Reviews of Big Al's Aquarium Supercentres - North York (Fish Shop)

Isaac Gotfried

Always friendly helpful staff.

D Zarek

The guys at this location are awesome, knowledgeable, and eager to help. Highly recommended

Brendan Flynn

I live in Vancouver, but visit Toronto regularly. Everytime I'm in Toronto I stop in at this Big Al's and look around. The staff are always friendly and helpful. The fish and plants also look very healthy.

Nicholas S

I have visited this Big Al's location and I didn't buy anything. No pressure sales ... no nothing. I asked for advice and also I put a lot of questions, everything was answer to more then my satisfaction. Any other store should look up to the level of customer service this particular location is offering. I will go back and make my purchases based on their knowledgeable answers, which I verified since I'm a noob to allow of this...

Hojat Azimi

Good customer service and helpfull staff as always.

T Saeed

It's Big Al's what else to say? ! If you know anything about aquariums then you know Big Al's

Mat Babol

Friendly staff and lots of aquarium accessories and fish.

Bassam Tajeddine

Knowledgeable Sales staff.

Doug Gullett

I come hear for all my aquarium needs I prefer them over any other aquarium store in Ontario they have a large selection of fish and friendly staff the fish are also well taken care of

Armin Last

Great fish and tons of selection

Chia P

Always had a great experience here, most of the staffs are friendly and knowledgeable. I believe the ones that people deem not as friendly just cares about the fishes (so they are a bit strict and asks questions about your set up, so that they will be well cared for). Keep up the great work (:

William Pearl

I was able to buy a betta fish here at curbside without preordering online,after beng refused service at petsmart.

Hope Smith

Unlike the Kennedy store, this Big Al's does not have the same quality and quantity of reptiles and supplies. I've had repeated issues with buying food for my 6 scaled pets (wrong size, wrong #, wet bugs) and have found heavily soiled terrariums on repeated visits. The store is clean, well laid out and service is quick.

GEOVANNI RAMIREZ

Great place you would find everything for your aquarium

Jay Raza

Great shop, staff and selection for all your aquarium needs. One of my fav go to shops

Istvan Kelemen

Perfect store for your fish hobby....

Caroline Becker

Almost like a zoo - great place to take kids

Jeff Gould

Always a great selection of fish. Staff is very knowledgeable.

Rick Satenstein

Probably the best selection of aquariums in the city

spikella ella

I have to share this conversation as i just found it too funny. I went to look for some dietary variences (perhaps for salmon or trout pellet food which they do not sell) for my Axolotls. When I spoke to one of the staff he admitted he wasn't very knowledgable but asked me what I was currently offering. I said Bloodworms, Earthworms and Beef Heart. He replied "Oh, Beef Heart is bad and full of bacteria and parasites... you should really avoid feeding it to them. Unless you get it at an "aquarium store" as then it would be certified to be parasite free" So let me get this straight, the meat industry for hobby fish has more stringent regulations then the ones for human consumption? ...not buying it. Literally.

Catherine Maksymetz-Dumas

This store was a joy to visit. My son and I expected to find a small aquarium supplies store. To our pleasant surprise, we found an extension aquarium with hundreds of tropical fish and even an aquarium of beautiful coral. We spent over 2 hours enjoying their aquarium and extensive supply of aquarium and supplies. We are planning a return visit very soon.

Paul Milhuisen

I highly recommend this location. The starff and management are very knowledgeable and helpful, always goes the extra mile for their customers. This location has a high standard of cleanliness which includes the maintenance and husbandry of livestock and corals . Keep up the great work ????

T-dot Hustla

Big space with a decent selection. They carry some reptiles but mostly the beginner variety. The staff are friendly and helpful.

Connor Jakes

Marine fish are overpriced, and health is not the best. Sadly its one of few places in town that carry marine supplies and livestock. You can get good deals once in a while, but the normal pricing is above what you'll find online, or at smaller private run fish stores.

D JA

The best fish Store in Canada by none. Always love this store. Great variety and always healthy fish. The very knowledgeable and friendly staff are what makes it the best. Even if you don't buy any fish just go explore the wonders of all the amazing fresh and salt water specimens

Vanlallawmzuali Kundu

Must visit for aquarium lovers, variety of fish to choose, helpful staff...if you want to set up aquarium you should go????????

Talk 2 Bridget

Beautiful place with lovely and knowledgeable staff.

DeezDaims

Great prices here, compared to other retailers such as PetSmart. I love the fish gallery, as you have all sorts of tropical fish. My favourite fish are the arowanas in the corner. It's great how you have big thanks for these fish. Some people don't know that fish need big space. The only thing I'd like for you to change, is the Bettas bowls. I've read online that Betta fish are very delicate, and the Betta fish should not be kept in bowls as it hurts their eyes.

Gordon Su

Ron and the team offer a professional and friendly experience, can't wait for my next visit ❤️

LENA F

Amazing and helpful staff, lots of patience to teach and explain all that a beginner will need to know. Big selection of everything (and more) that is needed.

Mr. Li

Great place to visit for current and future hobbyists. ????

Farid Mammadov

I love Big Al’s Aquarium

Ameen Khwaja

They're really friendly and always good at advising about your pet care!

Jer Novak

It's a great place .. their employees are extremely friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. I love going there for advice !

Brian H. RMT

Very knowledgeable and friendly staff. And they're always around when you need help.

Bilal Hafez

It's a nice place to find all you animal needs.

Ryan Preston

Avoid at all costs. I purchased a 55 gal. kit recently and a 13" gash was left on the passenger side dash of my car from them loading it(the store manager loaded it). Reviewing the receipt later I noticed I was charged $54.99 for an item actually costing $6.99. When I opened the filter box it was missing components. I had to return twice to deal with this as well as numerous phone calls and the store is a 1 hour drive each way for me. The dash will cost upwards of $6-700 to fix and I can't afford that so it will remain damaged. I got a "sorry" and a $100 gift card. Never Returning.

