Reviews of Francos Aquariums (Fish Shop)

House of Gaia Pythons

Great place to pickup fish! The lady working there was very knowledgeable and helpful. They have a nice variety of fish to choose from as well, purchased an awesome strawberry peacock which I got an amazing deal on. Highly recommended!!

Daniel Hunt

The tanks are clean and staff are nice and helpful They have a good selection of freshwater,tropical,shrimp, snails

Kathy Drake

This store gives people bad advice on fish care, and sold me aggressive angel fish who have eaten all my tetras and shrimp that the lady said would be fine, she made a big sale and the aninals suffered and died will never ever go here again.

Daniel

Great store great service and lots of fish to choose from. This is where I got my aquarium and my fish.

sexstone86

I had a amazing first experience, Linda was super helpful explained a lot to me and sold me a free bag of beneficial bacteria. I went in looking for tiger barbs and walked about with multiple barbs. The place was clean, lots of selection and fish looked healthy! Will be a return customer. I want to thank her for all her help and advice, I was given poor advice from a different shop chasing ammonia and nitrite levels. Linda had my tank crystal clear and levels at 0 in a matter of a day!

Robert Gauthier

Cichlids are way over priced.staff is rude and short with customers.very unpleasant experience.will not be returning.

Chloe Lieu

Really clean aquariums and healthy fish. Not sure what the negative reviews are about, my family has been buying fish from Linda and Franco for a long time and we've never had any problems. They have great customer service and are super knowledgeable. Prices are reasonable for the quality of fish, I also know that they properly quarantine new fish before selling.

Thanh Pham

First visit - Clean, more spacious than other Aquariums, has adequate selection of décor, sand/ gravel & Substrate, and knowledgeable owner. Provided helpful tips on water care, Food options and general tips for our aquarium.

John “Jo Fer” Ferrrier

I absolutely love this aquarium shop. It was my first time visiting and the lady that helped us was an absolute riot. She was barely knowledgeable about all of the fish she had and was very funny and conversive. I would definitely recommend this aquarium store to anybody new or experienced. I picked up three male fancy guppies 3 Giuli Coreys and to my suprise some Subwasertang that I've been looking for in local aquarium stores for quite some time.

Prairiespawparazzi

Nice fish and prices. Wonderful service.

Ken Lee

I've been to this place twice. Great selection of fish. Great selection of aquariums, parts, supplies, etc. Everything you need. Also fantastic for getting equipment to start shrimp tanks. The owners are super friendly and knowledgeable and can tell you everything you need to know about whatever it is you want to buy. I really like this place, rest assured I will return here over and over again.

Danny Li

Despite being a small family owned business, they have a very good selection of fish and aquatic plants. The customer service is great as Linda and Franco are always super helpful and informative. They both have a lot of knowledge! The tanks are clean and fish are healthy, my family has been buying fish from them for years and we've never had any problems. Their tanks sometimes has algae but that's not a cleanliness issue, it's due to light exposure, I get algae in my tanks even though I clean it often.

A Morel

This place is amazing, we've bought many cichlids from here, unfortunately we had to rehome most of them, but we bought four parrot cichlids about three years ago and they are still healthy and happy. Would definitely recommend this place.

Kevin Le

She was very rude!! Very bad customer service. Its seems like she didn't want my business. She talk down to me because I didn't know anything about fishes. Do not go to Franco Aquarium, I certainly will not never ever return!!

Jen Lammers

Linda took the time to help answer my tank cycling questions, and helped me pick out what I needed.. Thank you so much!!! I won't be going anywhere else for fish or advice!!

Adel Ginovin

Great place. Bit fast paced, keep up. She's knowledgeable about the fish and will offer advice. Been back a few times. Note to everyone talking about fish looking sick; always quarantine your purchased fish, no matter where you go. Its the damn rule. Great place, I can match her sarcasm. XD

Roxanne Smith

Good prices and the fish are always healthy.

Ian Racine

Great section of tropical fish.

Tristan

I came here and fell in l fell in love the plecos, so i was planning on buying them but found out that my tank was too small for them, that's why i am going to be coming here to take a look at them!

Bud Brunner

I have been a customer of Franco's Aquarium for over 10 years. I was setting up a Cichlid tank for the first time and needed advice and direction. Linda gave me invaluable information, hints and tips. She has remembered my name and my kids names over the years and is personable and knowledgeable. I love the individualized service you get with a small owner run store - you can't get this at a box store. The quality of their stock is top notch too. Thanks Linda and Franco!

Shanna Moore

The customer service, knowledge and patience to teach new clients is beyond expectation. Our family had gone in thinking we would get a goldfish and left with a gorgeous tank of African Cichilids. We are enjoying our beautiful new tank and have a new fish store. I will not go anywhere else.

Paul Creurer

Needs a better tank maintenance regime! No way will I put those fish in my tank without a lengthy quarantine first.

