Aquarium Obsessions - Washington, Illinois

Mike M.

A unique entry to the Peoria area. This store specializes in salt water fish and coral. The owners were very courteous and willing to answer all the questions we had. While they do not currently have fresh water fish, they had an extensive collection for the salt waters. They stated they also help with custom orders and emergency repairs. Definitely check them out if you are in the area and are looking for a new hobby

Sarah P.

Charlie is running a food business and I’m glad to hear he is wanting to move closer to Peoria. I grabbed some fish on a steal of a deal from him. He had tons of livestock at good prices. The real showstoppers are his coral tanks. He has got quite the farm in place these days and had some amazing pieces. Only regret is my tank is already full on coral, so I’ve got nowhere to put any of his beauties!

Nickolas W.

Nice guy. Super clean and healthy fish. We'll kept. TONS of corals. If you like saltwater fish this place is a must visit.

joe H.

Charlie is great. Extremely knowledgeable. He is always willing to teach people willing to learn. Inventory is great, I’ve been going there for years and I always find something new to get.

Aaron C.

Amazing store! This is a local business that it is a pleasure to write a glowing review for. It is easy to write a good review for a restaurant that's better than your favorite chain, however when the local small business is one that can stand-up next to the big-boys nationally and compete and survive if not thrive you know you have something special. People come from adjacent states just to visit this store, and I am lucky enough to have it in my backyard.

In this scenario, I'm not even the target customer. My mom started with a small all-in-one salt-water aquarium she purchased from her local now-defunct small shop and loved it. When they closed down, she made it a hobby to visit every salt-water aquarium store and coral show she could get to including surrounding states. We spent many weekends on Marketplace and Craigslist looking. She found AO to be the best of all she visited and well worth the 2 hour drive and buying new from AO over trying to cobble something together from Marketplace and the local yokels.

The owner Charlie was immensely helpful in getting her setup with a really nice addition of a Red Sea Reefer 350 to her existing all-in-one tank. They were extremely helpful in showing me what to do to setup her tank once I got it to her home, and I can't say I could expect anything easier in doing the installation (Which they also would have done). The engineering of the Red Sea systems leaves me very impressed. Most everything is well thought out and perfectly sized with only a couple of things I would do differently. Well worth the extra, if it even was extra over hassle and expense of a DIY system.

Charlie is very knowledgeable and a great resource in deciphering the often conflicting information you find on the internet. Often what you find will be what /was/ the consensus some time ago, but isn't the current latest industry take on things like proper nitrate and nitrite levels.

The coral selection is amazing. Thousands of corals from dozens of varieties and sizes (i'm not a coral expert, so I can't tell the number of sub-species) to choose from. Clear pricing on the starter plugs in the show areas with many more in back starting as low as $20

Nice selection of accessories, chemicals and testers in the front room with a great stock of sand, rocks, salt, etc in the showrooms.

When you enter, if you only walk in the door, it may not feel like there's that much when you're used to walking into a big-box, however there's much more than meets the eye. The greeting area is only the start of the store. They have multiple show-rooms, such as one just for the aquariums and supplies such as sand, and these are all just-off the main entrance.

One of the things that will throw some people off are that since it's not a large retail chain, they are located in a small industrial park far enough outside of "the city" to feel disconnected and easy to miss. If you haven't been there before, I highly recommend you turn on your navigation. The other retail spaces in the park appear to be catered to professionals and I think most aren't retail, though his spot is a nice one in the center of the front-most row. The park is one that doesn't have one of those sign-boards that lists all the businesses. This is probably one of the reasons they're able to stay in business and keep their prices some of the best around while their competitors are dropping like flies.

Don't judge the tank photo by the cloudiness, we were just finishing the first water fill.

James F. ?.

Charlie is very nice and very knowledgeable.

Well worth the two hour trip from Springfield to Washington.

Beautiful fish and corral.

Pictures of clowning are from his store, in my tank. Bought a fire angel as well. All eat well and have been doing well for weeks.

Tyler A.

Amazing selection, Friendly and educated owner, definitely the best place to go for all your salt water needs!

Choppednoob M.

Great dealer to deal with. Healthy corals and such only place I shop for anything saltwater when I'm visiting IL