Ewan F

Amazing, personalized service by fish enthusiasts - especially Gary and Emmanuel.

Evgeni Reingold

So many great fishes. Sharks just amazing. A lot scientific information and you can pet a fish as well

Fardis H

Great store and friendly staff.

Vanessa McMahon

Fast, efficient service at curbside ????????????????

Ryan Furlong

This has been my shop for fish for a couple of years now. They have always been helpful in getting me the proper information, product, and knowledge I need to take care of my fish the best way possible. A great selection of everything you could ever need fish related. I hope to continue using this location in the future.

Sangkeun Kim

Large store, clean with professional and caring staff.

Georgiana Radu

The store has great selection, staff is great and very knowledgeable. Just please keep in mind that every staff member may have a different expertise so just ask who you can speak to in regards to what you are looking for and they will help you out. I have been going there since I bought my bearded dragon 4 years ago. Great experience with all, however especially Rob and Emanuel (the manager).

Monkey D. Luffy

Fun place to visit and look around, staff are also very knowledgeable.

Daniel De Marco

Love this Big Al's location. It's not the largest one, but it's always well stocked and the tanks are kept clean and filled with healthy fish.

SavagePursuitTTV

Fair price great atmosphere and tons of things to choose from

Robert Busby

Wow! The coolest of creatures!

Ehsan Foroughi

Great variety and good prices and service.

Franklin Saplamaeff

the location at 180 steels is amazing! very knowledgeable and helpfull staff!

B G

Well stocked store for freshwater and saltwater tanks, filters, lights, food and fish. Staff are knowledgeable and will check to see if you have a community tank and what is in it to ensure your plant or fish selection is compatible with your set up.

Serban Boghina

Lots of fish variety both salt and fresh water, aquatic plants, as well as other necessities for setting up or maintaining your aquarium / terrarium. Knowledgable staff & associates

Alexis Paradis

Good variety of products, great service. The guys are super knowledgeable

Roy

Good costumer services, lots of fish choices

Luigi Casole

Really wanted to like this place. Locally-owned store & great selection of products. We showed up an hour before close looking to get started with a setup for a betta fish. There were 4 employees in the store, plus the two owners. 3 employees stood nearby in a group, speaking and ignoring us (see pic). Another was by the fish sorting some products. The owners stood behind the counter and watched myself and 2 other potential customers leave the store empty handed. Disappointing. Ended up going to Pet Smart the next day at the same time. We immediately had two employees helping us and were much happier with the service/acknowledgement of existence.

Victor SSapienza

Awesome place to buy fish/reptiles stuffs...don t expect good services!

Khoa Nguyen

Have almost everything you would ever need for your aquarium needs.

Matthew D

Great fish selection friendly staff

Negio M

All I want

Eric Geiler

Great local fish store.

AMI

Very poor service. A cashier was really snappy and aggressive with me because she was flustered with not knowing if something was on sale or not. The other people working the floor we lacking customer service. Good selection of items and pricing.

Sarah Bartram

Gary was a great help with picking out our emergency tank! Thanks for everything.

Andrew Haacke

Knowledgeable and super friendly staff. Almost two years ago I was given a used aquarium. The staff told me how to test it for leaks before using. Then set me up with everything to prep the tank for fish. Once it was ready for fish, they walked me through step by step to stock the aquarium without overwhelming me with information. I now have an aquarium that I can manage and enjoy watching, thanks to the staff at Big Al's.

Michael Netto

Knowledgeable and welcoming staff. Very good deals. Membership privileges too.

Avi I

Great location, they have a large variety of guppies, Guramis , clown fish and cichlids amongst other fish. They have 25% in store special for corals. This location is for fish and aquariums only, no pet items. Staff are nice and knowledgeable. Much larger location than it looks. Tanks are clean, and well maintained.

Arash Paroohan

Generally I liked this shop but response of the sales persons to my enquiries was not acceptable and it was rud the only gentleman who was as a cashier yesterday did perfect and professional job and he deserves 5 Stars.

Mark Wan

I am disabled they have sold me dead fish in the bag several times and refused to honor their return policy. They are highly fraudulent and the worst place to go to buy live fish as they can not care for them properly, all of the fish at the location are sick and constantly given medications to keep alive and as soon as they go without their medications they die either immediately or within a month.

Shenette V

They have a great selection of fish and they are the only company that carries a huge selection of different filters for fish tanks!

Verdant Lawns

Beautiful store. Friendly, kind, polite, and informative staff. Greatly enjoyed my visits to the store. I have no reason to look elsewhere for any of my aquarium needs.

Muhammad Rizwan Butt

Courteous staff and wide variety of tropical fish.

Celene Tang

I've been a customer for many years. The health of the fishes are pretty good. Never had a fish that came out of there sickly or half dead. They are well stocked and knowledgeable but the one star off would be for customer service. They can be a little brash and stand off-ish at times, but they do know what they're talking about. So I only really ask when I need anything.

Valeriy Goloviznin (putinpunhere)

Good place to find a variety of fish.

Karen Arfa

Friendly and very helpful team workers. I'd highly recommend this place to anyone looking into this amazing hobby, even for first timers like myself.

Erez Zevulunov

I've been shopping here for over 30 years. This place hasn't changed a bit. For quality products I come here for all my aquarium needs. The service is pretty good and the staff for very knowledgeable. It's always fun seeing what's up with the fish. Unfortunately having a hobby is not cheap and most of the items here come at a premium price. The biggest issue I have with this location is the parking. It took me 15 minutes circling the parking lot to find a single spot.

