Sailfin Pet Shop

I Love My Pet Store & everyone that works there. Everyone helps me ever time I go in the store. It's Nice to be greeted with kindness & smiles

Sales rep was new and asked a lot of the right kinds of questions to make sure the fish I purchased was right for my setup. Appreciated someone taking the time.

Love this place, there's so many different things in there to look at and purchase! I love just going in there to look at all the fishes and animals too! All the workers are VERY informed on the products/fishes in the store which is a huge help to customers.

They are helpful, efficient, knowledgeable, and friendly. They have great selections on pets and supplies as well as great variety.

All staff are very friendly and helpful. They gave me very detailed instructions on taking care of the pets.

Great pet store. Owner John has been super helpful with the set up of our new fish tank.

Great place to find fish that aren't so common. Not a bad drive from Peoria. Picked these little guys up there. A kuili loach and a purple spotted goby.

I really liked this pet store. All the staff were friendly and willing to be of assistance. Plenty of things for reptiles and amphibians. They had a small selection of live non aquatic animals that looked well cared for. The fish tanks were clean as well. Everything was reasonably priced.

I love this pet store. Staff are always helpful and knowledgeable about the animals they sell. They really do care about the welfare of their animals. They sell most of your basic pet items, plus foods like, worms, blended bird foods, mice, and crickets. The selection of aquariums and cages is pretty nice for a smaller store. The animal selection is also wide.

I've seen parakeets and finches, chameleons, guinea pigs rabbits bearded dragons rats various kinds of spiders, and of course their aquatic section is very nice. Overall i would highly recommend this store.

They seem to take very good care of their fish and have a large variety. HOWEVER, and this is a big however, I was very disturbed at the way they kept their small mammals. The ones out for display are in fine enough cages, a little small for the rabbits, but the door to the back was open one day and as I walked by I saw stacks and stacks of wire cages (with wire bottoms, very painful on their feet) stuffed with rabbits and other small mammals.

There was no cover for them, they didn't seem to be getting the variety of food they need (fresh hay, greens, ect), and there were entirely too many animals per square inch. They seemed distressed, dirty, skinny. I was disappointed since I expect small businesses to be better than the big chains, but I would not suggest supporting their small mammal business.

Great store including many cool critters you can't find anywhere else. Animals are healthy and well cared for. Buying fish anywhere else in the area is pretty silly since they're not more expensive at Sailfin and are way less likely to have problems. It's kind of a small store, but the tank decor they have in general is very nice (not tacky like a lot of places).

And it's hard to find sand at other pet shops. They also sell bulk rocks by the pound that are very nice, as is their driftwood. It's worth it to get a healthier animal and a good looking natural setup! Our axolotl and most of his tank stuff is from Sailfin (pictures included)

My favorite pet store. Very knowledgeable helpful staff. Always plenty of beautiful animals. Have purchased fish, frogs and guinea pigs here over the years and all were healthy. Decent prices. Truly unique store. Keep it up!

This was our first experience at this pet store and we had absolutely no issues until we returned the fish we purchased the night before because there was a 7 day guarantee and it was belly up the next day. I sent my husband back to the store which is 1 hr from where we live and the owner John was very RUDE and DISRESPECTFUL! You DO NOT treat your customers in that manner.

This business is clearly being managed and owned by a very unprofessional person and we will NEVER be back. It's sad you can't even go to a pet store with out being disrespected and treated like we were. I do not recommend this pet store, it is not family friendly and the owner is a prick.

My review is in regards to fish: Awesome place and definitely the best in the area. Their betta setup is AMAZING. They have a wall where every betta (probably about 30) has filtration and a large space. Freaking awesome. Nice staff and nice selection.

Variety of pets, and lots in stock, but AWFUL husbandry. First time i came i wasn't even two feet in before i was yelled at for carrying my very docile pet snake. I take this snake to every pet store i go to, never ever had an issue. In fact when i walked in a kids eyes lit up and his mother looked interested as well. But before i could offer to let them see, i was told "No, put it away" by the man behind the counter I asked why it couldn't be in here as it was a "pet friendly" store and i was just met with "you can bring it in, in a bag" I didn't have any pillowcases and i wasn't going to leave it alone in my car, so i brought it in a cat cage (which he could've easily gotten out of anyway) Instead of being able to freely use my hands with my snake around my neck i had to carry my 3lb ball python in a 12lb cage.

As i walked around i couldn't help but notice how many birds where in each TINY cages, as well as how many ferrets are in a cage that's even too small for ONE guinea pig. Very bad husbandry between the store and animals. Variety and selection of animals was impressive, but they weren't correctly taken care of. Bad costumer hospitality, and poor care for these living creatures. Very disappointed.

