Reviews of Southwest Seas (Fish Shop)

Kellee Hicks

Contrary to other comment, this place does exist but had not yet opened their doors when other comment was posted. They are open now and are a great resource for the novice fish owner and the veteran enthusiast. It is clean, professional and we received the product and advice that we needed. We will definitely be back.

Ron Abner

Nice clean, knowledgeable. Healthy livestock . Friendly staff.

Larie Walls

I am very happy with all of my shopping experience at Southwest Seas. When another store closed I found this store and also found Casey, a familiar face and I know he knows his stuff. I have purchased exceptional fish, coral frags and even have ordered aquarium parts as needed. Very accommodating and friendly. I can't wait to see what is new here every week.

Holland VAN Leeuwen

Great store, friendly and knowledgeable staff with decent prices. Marine and RO water sold here, pods and live brine here as well.

jaden 360

There shelves were stocked well. Service at check out was decent the girl was kinda rude

Crystal Rector

Friendly and Helpful Neighborhood Aquatic Store! I always appreciate retail places that listen to my needs and are willing and able to give help and recommendations. Southwest Seas is run by friendly and knowledgeable aquarists who are able to answer my questions. The livestock appears healthy and I appreciate that the tanks have enrichment (plastic plants) to make life happier for the fish while they wait to go to their new homes. I just recently discovered this place, but I'm glad that I did.

Michael Newell

Great place for amazing sea life. The staff was knowledgeable and the prices were awesome.

Niki J

Love this store. The guy who always there working is awesome. I don't know his name though but hes smart and knowledgeable

Coleman Anderson

Nice store front with supplies, freshwater, and satlwater tanks. The fish selection was a little low but could have been the season. Helpful shop keeper too.

Chadwick Schneider

The best fish store in town !

Joe Mangone

Great people here! Everything about SW Seas is fantastic. Wouldn’t go anywhere else.

jfivecoat

Nice little fish store, descent selection of fish and frags. Friendly and knowledgeable.

Gregory Cohen

My review pertains to the aquarium maintenance side of this business. I'll begin by saying I never chose to do business with this company. I was aware of their questionable reputation among the hobbyists in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. However, the individual who had been servicing my reef aquarium for close to 10 years sold Mark Parks (the owner of Southwest Seas) his accounts around December of 2016 when he moved out of state. In spite of my misgivings I was convinced to give Southwest Seas a chance. It did not get off to a smooth start. The first individual sent to maintain my aquarium was a new hire who flooded my sump and almost ruined my $8000 new rug. He did not recognize the problem and how to fix it. Luckily I was home at the time and was able to narrowly avert disaster. That person quit after about a month on the job. The next person sent to maintain my aquarium was also inexperienced with reef tanks but had now been assigned most of my previous companies accounts. He was a hard worker who tried really hard and was succeeding in acquiring the knowledge to maintain a reef aquarium. Fast forward to November 2017. Mark Parks came to perform tank maintenance the day before Thanksgiving. I was away in London for the week. On Thanksgiving morning I got a call from my housekeeper to say that everything in my aquarium was dead or dying. That included $2500 worth of fish and $7500 worth of corals. A review of video footage from my various home security cameras revealed that Mark Parks spent less than an hour on his service visit. He spent the first 8 minutes of his hour at my property talking on his cell phone in my driveway. He never performed a water change as was always done. My fish and corals could be seen in their normal healthy condition prior to this service visit. Service visits have have historically lasted an average 3-4 hours since I have a large 400 gallon aquarium. When the emergency holiday crew was dispatched to my house on Thanksgiving day it was discovered that my tank temperature and chiller were set to 58F. Mark Parks claimed and still does that my chiller had come unplugged, that he plugged it back in and everything was working normally when he left. It is worth noting that the chiller plug is a large 220V plug that is in a hard to reach location that is only ever accessed by the maintenance people. If it was truly unplugged, it could only have been by one of his employees. Mark Parks maintains that an "electronic glitch" reset my chiller controller. This is the same controller that has been working perfectly for many years and still has been for the past 3 months. I have since played with its settings, turned it off and back on multiple times, and it continues to function flawlessly. I don't think a logical person would buy into the theory that it had an isolated one time glitch that happened to occur at the exact same time as Mark Parks plugged it back in. Mark Parks promised to "make my tank great again". He performed some initial large water changes to stabilize the tank after the crash. Then I barely heard from him again until I called to fire him mid February 2018. He initially stated that he would replace some of my corals. His employee brought over approximately 5 pieces. These were pieces that I believe were acquired for free from the aquariums of other clients. A company that claims to be the largest saltwater maintenance company in Arizona could easily have placed a wholesale order to buy the large quantity of fish and corals I needed to replace what was lost. I started talking to other maintenance companies and people at various local fish stores and none of them seemed surprised by any of this. It all fit in with their existing knowledge of Southwest Seas reputation. If you are looking for an aquarium service company, do your research, speak to as many of Southwest Sea's competitors as you can. It turns out Southwest Seas is their biggest source of new clients. This business has given itself 5 star Google reviews (Mark Parks) and (Casey Leonard- store employee). That is shady!