Hugo Elias Junior

A place to find everything for your pet. Great selection of products, friendly staff and a fair price. If you are looking for something for your pet this is the place I would recommend.

Jessica Soares

The store in Vaughan is the Best!!!! Not a fan of the Mississauga store at all. Barrie is ok.

F Wong

good selection of fishes and supplies.

Calwin

Great selection of fish, plants and decor. Staff are helpful and generally knowledgeable.

Jacqueline LaBlonde

This Big Al's is at the bottom of the list compared to the other two I've gone to. One in Mississauga on Dundas and the other in Scarborough. This Big Al's has the least selection, rarely has plants and if you need to return anything for any reason, it's "exchange only", unlike the other 2 stores, where you get $ returned.

Bruce Yeung

Very fast for curbside pickup. Super fast. Like less than half an hour. Got live fish and well packed and waiting for me to pickup. Strongly recommended to local aquarists!!

Leo Batista

Great variety of fishes and products for aquariums (fresh and salt water). Amazing people work with them, they are experts in the subject.

Jason Weiman

Small and Cozy fish store. The store does not carry as many fish as the Big Al's in Scarborough but, they do clean there tanks more often and I haven't found any dead fish in them, unlike the other location.

Yelena Frenkel

True professionals work there.

Foteh Sharipov

There are discrepancies in the recommendations for the maintenance of aquariums. Overall a good store.

Finch

I am incredibly disappointed with this location, I have been using big als as my main aquarium supply store for years and I have never seen a location worse than this. Walking around the store I noticed a lot of dead fish in there tanks, most of which look like they were starting to decay so I assume they had been there for at least a day or two. All of their bettas looked sickly and were very underweight, and I noticed a few that looked like they were in the starting stages of fin rot. Their Salt water show tank in the back of the store is decorated with entirely fake plants which you would think a chain that specializes in aquatics would know better than to do. The staff is unhelpful and frankly just incredibly rude, they need to learn how to treat customers. I am very upset overall with this location and I will not be returning.

Joshua P

Good selection, great service, except for one guy in the downstairs sections. He's always so bitter and angry. Everything else is great though

Casey Park

Friendly and knowledgeable staff. Very accommodating with returns and refunds.

moein nj

I was there few days ago, The costumer service improved alot. Good supervisor ????

Artin Hejazi

I get all my fish supplies from here. It is very good and the products are very nice. The only thing I would say is too keep the goldfish in better condition. Because when we came to buy goldfish for the new year, we saw a lot dead. But other than that the fish are very good and so are the supplies.

Stephanie Bahoric

HIGHLY recommend this location specifically. We drive from Milton & it’s WELL worth the drive. All of the staff are very attentive and actually want to help you (unlike the staff at a certain location closer to home). If you’re looking to start a new tank, look for Gary. He’s by FAR the most helpful person I’ve ever met, from all of the info and recommendations he gives to the organization of the cashing out process and even helping carry heavy items to the car! Wish I could give these guys 10 stars ????????

Kris

Good pet store - we come to get frozen mice for the snakes

Sam Fard

Very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Nice and local to be. However the prices at this location are far more expensive than literally any other Aquarium shop in the GTA. They say they price match but its an aggravating process. Not worth the time. We usually shop for all dry goods and livestock (marine and freshwater) from all other shops first and only come here if we can't find something at other locations. Their coral section needs alot of work. Staff is really friendly though when answering care questions

Justin Joyce

I normally love to visit a Big Al's location, however, this location is by far the worst. The tanks are filthy and unkept. I saw numerous dead fish in numerous tanks. Some tanks even had garbage floating in them, including one with a small plastic bag. Clean up you act Vaughn!

Amir

I love this store. Staff are friendly and knowledgeable. Fish and accessories selections is great. My fav store to purchase anything aquarium related.

Visionary Star

They have plenty of aquarium fish both fresh water and salt

kien huynh

Reasonable, clean and organized.

Johanny Rodriguez

A bit dated but over all nice staff

Patrizia Lisi

Not many fish available. A lot of tanks where empty.

Faizan H

Good variety of fish and aquarium equipment.

Samantha C.

The staff at this location are very helpful and really nice. Their Bettas are also very healthy looking!

Mojtaba Esmaeili

Bad customer service, rude manager

michal pawlaczyk

Awesome place and amazing people with big knowledge working there.

Sasha Baksht

They are good at sales but don't expect any helpful customer service. Not recommended.

Eddie Augusto

A great combination of knowledge and customer service.

Love Baby Charlette

Love this Store....very fast with curbside great customer service, even helped lift heavy items to car

IG reikihermitmoon

Knowledgeable and friendly staff. Has a great selection of aquatic supplies such as aquariums hardscapes substrate food supplements of course livestock and plants. Furthermore they have a handful of great aquascapes on display. If you're ever on Steeles near Central Point Mall I highly recommend you stop in for all your aquarium needs.

Onyx Z

Terrible customer service. There was multiple dead fish in several tanks, and when I asked about them the person there just told me “he’s going through the store” referring to one of the staff, and then said “fish die” I replied “i understand but there’s so many dead fish in the tanks its concerning” And he just ignored me. I also asked for not pregnant mollies, or ones that don’t seem pregnant since I understand that it takes a bit for them to show, and he just grunted and shrugged saying he can’t guarantee it very rudely. Last time (Sep 2021) we got fish from them, we got 6 mollies, two cory catfish, two african dwarf frogs and some cherry shrimp. The staff was very rude towards us this time too. The mollies ended up having ick and we had to quarantine and treat them, and one of them ended up dying. Considering that we spent over $200 we expected that they would be healthy. They do carry a large variety of supplies and food, however a lot of them are very overpriced. The catfish and the rest are fine so far and have shown no signs of illness thankfully. We have more fish in the tank that we got from the Big Al’s location in newmarket and they’re completely fine. The new fish we got today are in quarantine now til we can make sure that they’re healthy and don’t have ick.

