Upscale Aquatics

Jason Shaffer (Red Queen SEO)

2024-03

The folks at Upscale Aquatics are really helpful. I've been shopping with them for a few years now and they've consistently been some of the most knowledgeable and supportive experts I've talked to. Their selection is fantastic and there is always something new I've never seen before to imagine adding to my own collection. I highly recommend checking them out if you are shopping for a new addition to your salt or fresh water aquarium or need some caring human experts to help you figure out what is going on with your setup.

SaBreena Lovelady

2024-04

I really like how knowledgeable the staff are here. We have purchased freshwater fish, frogs, snails, shrimp, and grass for our fish tanks. It's a bit intimidating when first walking in, but no matter when I've gone, I've felt welcomed. There is a TON of beautiful saltwater black light aquatic life there, too.

Richard Gilley

2023-05

Very pleased with my visit and the African Cichlids that I bought here. I bought 6 fish total (peacocks and haps) and all were packaged great for my trip back to VA. All made the trip safely and immediately colored back up within an hour of being in my tank. 100% recommend! Very friendly and knowledgeable staff. I will return for more fish when the need arises. Pics are within 1 hour of the fish in my tank, after about a 4 hour drive.

Shalonda D.

2023-11

I just love this place. The staff is super helpful. There is plenty to choose from plants, salt water and fresh water fish.

Comadore Turner

2024-04

I have had my 40 gallon tank for 6 years now and have had very little issues with new fish. Decided to try this place and will never be going again. Bought 80 dollars worth of plants and fish and all but one have died in less then 2 weeks. 2 of the fish introduced ich to the tank killing 3 of my other fish. Plus not to mention the man that helped me seemed to be annoyed by the fact I was asking him to do his job. Never again.

Jose Rodriguez

2024-04

GREAT QUALITY FISH AND GREAT PEOPLE TO DO BUSINESS WITH. ORDERED SOME OF MY FISH FROM HERE AND I WAS KEPT IN THE LOOP THE ENTIRE TIME AND MY ORDER SHIPPED QUICKLY. WILL IS AWESOME AND GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND TO MAKES SURE YOU GET TAKEN CARE OF. LOOKING FORWARD TO MY NEXT PURCHASE!

B G

2024-03

Upscale is awesome and the staff is amazing. Very helpful and patient, they are willing to answer questions and take the time to make sure you're making the right decision. They have a great selection of corals, fresh and salt water fish and all the supplies and food you would need. Every time I've gone in I've gotten the same experience and I will continue to make the trip from Statesville to visit this store.

Noah W

2023-11

Bought two BEAUTIFUL and healthy discus from here! Very pleased with the staff. They said they were still setting up the new store but it was already very impressive!

Kaylyn Collier

2023-07

Overall it’s a really cool place with neat fish. However, I got this poor dwarf frog and it’s clearly not been taken very well care of. Very skinny. Hopefully I can get it back to health. But Neat store with cool things

kristina ritter

2024-03

Really nice setup. Everyone is knowledgeable as well as helpful. Their fish seem healthy. We visit regularly and always end up buying more than we went for. Love how they have a wide selection and some oddballs you don't normally see.

katie kirkpatrick

2024-04

Great shop! Wide selection of salt and freshwater creatures and plants! Only thing to mention is labeling of fish on tanks is difficult to understand/read. The staff however is very quick to answer questions and direct you to what tank holds the animal you are looking for!

Conlan Brown

2024-04

By far my favorite LFS I have been to. The staff is very knowledgeable. They carry a mass of variety and can special order. Definitely in a different league than petco/petsmart/etc. They also ship or can pump the bag with extra oxygen for a long car ride.