Christopher Cook

The aquariums were very unclean and unkempt. Many fish looked sickly and alot were very overpriced and overcrowded tanks. Also many were not for sale or display only which I didn't quite get as your a fish store so shouldn't most be for sale? Nice enough staff but not sure I'd buy a fish without a quarantined tank at home.

Samantha Treadgold

Good deals only place in Calgary that I've been able to find red crystal shrimp. And currently getting them to quote us for 2 custom tanks. Super happy with them

Blazed Cuban

Honestly love supporting this store. Their fish are so healthy and their filters so aged

Vaibhav Gujarathi

Great prices and good knowledge ... Got Red parrots from there ... Healthy ..!!!

Michael Anderson

Decent selection of fish and other products. Prices are a little more than most pet stores but... it's to be expected with privately owned stores. ** Thank you very much for reading my reviews. I try to review and rate places with as much detail and honesty as possible based on my experiences and opinions. If you appreciate my reviews... please be sure to 'like' them. Thanks again for your time and consideration. ????

Brent Knorr

I always enjoy stopping in at Francos. Linda is great to talk to and I have had great success with the fish that I have purchased here. It's a smaller store but has a good selection of fish. There are a few basic accessories and such in the back corner, but the focus is certainly on the fish themselves.

Neesha

Dirty store dirty tanks I wouldn't buy fish here

David Varty

Franco's is by far the best place in Calgary for Cichlids! Both Linda and Franco are very knowledgeable and super friendly. Their low prices are great and their abundant advice is priceless. They have taken me in as if I am one of their own and they always go the extra mile, helping me through some very tough, discouraging times with my fish. I highly recommend Francos for both newbies and seasoned enthusiasts of the hobby. But don't just take my word for it, stop by and see for yourself, you will not regret it.

I Hernandez

Great local aquarium store. The staff is super friendly and knowledgable :) Not a great variety of plant but they have good variety of accessories, stuff, fish, turtles, etc. Prices are fair.

John Vanderloos

Great prices, great knowledge and great service. I bought my first setup from them and the fish lasted for years. Totally recommended experience for first time buyers.

Travis Knapcik

Nor good for buying fish all their fish they have are mostly not for sale have hile in the head or deformed from inbreeding to much. Ans prices are to high also.

Tyree Ewing (Ty)

What an amazing little store to buy all your fish aquarium needs. It is a little on the smaller side in relation to size but let me tell you they go well out of there way to make sure your needs are met and they have a large selection of fish. I will definitely be going back there.

Chloe Chan

Excellent service, good prices and a wide selection of fish! Owners are very friendly and knowledgeable, they always go above and beyond with their service. Definitely going back to support a local and family owned business.

Suzy

Lady was very aggressive when helping me and very aggressive to the fish. Expensive and fish didn't look healthy.

Kerry McKay

Healthy fish, great knowledge and prices

Michael Cox

Extremely friendly owners, very knowledgeable. One of the best places to get fish in the city.

Savvy does it

Nice family owned place. I've been going here for fifteen years and still my favorite place to get new fish for my tank

Melissa Simon

Thank you Linda! Our tank looks amazing! Our son loves his tank so much...Linda regularly takes calls from him and mentors him on how to run his tank! She is so helpful and caring!!!

Ryan

The hands down best fish store in Calgary. They had all the fish I wanted, which I couldn't find anywhere else, and I could not believe how happy, friendly, and helpful they were. This is the best LFS hands down.

jacobsmomma always and forever

Came from Edmonton just to come to this location to pick up a male kribensis and litterley stood there for a half hour asking this person to take out fish so I can purchase she was very rude not impressed at all won't be going back again

Rikki Opazo

We will never return to purchase fish from here. The tanks were unclean and the service was beyond awful. We felt very unwelcome and were spoken to rudely. It was one of worst retail experiences we've had. We strongly recommend going elsewhere.

Jessica Hernandez

The store and tanks were unclean and many of the fish looked sickly in their tanks. I was heartbroken to see full grown turtles crammed together in such a small space.

Callie C

Linda was amazing. Knowledgeable and passionate, I'll absolutely go back. Thanks, Linda!

