A fish tank suddenly exploded and sent thousands of gallons of water onto the floor, along with hundreds of fish, at a family-owned pet store in Fox Lake and the business is seeking the community’s help.
Something Fishy Pets said the incident happened on Monday at their store, located at 29 Towne Centre Lane in Fox Lake.
A 2,000-gallon fish tank experienced what was believed to have been a top seam giving out, causing water to suddenly rush out of the tank and flood the store.
Over 350 fish were inside the tank at the time. It is unclear how many died.
The store said it was “not really what we had in the plans for today” and that there was no warning of the failure happening.
“Thank god we were closed so no customers were here. Thank god we were here so we could get right on clean up. Now time to rebuild. Very sad because we almost had it to where we wanted it,” Something Fishy Pets said.
Ring surveillance video captured the incident, which showed the owner walking around in the store when the tank burst open, resulting in the owner running to the tank and assessing the situation.
Trevor O’Gorman, who is also in the pet industry, said he is close friends with the family who owns the store and they are well-known and are “always giving everything they have.”
They purchased the pet store in February 2025 and it was run-down, O’Gorman said. “They have been giving it their all, day in and day out, to make improvements and wow the community. They have been doing a good job, although not the best; it’s getting there one day at a time.”
The 2,000-gallon fish tank was recently gutted and was in the process of being transformed into a slice of the “Amazon.”
“It was slowly coming together, and it was something they were proud of and excited to see the end results. I was leading the project, controlling what was being stocked and aquascaped, and we were coming along on it slowly but surely. Perfect does not happen overnight, but it was coming together,” O’Gorman said.
The tank, which is over 20 years old, flooded the store and destroyed everything in sight.
“This tank is the centerpiece of the store, and the vision for it was amazing. They want to see the end results. This family constantly gives back to the community, and I think it is time we do the same,” O’Gorman said.
The owners had insurance and are hoping it will be covered but O’Gorman said that he has created a GoFundMe account in case not all of their expenses are covered.
He said a tank of this size made by a reliable, trustworthy company would cost $20,000 to $30,000. “Plus, with such an unfortunate event, why would they not make the tank just a tad bigger to really wow the community?”
“Not only is the tank gone, but a ton of the fish that were in there as well. We were at over 350 fish in there at this point, which was amazing because it was such a large tank, but so many tetras, corydoras, cat oto, farowella, angelfish, severums, plecos, geophagus—you would never know there were that many fish in there,” O’Gorman said.
The family intends to take any funds raised by the community and donate it to an organization that needs it, should their insurance cover all of the expenses they incurred.
The fundraiser account has raised almost $2,000 with a goal of $45,000.