C M

2024-04

I called ahead to confirm they had what I was looking for in stock. Once I arrived at the store, they were absolutely slammed & it took about fifteen minutes for me to flag down an employee in the back of the store to help me. I explained that I had called, and told him what I was looking for. He looked extremely confused, then told me he would “be right back,” he then left and proceeded to check out a line of at least ten customers and once again, I was left waiting, with no assistance. After another ten minutes of searching for an employee to help me, I just left. If the parking lot is full, don’t bother. You’ll be there forever 😅

salem mckenna

2023-07

Came to get an axolotl after cycling my tank through the necessary measures for weeks. Staff was straight forward and honest about a fungal infection some of their axolotls had fought through before selling me any, warning me it’s my own risk. I bought him anyway, and so far Pickles is doing great and is happy! I have gone to lots of different places and this one had the friendliest people I’ve run into on my axolotl journey which was a relief. They were NOT know it alls and gouging me with questions, and not flippant and totally ignoring my presence. I will be back in the future! Prices were reasonable too. There seems to be a no refund policy but there’s a “we will work with you” policy but that’s no issue it’s literally posted on signs throughout the building. They also were very knowledgeable and helped me with my questions.

Kristie Muglia

2023-09

I love this place! I visit often during my lunch breaks since I WFH. It’s nice to see friendly familiar faces while taking some time to get out of the house! The new store is awesome, it’s like visiting an aquarium and fun to just walk around and see all the new stuff each week. I think the pup that is there is also starting to get to know me since she comes to say hi! I bought some dwarf corydoras today, and the employee that helped me was really great with answering my questions. Can’t wait to visit again!

Jeff Wilhelm

2024-01

Good salt selection and staff is helpful. They won me over today. I wasn't paying attention and my order got added to someone elses. I paid for some items that were for another customer. They literally ran out after me, told me about it, and fixed it. That speaks volumes in itself about a business. Great people!

Dennis Peleg

2024-03

Spoke with Matt and his team the other day and they were able to help me rehome my peacock and haps. Definitely will be a returning customer!Update: 3rd time I've returned and they constantly have different fish that wish I could bring home especially the uaru trio! I have 8 tanks now and wish I could grab more cichlids from them lol. Always great service dealing with Matt and exceptional talk with John today and purchasing geophagus. Even though an hour from me, I'll be a returning customer.

S R

2020-05

Impressive store!This store has a tremendous variety of fresh water and salt water animals including fish, snails, crabs, spiders, lobsters coral, sponges, etc. They also have a huge variety of tanks, aquariums, heaters, filters and filtration equipment.The staff appears to be knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The customer is constantly engaged by the staff with questions, or just bits of information. All in a friendly, non-pushy manner.It has been over 10 years since we invested in aquariums and housing fish. So there was a lot of refreshing of knowledge as well as learning about special aquatic life that we had no experience raising in the past.Becoming the owner of aquatic life is not cheap. It is not something one should do lightly. Many of these creatures can live for years and years if properly cared for by an owner.I strongly encourage potential customers to do yourself and the animals a favor... Invest time in learning about this process. Consider setting up a tank for two weeks before you pick up animals. Make sure your tank environment is in good shape before risking the lives of animals.A second good suggestion is to establish a quarantine tank. This is one where you temporarily home new creatures before adding them to an existing tank. This one suggestion could save an entire society of fish from possible contamination.Lastly, bring a sample of your tank water with you when you are buying new fish. Testing before you place fish in a new tank is just smart. You want the new fish to have the best chance of survival. This store will test your water for free.Cheap insurance for your investment.Comparing prices this store is comparable on the basics with most other stores including the big box stores. Perhaps a little more in some areas.

Britt Russo

2024-03

Thanks for being patient with me. Great selection, beautiful fish, knowledgeable people, great owner, and super cute dog. You got a customer for life.

Geoff Burkett

2023-12

I’m very pleased and satisfied with Upscale. Matt and his team have earned our business with their knowledge, responsiveness, and they all have a big passion for this industry.Happy for them, they helped my workplace build and install a replacement aquarium and took every request and quirk with consideration. I’ll send them all business I can.Thanks, Matt!

