While PetSmart no longer seems to sell it, for a while, the Top Fin Retreat Aquarium was one of the most popular aquariums in their range. It isn’t difficult to see why. For a cheap tank, it was absolutely loaded with features, and it was more than enough to get brand new aquarium owners started, while also providing something for the more dedicated fish lovers who don’t really have fish with high demands.
Let’s take a look at what the Top Fin Retreat Aquarium brings to the table, shall we?
The Features Of The Top Fin Retreat Aquarium
For the low price, you would think that the Top Fin Retreat Aquarium is just a basic bit of kit, but it is anything but. Coming in at a couple of sizes, both offer some astounding features.
The construction is glass (great for durability), with a glass lid too, for an extra bit of vision from the top of the tank.
There is an in-built LED light to allow you to brighten up your fish. Again, brilliant for keeping an eye on them, but also great at simulating a day and night cycle for the animals.
On top of all of this, there is a built-in filtration unit. This can help to keep the water nice and clean for you. If you have fish, you are going to need to buy a quality filter anyway, so why not buy an aquarium with one built into it? Of course, if you want to remove it and put your own filter in there, you have the opportunity to do so.
Outside of some temperature control features, the Top Fin Retreat Aquarium brings everything that a new fish owner needs to the table. In fact, we would highly recommend this over other competing tanks, although we will discuss that part in a bit more depth shortly.
Top Fin Retreat Aquarium Construction Materials
As we mentioned, the aquarium is made from glass, and a pretty tough one too, considering the price. You don’t have to worry about this smashing. Although let’s be honest, you probably should never put a tank in a position where it could end up being smashed or toppling over anyway. Trust us, it isn’t going to be great for the fish! The smashing of your tank would be the least of your worries.
The lid of the tank is glass, which can also be removed if you wish.
The LED light is a simple clip light, but it has a huge amount of power, and it is great at keeping that aquarium illuminated, which is exactly what you want when you want to peer at your fish.
The filtration unit is a fixed flow filtration unit, which we understand is not going to be for everybody. However, as we said, it can easily be removed. While PetSmart doesn’t sell the Top Fin Retreat in all of their stores at the moment, they do always keep the filters for the Retreat in stock, so you don’t have to worry about that part.
Do bear in mind that the filtration unit is a pretty basic one. However, it should be fine for most people’s needs. As long as you are not getting too crazy with your fishkeeping, then you should be fine.
Size Of The Top Fin Retreat Aquarium
The Top Fin Retreat Aquarium is available in 2 sizes. You have the 5-gallon aquarium, which is easily the most popular product of the two. You also have the 2.5-gallon aquarium. However, to be honest with you, most people probably wouldn’t really see a purpose for the 2.5-gallon aquarium. It is a little bit too small for most fish, and you wouldn’t really be able to fit too much in there. It is also worth noting that while the 5-gallon tank is difficult to get hold of at the moment, the 2.5-gallon tank is almost impossible to find.
Here are the dimensions for the 5-gallon tank. You can half these dimensions for the 2.5-gallon tank. You should also bear in mind that some of the space inside of the tank is going to be taken up by the filtration unit, so take an inch off of the length here:
- Length: 14-inches
- Width: 9.5-inches
- Height: 9.5-inches
As you can see, the Top Fin Retreat Aquarium is a reasonable size, and it should be perfect for the vast majority of people.
Who Is The Top Fin Retreat Aquarium Designed For?
The Top FIn Retreat Aquarium probably isn’t for serious fish keepers. It is a starter kit. The whole point of buying this kit is so that you don’t have to think too hard about the filters and the lighting that you want. Fishkeepers know that stuff, and they can end up with something better.
The only time we have seen a serious fishkeeper use this tank is when they are looking to raise shrimp or something equally simple.
This is the perfect size for new fishowners. It is a good size for some smaller freshwater fish, and you don’t really have to think too long and hard about what you need to buy. While some temperature control should be good to buy, this is going to be dependent on the fish that you end up buying.
We have seen the Top Fin Retreat Aquarium look perfectly at home inside of an office, or even as a display fish tank. Again, nothing too serious in terms of fishkeeping, but better than the cheap plastic tanks out there.
Conclusion
For the money, we don’t think that you will be able to find something better than the Top Fin Retreat Aquarium. Obviously, there are better tanks on the market, but these are going to cost a lot more than this glass tank. If you are starting with your fishkeeping and just want to keep a few basic freshwater fish, then the Top Fin Retreat Aquarium is probably going to be for you. It contains everything that you need to get started.