Dave Bean

Friendly, helpful staff. Love the fish????

Christine Aquino

Great place but a bit expensive by a few dollars from brick and mortar stores and a dollar or two from PetSmart. Very knowledgeable staff and also showcasing saltwater livestock and some reptile supplies

Lavi Shpigelman

Bought an aquarium there last week. Got great staff. A bit pricey. Will keep using their services. Just came back from there with some sturdy fish.

Olive Walters

I bought fish from this location twice between June and July. Now most of my fish are DEAD with 3 clinging to life. Those 3 will die before the end of the week. They gave me a store credit for the 2 or 3 that died soon after purchased the second time. These fish I bought came with a parasite that wiped out the entire tank. I don't even want the store credit they gave me, I am not even going to keep their membership cards. I am completely FINISHED with this location. I will stick to the Scarborough location from now on.

Rodda Prime (Rodda)

Great place! Lots of stuff to choose from the staff is helpful, got some really nice equipment here , im eyeing the canister filters for the future!

Kennedy Bactol

Great selection of fish. Staff is friendly and prices are decent.

Andrew Chau

Great selection of fish, shrimp, snails, and plants for indoor freshwater and saltwater aquariums!

Yan

Excellent variety of livestock and supplies.

Ray R.

Nice and organized fish store. Some dead fishes in there thanks. Knowledgeable crew. I recommend to signup for there e-sales. You have to definitely quarantine the fishes you buy here though before mixing them to your expensive fishes.

D Chan

Perfect store for all kind of aqurium needs

MrComplexguy

There are two staff member that I will deal with here. Everyone else doesn't want to help anyone and their attitude can be seen clearly but customers. Fresh water Fish seem to okay but ever single saltwater Fish over the coarse of 18 months had died with in 4 weeks of owning. Every other fish bought during that time and after have lived to this day 3 years later from different Fish stores (not big al's) I still shop at this store for normal supplies.

ipugawak boi

i can't find the products online where i can oder it for delivery the online site is useless better fix it or bring back the old format

Nelson Leon

Great selection of aquarium supplies (salt and fresh water). Some reptiles and supplies to select from

Miz Yoon

Very big store and friendly service!

Akiva Adina

So much variety to look at. It's fun to just walk through to look at all the beautiful fish they have.

H T

Awesome staff, very helpful and knowledgeable.

Kp

nice price. hidden gem. must try.

Jenny Sepulveda

I didn't buy anything there but enjoyed the visit, it is a spacious place with a wide variety of fish and stuff for aquariums.

Fatima Sheikh

They don't carry silkworms, wax worms are over priced. Something is better than nothing when you have to feed your reptile. Please stop asking me if I want a membership when I'm just buying crickets. Customer service is okay. Cleanliness is excellent.

Angelica Venzel

Outstanding service. Professional and helpful staff

Anthony Willem

This is one of the best Big Ali's locations! Willing to soecial order things for you. Insane selection of livestock and crops. Lots of display tanks with a wide variety of themes. I live in Orillia and I would make the trip to This location because it is THAT GOOD! In contention with Finatics Mississauga or Big Al's Mississauga for best aquarist store in GTA/Simcoe. Pet paradise in Newmarket 404 plaza has unparalleled customer service and that's worth something. All 4 get 5 stars from me.

Steve Chun

Excellent selection and very knowledgable staff who seem to truly care about what they do. I am a novice about fishes so they really helped give me a crash course about what to do, how to take care of my Betta, etc etc. Gladly would go back there again!!

de bunny

Always happy with Big Al's, they are my go to for feeding bugs and worms.

Sakhone Louangsiyotha

The staff are very knowledgeable. Big al has everything you need to start your own aquarium. Bought a betta fish and the staff had a lot of knowledge regarding the care for it, which I appreciate as I've never really owned a fish before. I'll be back to get those piranhas

Arthur Dr.Staroselsky

Friendly knowledgeable staff, variety of fish, equipment.

Joseph Aron

Very nice staff always willing to help

Eileen Nemzer

The staff is knowledgeable, and very generous with their assistance, going above and beyond for their customers. I would not go anywhere else!

Ruben Sardaryan

This is our nearby aquarium shop, but we really don't like it. The service is far from great - it's very hard to get hold of staff and they don't seem to be much keen on helping you. A couple of times fish we bought from there died shortly thereafter.

Gregg Vertes

This is my go to fish store. While the prices are a little higher than I generally like to pay (which is why I end up online a lot of the time) if there’s something I want I know they’ll have it. The staff are pretty helpful though the store does get busy. The fish are usually in pretty good shape and the plants too.

Ray Liang

As mentioned by multiple other reviews, the human factor brings down the likelihood of me or my friends ever coming back to this store. There were 2 workers chatting away and ignoring us while we’re try to ask for help. There were other workers here that are super friendly, but the store could be so much more welcoming and successful if they filtered some of the workers pushing customers away.

Bryan Zilyuk

Great customer service, something's are a bit pricey.

Michael Lai

Bad part is parking but this place is well stocked

Joe Puglisi

Most expensive big Al's location. Dry goods are generally 10 percent higher priced, livestock sometimes as much as double the other big Al's location. Very poor customer service. When I asked if they had a particular product in stock, the manager looked at me like I was an idiot and was told I was the first ever person to ask about it, when every other big Al's stocks it. And lastly, every marine tank had numerous dead fish. I would not recommend this location to anybody.