Anthony Maiden

This place is really cool! I learned a lot about my daughter's gold fish here.

Paulette E. Fields

Love shopping at Southwest Seas for all of my aquarium needs. Casey is the best. Very helpful and extremely knowledgeable. Provides outstanding customer servive!

EMP Entertainment

One of the best in town, beautiful fraud and always stocked with all the cleanup crew critters you would ever need. reef stew, rodi water, salt water pre mix, and they also carry fresh water critters and supplies

Kent Bishop

Love it this place is clean and great fish

Tom Tucker

Don't remember his name but, he's very informed both salt and freshwater. Better than going to a chain. Reasonable prices also.

Staff Grabber

Clean little store that has unique corals and fish that is reasonable priced. They also do 5 stars which I love getting free stuff back! Casey is awesome sales person

Terra Rabago

Never been there

John McPherson

Love the people here. They really know their stuff and prices are very reasonable. They are friendly and take the time you need to help you make informed decisions.

Marie Moore

hade a great experience owner very knowable and friendly

- FlowerHorn -

The owner seems to be a nice guy. However, there doesn't seem to be much of a selection to the fish.

butterba113r tommllinson

Great place like home

Scott Powers

Nice little store

Mitch Belles

Very knowledgeable staff, good place to get supplies. Not very big but I like helping local buisnesses

Chaz C

Best saltwater store in Phoenix! Very friendly and knowledge!

LYNNAE LUNA

Awesome staff and very healthy livestock!

John Leita

This place is incredibly small and has almost no selection of anyting. I asked if he sold AquaClear filter supplements and he didn't even know what AquaClear was and ask me what brand that is. Then he confessed that they don't have any filter equipment at all. Their fish selection was paltry to say the least. They actually had one neon tetra oh, you know the little fish that you buy is a school. The guy there didn't seem to know much and I will take my business elsewhere.

emily rivera

Extremely helpful

Shawn Mcmillan

He had plenty of options to look at everything was fresh he was very helpful.

Anonymous America

Highest quality I have ever seen. With the service to back it up are you kidding me!? 10 STARS for sure. Mark is a great guy and is honest and down to earth. Highly recommend!

Roscoe Smith

I was disappointed in their selection.

Kaylee

I came here in search of RODI water after Aqua Touch closed for “renovation”. This place is NICE. Small space and the shopping center isn’t the nicest but once inside it’s all class. Gorgeous display tanks and lighting. Really classy and the front display made me want to save up to hire them to build me a tank. It’s wow!

Tarisa

Nice place. Very helpful and a down to earth staff. Fish are well fed, healthy and in clean water!!! Prices are reasonable too. Check it out!

Joshua Mays

1st time in and the manager was an absolute pleasure. Super friendly and inviting environment.

Christopher Charlton

They know thier stuff

Karen Hausteen

Good clean helpful

Ford William

Great selection of fish and probably the best selection of healthy corals I've seen in the valley. Beautifully maintained tanks and super clean store and knowledgeable staff.

Danelle C

Poor variety for fresh water.

Sierra Ranch

This is a great store that literally gave me the inspiration to start my first saltwater tank. The animals look very healthy and stunning . Staff is always incredibly helpful and their display tank is awesome.

Ted Colter

Great spot for getting corals and fish, knowledgeable staff and friendly. I always get my saltwater from this store and it's always on point

Ed D'Aguiar

Spectacular customer service will always get my business. Good shop.

Alex A

Great fish store. Clean and friendly people!

Susan Jones

Thanks is place is supreme very clean and wonderful ataff

Carl Sexton

There are two signs saying "Southwest Seas" and 3 doors. All doors were locked at 11:08am on a Tuesday and one of the windows had a sign reading S&B Plumbing. I don't think this place exists.

AZ Fisherman

Thank you for all the help you gave me.

Red Dragon

Excellent store....amazing reef tank.....knowledgeable employees...

Terry Buscemi

Recently went to Southwest Seas for some fresh water fish for a 20 gallon tank. I picked out 4 fish to start off. The gentleman was very knowledgeable and helpful to get my started. 2 wks later I now have 11 babies ha! Guess I got a pick. Ty sir. I will be back for future needs.

Kevin Ashurst

Don't let the exterior of the building fool you, this place is great for salt water reef aquariums. Great selection of mature fish, with a suprising variety of coral.

Random Warrior

The person at the counter was friendly and attentive. However, they don't stock live plants.

Scott Spirek

Best place in North Phoenix. I wouldn't waste my time or money at any other place. Two thumbs up! Keep up the hard work!

Mira Smeirat

Great place to get saltwater fish.

kevin fiero

Very knowledgeable staff!!

Maelynn Dubois

Love this place they have. Grate fish and they r so helpful

Carlos Hernandez

Good fish