Chandler Probert

2019-05

Upscale has a wide variety of both Salt and Freshwater fish. The Saltwater fish are my favorite because of the bright and vibrant colors. The employees are always helpful when I asked for assistance. Knowledge about food, tank set up, and tank maintenance makes me confident in being able to maintain my own fish tank. If you need any help they even have a tank installation and maintenance services. Overall, great store, great help and great selection of fish.

Garry Dolin II

2021-05

Absolutely stunning selection and very fair pricing. Extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and HELPFUL staff. Will most definitely be doing ALL of my business here for now on. Couldnt be happier!!

Elizabeth Beck

2023-10

The staff is always friendly and EXTREMELY knowledgeable. They have a fantastic selection already and are still building up stock in their beautiful new store front. Prices on maintenence items like nets, fish food, tanks treatments, and more are reasonably priced. Live stock can be a bit pricey, but fish are well taken care of, healthy, and happy which I think makes it worth the money. They have a wide variety of fresh water plants and salt water corals including some pretty rare species of each type. The corals and plants are once again kept in exceptional condition and are worth the extra money in my opinion. This is a fantastic store that any fish/aquarium enthusiast should check out!

David W.

2024-03

Not sure what to think of this place. Got asked if I needed any help so much it became an annoyance to a degree. One employee walking around with no shoes on. Checkout was painfuly long. No plans to return in the future.

Stacie Wilkerson

2022-05

I absolutely LOVE this place! They have a very large selection of fish both for saltwater and fresh water aquariums. They also have coral and a large amount of chemicals or additives to help if you have water parameter issues or your fish have an illness. We LOVE Randy!! He's very knowledgeable, kind, and patient. He doesn't seem to rush you and he treats you like family. He makes you want to go back! He helped my husband and I upgrade our 75 gallon saltwater tank to a 120 gallon tank. We purchased everything, the tank, stand, sump, rocks, sand etc all from Upscale with the help of Randy. The whole staff is amazing and helpful though. You have to visit this store! You'll be happy you did!!

Nick

2020-05

Upscale Aquatics is an amazing place! Very knowledgeable and kind staff. Premium fish store! With saltwater and freshwater fish. Matt can get anything that you want! All fish are well taken care of and healthy. Everytime I walk in I see something new that I want. Such a great selection of fish. Wonderful and knowledgeable staff. Has odd ball and exotic fish. I always go in with a lot of time because I know I'll be in there awhile!

keisha B

2024-03

The selection of freshwater and saltwater fish is amazing.. everyone who works there is super helpful and willing to help! So glad we found this place

Starr Beam Knight

2021-05

SEE EDITWe looove this place! Every time we go they have something new (and maybe unusual). Very friendly and knowledgeable staff.EDIT: my husband and I were shocked when we visited last weekend. We loved this store especially because the people. This was not the case. I'm not sure if there are new employees or management or what but we were not treated friendly or even had anyone happy to help. The guy getting our fish smashed one in a hurry which ended up dying that same night. My husband spent $100 by the way. He took the fish back the next day and they had an even worse attitude. They said our water was bad (which was fine, but why treat loyal customers rudely) and gave him a $25 store credit on a $45 fish. We will spend that $25 and never go back. I am so upset because we really loved this place. Shocking and confusing.

Owen Bezick

2024-01

Great store! Knowledgeable and friendly staff. Got a great deal on a tank/filter.

Samuel Cooper

2023-09

Great place to go they have a large variety of fish. but if you have one die and take in your tank water in separate from the fish. Their employee will tell you that you are lying that the water didn't come out of the same tank as the bag with a dead fish in it. I had explained that I had the fish in the bag for "about an hour" which means it could have been more or less than an hour I wasn't to sure at that point. The low review was for the disrespect and being called a liar by the employee. I am thankful that I was given the store credit. That's why I didn't leave a 1 Star review.