Monika Wolfsgruber

Sept 14th- It is such a shame to write this review, as I had nothing but a wonderful shopping experience BUT I feel is important for potential buyers to know what kind of accountability this stablishment will take if there's issues with their livestock. After many months of debating, I was finally ready to get some dither fish for my many pleco colony tanks. I got a 55 gallon tank ready for quarantining and planned on getting schools of 15-20 of each dither fish. Despite my best efforts, I had a hard time finding the number of fishes I needed and still needed like 10 more galaxy danios and small numbers of cardinals and rummynose tetras. So, one day, I decided to go check this place out. Got the bit of the fishes and then some. Come home immediately. Follow my proper acclimating procedure, put in the tank with the other 50+ fish that had been quarantining there for almost 4 weeks ( with no problems). Checked for ich and everything looked fine. Night comes and the new fish were dropping like flies. Performed a 50% water change immediately, checked water, temp, filters, etc. Couldn't figure out what was wrong. Spent a very late night working on that fish tank and watching how the fish I had there originally were starting to get sick as well and a few died. Researched and researched and thought it was neon tetra disease at first but then my 9 year old talks to me about the "new funny looking fishes" I got and shows me the pictures of two of new galaxy rasboras ( that costed me $10 each btw). Looked at the pictures and it was obvious these two fishes had a horrible internal parasite. This parasite has to be the worst I've ever seen ( and I am not an inexperienced fish keeper) I was upset but never mad at this stablishment because I understand s*** happens. Heck, even I didn't noticed the two funky looking fishes at first. I gave this stablishment a courtesy call to let her know what I had just experienced and that she most likely needs to treat her tank and she wasn't rude but she was in deep denial. " it wasn't my fish" , " maybe it was your tank" , " I sell a lot of fishes all the time and have never heard of such thing" etc. She did however offered I could go back and get a few fish to try again but told me to write a message on fb to show pics, which I did and still to this date, no response lol No refund. No apology. No even an acknowledgement. Thank goodness I quarantine and medicate long and hard or else this could've killed my tens of thousands of dollars in plecos. So far, my losses were only 29/76 cheap ornamental fish but definitely buyer beware. I gave away the slates I purchased from this business as I don't like to take risks with my expensive livestock and this business never takes responsibility. I'll go ahead and add a picture of how this quarantine tank looked like earlier that morning, the two $10" funny fishes" and proof of the internal parasite on these new fish.

AG

Bought some African cichlids from Franco’s and I’m really happy with the purchase. I was able to find certain fish here that I couldn’t find anywhere else in the city. They have a very wide selection on fish

joel toulgoet

Tanks are very dirty and crowded, fish did not look healthy

barry b

Small store with a great selection of fish

Rebecca Clarke

Awesome place. The owners are very knowledgeable and friendly. Went in with a bunch of questions and they had all the answers. There are some neat fish too!

Brent Caldwell

Very knowledgeable

Stephanie Connor

Linda is amazing! Extremely knowledgeable with fish and its very evident that she loves what she does and takes pride in her fish. If you are just setting up a tank or needing advice for your currenttank i would highly recommend coming here.

Len S

Great healthy looking fish with a lot of variety

Lilieth Moorehouse

Great customer service the best

Amalia Tolentino

Overpriced cichlids in town.

Samantha Fornoville

Just got my first full set up from Franco’s! Couldn’t be happier, I felt very confident and informed after leaving there, the staff made sure we had all the information we needed to start up our tank. Beautiful selection of fish, and they are incredibly knowledgeable on how to make your tank look stunning, not just sub par. Excited to go back and pick up some fish!!

J T

Hours on store say open until 7:00pm. Was closed at 6:40pm on Monday.

L R Cattleman

They have a large variety of fish, I finally found the jellyhead goldfish, that made me happy. They treated us very professionally and greeted us as we arrived. They were very helpful. Was a great experience.

Karen Haveone

I bought a pleco from here feb 1 it is now feb 14 I stupidly did not quarantine and it brought some infection in and I have now lost all my pleco babies and a juvenile and the fish I bought from them and spend good money on$40 plus tax . I will not recommend them and will not buy from there again .. I have proof with my bank records I was charged $42 for a female bristlenose pleco on Feb 1 /2021 NONE OF THE OTHER FISH WERE SICK IN THE TANK WERE SHOWING SIGNS OF ILLNESS TILL I BOUGHT THE NEW ONE

Jeffrey Buchanan

great selection, nice people.

Harmann Toor

lots of selections but I didnt get fish

Nisa Sutherland

Linda was a great help with building our new tank and giving us great advice on how to maintain it.

Dylan lecky

Great advice with out being pushy for sales

Laura E

What a gem! Amazing customer service and advice. The interior of the store is simple with the focus where it should be — impeccably clean water and healthy fish. I will definitely be back. Support local small businesses! We are in this together.

Hannah Girimonte

Awesome experience here!! They have the most beautiful fish I have ever seen in my life! Will always go there for my fishies and their needs! Both the owner and his wife are super nice and know a lot about every fish you can think of! Always there to help and ready to answer any question that myself and my husband had! Defiantly going to keep coming here for everything my tank needs.

Daniel Kos

Healthy fish, lots of rescue fish that they help out with. Knowledgeable help, little higher prices but the fish are bigger, healthier and worth the minimal extra cost.

Arthur Machula

Super knowledgable. They go above and beyond every time to answer your questions and help you choose the perfect fish for your aquarium. They have hands down the best selection, and they bring in some beautiful and rare fish.

Jason Organ

Linda is exactly what I needed in my life starting out with my new tank. She took the time to explain everything and show me the differences between all the products. I can't wait to pick my fish out here!