Kiran Your friendly neighbourhood Mortgage Agent

Excellent place to for fishes for your aquarium, all accessories, variety of aquarium, wide variety of fishes Reasonable prices. Ample parking and parking is free. I have been a regular here for many years! Check it out!

Andrew Attard

Why go to a pet store for fish? This place specializes in fish

Jie Gao

I love this place they have beautiful fishs

Jenn and Rob McArthur

They have a great selection of fish

* (‪Mon‬)

Thank you Luigi for educating me about combination of fishes and choosing my clown loaches and guppies.

Norman Hatt

The service and advice was very good as usual but the prices on they're marine fish is just way to high for the average person to afford

Vincent Magno

Very helpful staff. I was able to get what I needed.

lallotomax moe

One of the worst Bigals ever...this place put a shame to bigals. March 2021. I went there and there is this Asian looking guy wouldn't help at all , looks like he don't want to work, ask him a question and he was so rude and try to avoid catching fishes. Never ever again to this store. Management need to look into this or change. Dirty place with dead fishes in the tank. Wish I could give a negative stat...

Fayaz Mawji

Amazing service and honesty. Everyone from Jason to the store manager to the lady at the back live fish area. They stop, listen and then suggest. I don’t feel at any time that a product is being pushed on me unless it’s totally needed. A happy and returning customer.

Raymond Zhang

Very helpful staff

AHMET ALEMDAR

Bad experience rude worker’s never come back to you good luck ???? how the owner can make money ???? with this worker’s there is lot of place to shopping not only you

George Maravelis

I have been to all the locations in and around the GTA but find this has the best selection plus friendly and knowledgeable staff. 5 Stars all day!

Van Nguyen

Worst experience without ever stepping into the store. I have positive experiences at the Scarborough location but this location was outright rude. I originally called the Scarborough location to ask if I could bring in my rabbit to get his nails cut (they sell bunnies and rabbits at this location), unfortunately the groomer isn't in today. So I called the location in North York and I asked the same question where the store clerk answered "this is a fish store, ma'am". I've very well aware this is a fish store, so I responded "Oh okay, because the Scarborough location offers this service" and in return he replied "Uh, yea. They're the only ones." Worst customer service.

Lyndon Darrah

Was in for the midnight madness sale awhile back.. Bought a huge anenome for a great price.

Michael Demb

Very good variety of fish and aquarium accessories.

Sterling ML

They have Big selections of fish and accessories.

Shawn D.

Not enough selection of Reef livestock and equipment.

Mandy Pechie

This place is amazing and their staff is extremely helpful

Jennifer Beharry

Love this Big Al's ! Their customer service is amazing. Especially Emmanuel. I believe he is the Manager. He goes above and beyond for his customers.

Kaspar Cameron

Fantastic customer service and they are so knowledgeable.

David Phan

I like this place, mostly because of the matured Asian guy who is very energetic and helpful. Not sure if he is the owner though.

stephen chadderton

Best fish store ever!

Alice Lowell

A well organized store, with a very friendly staff and excellent customer service skills and knowledge of product. I shop in this store for years, the product line is excellent, the fish are beautiful. A special thank you for Garry, for his attentiveness, who just came back from his lunch break, but was ready to jump in to help, find me the product I was looking for. I did not even need to ask for help, he just overheard me saying that I was looking for something, and he was there showing me the way. Today (Aug.6, 2018) I only went to the store to pick up an aquarium filter, then I ended up purchasing a bunch of other things, all because Garry made my day. Thank you Garry, 5 star customer service! If I knew your boss, I would suggest him to give you a raise! But for now you have my Thank You as my appreciation.

Eddie Marciano

Some crew are very nice and flexible to livestock prices!

KANGBANG

Do not buy Tropheus from this location within 7- 10 days they will all die. Ofcourse no refund.

mark gabriel

The store's quite complete for both freshwayer and saltwater aquarium needs.

Frances Marquez

I love this location. The staff is very helpful, very informative, and very friendly.

Aaron Shames

I have received special treatment and given very good pricing on expensive fish. I am treated like a valued customer at this Big Als. I wish I remembered the name of the person who gave me that experience.

Phil Kucharsky

Huge selection of fish and supplies. Helpful staff

TA SU

Good selection of Marine and Fresh water fish as well as invert.

Ronsky Meynert

One of the friendliest Big Al's I have been to in awhile, from the cashier at the front greeting you, to the one gentleman who helped me get my fish (had a ponytail, didn't his name) to the gentleman who cashed me out with the dope Batman themed tattoo sleeve. Amazing service and great vibe!!

Eshel Art Photography

Come here offer, buy all my fishes here

Huy Bui

A friend introduced me to this store and I went to visit out of curiosity. I didn't buy anything but was very impressed by their display of salt water fish with coral plans. Very lively and beautiful.

Joe Cuenca

great location, staff was helpful. have lots of fishes to chose from, but with reptiles, they have limited choices.

Tech Team

Great service and fish selection

Cary Stein

This is the place that started me on the fish keeping hobby, and is still my go to place for supplies.

Eduardo Lobato Andrades

This store is amaizing, it has a wide variety of pets fish. The display of their pets is pretty, giving them room to swim in clean aquariums and well decorated. Employees were very helpful and knowledgeable, recommending different alternatives to each of my inquiries. I felt welcomed and I was taught important information kindly by them. Thank you.

Dwayne P

This is the go to place for Aquarium supplies. They really know their stuff, and execute amazing customer service.

Jon Chan

Helpful staff, good stock dry goods and some fish. Good COVID controls in place

Olga

For last 3 years I am a loyal customer, with points card and rewards, and I am and my fish totally satisfied! Always take for me at least 20-30 minute ...just to enjoy diversity of live stock and decoration. Love you guys!????

