, these nassarius snails are much larger and a lot healthier. To top that off, I bought eight of them and Paul, the owner, threw in a couple more for free!!

I also bought Hermit Crabs at a dozen for $16.99; that's less than a dollar and a half. These red legged hermits are failry large, although there are varied sized depending on your preference. Congressional has them at $3.99 each and are much smaller and look very stationary and unhealthy.
To top it off, he threw in two large red legged hermits for free. Now, I feel like the same great service I used to get from Congressional Aquarium back in the days. And ofcourse! The owner of Aquarium One used to be the owners of Congressional before they were sold to the now owners of the place.

I bought purple up at $21.00. Marine Depot sells them at $14.99 plus shipping which is the best price. Congressional sells them at almost $28.
For anyone in Western Maryland area, DC, and Virginia, Aquarium One is the place to go. Their coral selections are amazingly diverse. Their store is clean. And customer service is A1!!! Prices are cheap-to-median!!
You no longer need to tolerate Congressional Aquarium, their bad pricing, and unparralelled lack of customer service.

Ask for Paul! There are two Pauls in that store but you will never need to figure out which one. Both are amazingly nice, courteous, and customer friendly!!!

Thanks again to my local peers who directed me to them.
see? You don't need to stick with one LFS that treat you bad just to say that "you support the LFS". There are better LFS in the area worth supporting!! Give them a try!

They are not found in the yellow pages yet. So here's the info:
Aquarium One
835-I Rockville Pike
Inside the Wintergreen Plaza
Rockville, MD
(301) 294-3474

Ummm...for one your info is incorrect. The previous owner that owns aquarium one has had no affiliation with congressional aquarium for over ten years. The owner of aquarium one previously owned big fish little fish and co owned congreesional aquarium even before that. What happened to Dimitri, is that how you spell it? Paul never owned congressional aquarium but Dimitri did. I was curious if you were talking about the same aquarium one I visited, below fitness first? I visited there when they opened and again a year later. The tanks were mostly empty and filthy. There were several dead fish covered in mold underwater so they clearly had been there for more than a few days. There is usually only one person one staff there as well, and half the time I was in the store last march he was outside on his cell phone! Talking trash about another store hardly helps support your local fish store. I will not be shopping at this LFS just because of your post.

[treesprite]

Originally Posted by incuhead2000

Ummm...for one your info is incorrect. The previous owner that owns aquarium one has had no affiliation with congressional aquarium for over ten years. The owner of aquarium one previously owned big fish little fish and co owned congreesional aquarium even before that. What happened to Dimitri, is that how you spell it? Paul never owned congressional aquarium but Dimitri did. I was curious if you were talking about the same aquarium one I visited, below fitness first? I visited there when they opened and again a year later. The tanks were mostly empty and filthy. There were several dead fish covered in mold underwater so they clearly had been there for more than a few days. There is usually only one person one staff there as well, and half the time I was in the store last march he was outside on his cell phone! Talking trash about another store hardly helps support your local fish store. I will not be shopping at this LFS just because of your post.

I've gotta stand up for Aquarium One here. The shop doesn't fit that descritption at all; I don't know about the past, but if you go there now you will find a nice shop. They expanded their saltwater section and my understanding is that there is more saltwater-specific space in the store than any other LFS in the area. Aquarium One sponsors WAMAS (Washington Area Marine Aquarist Society) - in fact, there is a WAMAS social being hosted by Aquarium One this weekend. Believe me, if the store wasn't great this would not be the case at all!