As others have said, it's a small place. However, I would think you would expect that, what with…read morebeing on a small island.
You're greeted by a touch tank full of horseshoe crabs, conchs, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sea stars (starfish) and hermit crabs. I may be an adult, but I love touch tanks, especially when they house creatures that I don't get to see in my daily midwestern life! Shortly after we arrived, one of the employees began giving a talk about the animal in the tank. We didn't stick around for the whole presentation, but what we did learn was interesting.
Down both sides of the building are aquariums with different sea creatures: fish, lobster and other crustaceans, and typical sea animals like anemonies and eels. In the middle of the floor and behind and in line with the touch tank are 2 sunken tanks which house sea turtles that cannot be released into the wild, and rays. Another employee gave a talk about them and it, too, was very interesting.
Near the back door is a camera machine where you can choose your backdrop and take souvenir selfies which you can then email to yourself. These are free and unlimited.
Out the backdoor is an inlet with is fenced off from the ocean, but is still subject to the tides. It is probably at least 10 feet deep and house various tropical fish of at least 8 inches in size. There is a boardwalk that borders the entire thing, and on one side, there is a food dispensing machine where you can purchase handfuls of feed for 25 cents each and feed the fish.
There is only one way in and out to this, so you can't get lost. Once back in the building, there is a large doorway on the left which takes you into a room where you look down into a large tank that encompasses the whole room. There are nurse sharks and tarpon, among other large fish species that live here. Behind this large pool is the exit, which takes you into a gift shop that has comingled with a Key West souvenir shop. You can enter the gift shop without going through the aquarium, if you want.
We purchased our ticket as a combo with the Ship Wreck Museum which is just across the way. There are a few different combo tickets that you can purchase, or you can simply choose the aquarium only. Also, with our combo ticket, we were able to return to the aquarium the next day for free, so we took advantage of that, simply for the air conditioning, lol.
All in all, it was a nice place to visit to see the inhabitants of Key West's waters, and to see some animals that I had never seen before. It is worth your time to stop in and check out and because of it's size, you don't have to make a whole day of it...you could be in and out in an hour or less, actually, depending on your particular interests.
103/2025