Ivaylo Boiadjiev

Great store for all your aquarium supplies and livestock

Justin Dennis

Great quality products, staff always friendly and very helpful.

C C

This is the closest aquarium store in my area about 2 minutes when driving. I have been coming back and forth to this store to buy the stuffs I needed especially when they have the on sale event. I also buy online e.i. ebay, kijiji for a cheaper price. Basically, I do compare prices between online and different aquarium stores. The customer service is good. They have variety of aquarium supplies.

Arian Mokhtari

Great selection for all your aquarium needs. It literally is a ONE STOP SHOP. They have very knowledgeable staff on site which is helpful for novice enthusiasts

Stessa The Fox

Helpful, responsible, friendly and has everything I need.

Robert Tang

Livestock is over priced here versus other LFS, the people in the front of the store arent too knowledgeable, either that or just cash cowing telling you to buy unnecessary things

Marni

Well equipped. Lots of fish to look at and browse through.

Edwin Robinson

Lots of stuff on display. Not much variety in the fish room though.

Garry Lam

Good customer service and huge selection of fish. They use to have a shark there but I guess someone bought it!

Shawn Strickland

Great variety of products and staff are extremely helpful and friendly

Tyler Muhammad

Great store. One of the few stores that always has items and live stock in stock! Friendly customer service and well-laid out store.

Apostolos Pervanas

Amazing place so many kinds of fish and other stuff for water life

Edris

Fantastic Place and fantastic staff. Everyone is friendly in this shop. I'm new to this hubby and learned a lot today. Look for Gary (the guy who looks like rock stars) he explained to me everything from A to Z about reef thanks and helps you to choose the best equipment for my new aquarium. Thanks Again! ✌️

Lucien Grey

I've been here many times before and it's definitely my preferred chain for reptile needs. Just got off of the phone with an employee who was very kind, and did his best to try to get me what I needed (even though it wasn't available in any way). Very pleased with their customer service, and hoping that guy has a great day.

In Kim

It has what you need for fish and pets in glass tanks

Ahsan Khan

I have waited a long time to write this review, mostly because I did not want to judge this place based solely on a few experiences. Somehow, every time I have visited this location, the staff have managed to be more rude and unhelpful than the time before. I have over 4 years of experience in fish keeping and know what works, yet one of their employees kept insisting that an inferior product is better to use when I was looking for another product that was out of stock. When I proceeded to tell the employee nicely why this product was not as good, he got mad and raised his voice as if what he says is only correct. All of this leads me to believe that the employees at this location have VERY little knowledge, experience, and general understanding of fish keeping, moreover, they have no idea of what customer service means and proceed to push their lack of knowledge as solutions to your problems. If I listened to them, my fish would all be dead. If you're new to fish keeping, or are experienced, stay away from this location. You will have better luck with online tutorials on YouTube then these mumbling mojos.

Gary Spencer

Always ways a great stop, to get fish or anything else for the fishes.

Tara La France

Floor was wet in some spots. Not a ton of help unless you looking for it, which is good and bad. This location is NOT corporately owned so they don't take the points cards. My only real complaint was that 80% of the fish tanks weren't labelled. But as someone who knows fish, it wasn't a big deal to me personally. Not a bad store but Mississauga is way better.

Sam Bortman

Very impressive collection of fishes for sale. Pretty much anything you'd ever want. Also a lot of equipment.

Roy Arenas

This is one of the biggest fish store in North York. If you love caring for fish, best place to go. You can find variety of fresh and salt water fish, aquarium and accessories. You can also watch shark feeding.

Marylou Malicdem

We always like coming here because of their wide selections of equipment, accessories, and fish! It's a whole experience. The staff is always willing to help and give advice. It's been a while since we've been here but I promised my dad more fish for Christmas and thanks to the sale they had today we walked out with guppies, red tip sharks and little neon tetras and other equipment that are long overdue. Thanks Big Al's! See you again!

SignSourceSolution

My spot to get all aquarium supplies.

Kosta T

Great place for aquarium enthusiasts!

Ana Mendoza

Covid protocol has been practice

Ryan L

Great selection of fish. Great selection of tanks and decorations. Great place to go to start a fish hobby. However take note that this location and the Kennedy location are not connected. Their cards do not work with one another.

James Chin

Nice place in busy plaza. Setup similar to other Big Al's. Good experience

Jordan Webb

I like this place but not good for planted tank aquariums

Mitch Kahan

Large selection of live fish and aquarium related products. The staff is very helpful and knowledgeable. I would highly recommend them if you are looking to start your own aquarium.

Victor Mak

Great service and the staff are well educated

Victor Li

This place has everything for your aquarium needs. The prices are competitive, and they have a nice selection of healthy looking fish.

Victax

As always...for decades. ..and even through the challenges of Covid19...Big Al's on Steeles just west of Yonge Street has the best staff, best selection and is always fun ...

Stanislav Poymenov

Good place to shop, knowledgeable staff

Melissa Su

Everyone is really polite and super informative on the floor. Really busy place and fast service with the live fish. Very clean and overall clean and healthy tanks of fish. Only thing, is I could the cashier did not want to be there. She didn't handle the fish(es) I purchased with any care... but it was good experience.

Ali F

its a very nice big clean store. staff are very helpful and polite.

Taki aka Peter G G3

knowledgeable. helpful with setting up fish tank.

Steve Shew

Great wide selection of fish and products.

MMH Cuba

Lovely place and very well informed staff

DjClivied Eddy

It's very nice there not too big not too crowded and the staff are very friendly. Love this place

Kris Sciranka

Great marine selection of fish and coral!!