I'd say that this is the best pet store in the area, but some information I got when purchasing a pet rat was just plain wrong. i was told that it's okay to keep a single rat, that the cage they showed me was big enough, that I needed to feed him three different kinds of food (and the amounts were wrong), that I shouldn't handle him for two weeks, that a wooden house was perfect for him. that's all pretty bad info.

I went back the next day to get one of the litter mates for my rat, returned the food they had me buy. you need to do your research and be CONFIDENT that you know the universally accepted care methods for the pet you're buying. I regret being nervous and talked out of what I knew to be best after months of researching for pet rats. my rats are skittish but we're working on that. they seem to be healthy and are growing well! the owner (?) is knowledgeable about rats for the most part, but some of the staff need better training.

Best pet shop ever. Very knowledgeable. Excellent animals. Will explain how to successfully use every product they sell.

This is hands down the best pet store I've ever come across. Between the knowledge of the employees, clean environments and store, selection, and willingness to go "above and beyond", Sailfin stands apart from every other pet store I've ever been to. Went there my whole childhood in Champaign. Moved to Houston a few years ago, wanted to upgrade my tank filtration system, so I called the owner (John) and he took time to recommend a system tailored exactly for what I was hoping to accomplish, and sent it to me that day, with fittings and all!

A perfectly recommended solution to what I was looking for. Go there, I guarantee you will not only uncover the best pet store you've ever been to, a true example of a small business running the way businesses should, but also a Champaign (arguably Illinois!) Gem.

Went here to get a bigger fish Aquarium. Advertisements and store manager was a bit misleading in order to lure in purchases. Aside from semi unfriendly attitude of the store manager and the steep prices I loved the large variety of fish and other pets this place offered.

Update: They've now infected my tanks with pond snails, copepods, and blue green algae, even after I dipped my plant purchases. While I can't speak to other parts of their stock, I would not recommend their freshwater plants or animals. All have brought me nothing but trouble. Make sure of what you're getting, as I saw juvenile African clawed frogs labeled as African dwarf frogs (big problem for buyers) and have seen even the hardiest fish species dead in their tanks. Employees are generally nice and helpful, but the owner was extremely rude to me. Sad we don't have a better local fish store.

Absolutely terrible service from the much older gentleman working in the pet store. He walked away from me twice, no desire to help me, and spoke down to me as if I should know about dead fish. I would not recommend this place to anyone! -Concerned customer

I was like a kid in a candy shop at Sailfin Pet Shop. I went for some medication and advice for my fish. The staff was quick to help and was not scared to admit they didn't know the answer. They asked me to call back in a few hours when the manager was available. I called and the manager was a huge help. The large selection of fresh and saltwater fishes was impressive. All tanks were clean with healthy inhabitants.

Very pleased with Sailfin. We went in to start up a freshwater tank and John was extremely helpful and even dry set up our tank before we left! He took the time to explain the entire set up and what we needed to do before we bought fish. We will definitely be purchasing our fish and supplies here. You can't beat the service here and the prices were fair.

Once again, a terrible experience. I left a review on Facebook a month or so ago about John being extremely rude to my fiancee. I said if I could help it we would not spend money there anymore. Unfortunately we had a gift certificate. My fiancee went in again today to get help with a filter and now she insists on never spending money there again. We are gearing towards getting a bigger saltwater thanks which could lead to thousands of dollars spent at Sailfin.

I will happily spend that money elsewhere. Even if it means traveling to another town. I have always supported local businesses but never again will we spend a cent at Sailfin.

Best Local Fish Store within 100 miles of CU. There are others with better selections of niche products (such as Johnny's Reef Experience in Normal has better coral), but Sailfin is the overall winner, especially when it comes to fish. Their prices are not the lowest, but it is not cheap to stock a large selection of healthy animals and maintain an educated staff.

If you have questions, the staff are very good about giving you a straight answer, even if that means dissuading you from making the purchase. Sometimes it can take a while to get service, but this is just b/c this sort of consultation takes time, and once they get to you, you will appreciate the personal attention. If any staff members are in doubt about a question you may have, they send it up the chain, all the way to John if necessary. Speaking of John, he genuinely takes an interest in every hobbyist that comes through the doors and wants the best for all. Don't tell him that you got your equipment or livestock from other sources, such as craigslist or Internet forums, as he poo-poos them.

This is because he dislikes the anonymous nature of this stuff (and maybe a little competitiveness no his part). They have a 1 week guarantee on their fish (but not invertebrates) and have sales from time to time on their website. When they have these sales, it is not to clear out existing inventory, but to generate volume, so they stock up huge in advance of them and are thus a great opportunity.