Justin Guan

Friendly and best service from them, they make sure your happy and taken care of

Uditha K

Took my family to buy a fee fish for the first time to this location. Very poor customer service. Girl who served us was very rude. Not going back to this location again. She was more concentrated on not selling me the fish because of gal:fish ratio the tank I have. Didnt want my kids to be disappointed, so bought the fish anyway.

Jun-Jun Alonzo

Staff are actively trying to help if we needed any questions answered.

Kevan The Coloured

good selection of fish and aquatic plants, was a little messy though.

Bonita Cheung

Professional fish keeping. Staff have good knowledge too, very helpful.

R M

Lots of dead and sick fish. Decided against getting some platies. Also only one apple snail was alive in the whole tank. Ended up going to petsmart. Didn’t see any dead fish there. I was disappointed because I’d like to support local businesses! If you don’t mind the drive, go to big als on Dundas, it’s a lot better

Eli Rozenfeld

good service, they removed the reptile section but still have supplies

slappy kincade

The live food has more parasites than the fish! The sales people give misleading advice just so they can rip people off into buying an overpriced empress stand. Once heard a sales representative tell a customer it’s pointless to reseal an aquarium because it seldom works! Your only safe buying hard ware and dry goods from “parasites “r” us. Please be careful when shopping big Al’s!

Jeremy Yeung

Very nifty I was able to pick up some fishes and learn the process of building up my tank I think it was very insightful for the words advice that I was given and equipment that I need thank you very much

Gene R

Very friendly and knowledgeable customer service. Store has big veriaty of products for beginners and experienced aquariumists

Leandro Saiki

Very nice and caring staff and high quality products

Ali kermani

I bought a Black oranda goldfish approximately a month ago. right away after i put in my fish tank i spotted white spots (ick) on its tail. i immediately separated it and put it in another container and called them right away. they assured me that its not a ick and none of their fishes has ick but they said i could take the fish back. By the next morning for some reason the ick was gone, and i trusted them and put the fish in the main tank thinking maybe i made a mistake. right now i just finished cleaning my tank with bleach after all my fishes (2 red orando that i bought from them also, and the black orando) died bc of ick. The ick appeared all of the sudden and it was really bad and treatments didn't work. Im a long time costumer from big al's (more than 7 yrs) and i had purchased many other fishes from them and recommended it to all my friends and family and i had gave them 5 start rating until now, however, this is my last purchase from them, full of regrets and self blame since I saw my fishes died in a horrible way. they shouldn't had assured me of their fish having no Ick and i shouldn't have had trusted them.

Marios Alexandrou

I've been to this location many times and I've spoken to 4 different people over the course of my visits. Each person was helpful and willing to answer my questions even when it was clear that I was just information gathering and not likely to buy anything during a particular visit. I even monopolized one guy's time for an hour as we walked around the store twice to identify the best parts for a new tank setup. At no point did I feel pressured to buy. I plan to continue to buy everything I need for my aquarium from this location.

Kwon

Really helpful and knowledgeable staff. I wanted to get my son his first aquarium and the person I spoke with helped a lot with the tank size and the fishes we can put in there. We actually lost our first batch but after bringing a water sample back and finding out it was because we had a water softener the store let us pick another 3 fishes at no extra cost. Now our fishes are nice and happy!

Fernando Torres

The best shop to buy fish in toronto

Kassidy Kassella

Love all the fish, even looking around. Had some collector fish on show

Bernard Dunford

The best source for tropical fish and aquarium suppliers. They have a good selection of products for turtles too. Beautiful show room with aquarium setups though some are pricey it make a trip there fun. A bit far out for me since I'm downtown so I only get there a few times a year and stock up.

hooman M

Great aquarium store for great price. Why do I give 5 star: 1- great selection of fish and parts 2-great place to ask questions 3-find out what is hippp

jithin sajeev

My favorite store to buy fish, live plants and aquarium supplies. I will strongly recommend this store over the other franchises to all whom are in the hobby. Update: I felt like they have increased prices compared to other Lfss

Hugo Miranda

I'm new into the fishkeeping hobby and like to go here for advice. staff are very friendly and know their way around an aquarium. Have helped me with my new tank with various tips and advice.

Kamber Velaj

Great service.

Zach Shaw

Great selection of aquarium supplies. While they have great fish, their selection of plants is not good

Jason Yuen

Lots of selection and friendly staff! My go to shop in Thornhill!

Thomas Root

Decent selection of freshwater and saltwater fish corals and inverts. Open to the public (may23)

Mohammad Ranji

Almost all salt water fish I expected to see in a store except see horses

Ruth Grace Wong

AMAZING customer service!! I bought 6 neon tetras, and one was dying. I brought it in on the last day of my 5-day fish guarantee, and was recommended to buy Ich Attack medication, but the fish died the day after when the store was about to close. So I came in the day after that, 2 days after my fish guarantee expired already, and Andrew the fish manager gave me 1 neon to replace the one that died, plus another neon for free! He said it was to make up for having to come in twice. I am very happy, and my neons are all happy too. Plus, the day when I bought the fish, my tank had only been set up for two days, so the people in the fish section gave me good advice about using my cycled betta tank for the tetras, and putting my betta in the uncycled tetra tank until it was ready. Staff seemed very knowledgeable and extremely friendly. I won't buy fish anywhere else.

Nitasha Sekand

They have everything a fish owner needs at this store! The people who work here are also very helpful and friendly. We come here anytime we need something for our fish.

Kristina Rapson

I've been shopping here for almost two decades now. The service has always been great. The staff are very knowledgeable, and many of them have been there for many years, showing that the company clearly looks after their staff. Always a great selection of livestock fish, aquariums and equipment and decor. By far one of the best places to go if you need any type of aquarium equipment or livestock.

Keith Mackenzie

Good selection and knowledgeable staff. Shop the weekly specials for deals

Gladston Wilson

Have been going to this location for years and was always pleased with the exceptional customer service. The staff is well knowledgeable on every aspect for the average and advanced hobbyist. The fishroom manager provides such exceptional service and knowledge of compatability of fish species that it almost becomes too easy when creating the perfect habitat for your aquarium. I could only recommend everyone to visit this location and truly appreciate all this location has to offer. It has made me a successful hobbyists and enthusiast. I can only thank all the saff at Big Al's Steels location.

TTAnthonyTranTT 陳國祥

Good place to buy your own fish really funny nice cashiers and nice fish workers i went their to buy 2 goldfish they were awesome. Always coming to this place

L M.R.R.

Knowledgeable staff, sometimes a small wait to get hold of one, but once they’re with you they are happy to give you a huge amount of advice. Selection is also good.

Michael Co

1st the fish room is so dark, 2nd when u want to ask some questions (where's the fish/price of the fish), no workers around, if there's have, he busy talking to someone about something that not related to aquarium, 3rd when u put ur order in, u would be waiting about 5min or so, n last (hopefully) is that's everything they jacking up the price (if u don't shopped around). Oh 1 more thing, most of the workers r so rude/lies (lies - is that I'm just want to see if he know anything about live stock, (either he BS or he just lies about it's).

Farid MK

I love the store. Fish have been my hobby for years and I must have spent well over $10 000 on it so far. Unfortunately, this location suffers greatly from the human factor - the staff, actively encouraged by the manager, are rude, condescending and generally unpleasant to deal with. I haven't visited the location since a nasty little man decided to mouth off to my fiance when she asked a question about a chemical to add to the water - that was the only time I've been tempted to physically harm someone at a store. The staff was also rude to the girls at the counter, for no reason -i suspect that making minimal wage doing water changes has given them a napoleon complex. Overall, this store lost my business and that of my friends and family - and we are big spenders. Avoid if at all possible - pretty much any other location is much better in terms if customer service and has the same selection. I now do my shopping at pet valu and if I need big Al, I go to the Vaughan mills location.

Ken jj

bought three gold fish last time , one death after few days. bought two black moore recently. came with white spot and red spot disease. both death after a week. hope it wont kill my other fishes.

krupal kavathia

Quick service and safe during covid

Hao Chang

Good place for fish and fair price

shine shine

Pretty nice location, but the fish and plants area is wayyy too stuffy and hot.

Lisa Root

I love Big Als They are great, knowledgeable and a great help with all things fish related.

Susan Timberlea

Love the place Great stuff and good price

John Mepham

Always a great experience. Friendly staff and awesome selection.

M K

Some days you'll get nice representative helping and other days you'll get rude representatives helping. It's a shame they don't care about customer service.

Marina Geisman

It is unique place in North York where you can see and buy aquarium fish and supplies. Great store and friendly staff.

leonshamis

Overpriced and quality of fish and plants is so-so. One small vallisneria plant, that died a few days later costs $10, this is about 4 times more than in any other place! Fish survival rate after purchase is not great! This place was better in the past. Lately, I try to avoid them and buy all I need either online or from other places.

Ted Shin

This is the place to buy anything related to your Aquarium. The staff are very knowledgeable and friendly.

Mike G

Staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. Prices are a little high and variety is limited.

Alex Nikolaou

The shrimp and fish and plants sometimes bring disease as well as snail. They wiped out my red cherry shrimp colony when i added 3 i bought and noticed too late to save them or my bamboo shrimp or my amanos

Tech Force

Awesome place to shop for all your pets needs. The only place I got to.

skywalker tech luke

Very helpful when you have pets .You can find what you need here.

LEANNA HAZELTON

Some staff there have anger issues/mental health issues. I was treated appallingly...i will never return!

nick anagnostopoulos

Love my addiction to fish

Jeff H

Employee was fantastic, helped me find things I needed, even suggested Amazon to help save costs for some items. fantastic service.

B C

Excellent pet store.

Farbod -

The Biodiversity here is awesome! Freshwater and saltwater fishes and plants, frogs, snails, reptiles and many aquarium supplies. Staff are nice and friendly. Do not forget your membership card!

Fred Gandolfi

This is my go to Big Al's. The fish are healthier here than I have experienced at the Scarborough location. Been to both for a number of years.

Rob K

Nice selection of fish, friendly staff.

Aaron Seaton

Best live fish store in the city with very knowledgeable staff.

E A

Attentive staff, they greet you and ask you if you need help. Good selection of merchandise and fish. Fish side of the store needs more staff and I usually have to hunt down an associate to help us but overall I like this place.

Mike Mace

There live rock is dead excellent customer service still.

austin Reis

Staff are knowledgeable and gives sound advice.

Jimmy Hon

Ok some of the staff are nice. A few are quite rude.

Jay Hoang

A bad experience here. Some employees attitude is not good. I have been here several times to buy fish and all those times have problems(i dont understand why but some fish i bought in another Big Al’s nothing happen). The biggest problem this time is the employee's mistake when recommending me wrong. And as a result all my saltwater fish died. I really like the female staff here - she is very enthusiastic and friendly. I know it's hard for her to handle this. But instead of solving the problem with me, they don't seem to care!

Alexander Yan

This location is too small, but they do have a good variety of fresh and salt water fish.

Victoria

I only come here to buy mealworms, but in my opinion they have beautiful fish here. Definitely worth a visit

Bita Shirazi

Great staff, healthy fish and aquatic plants. A lot of thanks go to Gary for his professional, honest and wise advices. He pationtly answers my questions and he's saved my fish life.

Murtaza Rahmanzadeh

Great shop for all your aquarium needs. Been going here for years and have always had the best stock of fish to choose from and the latest technology. Knowledgeable staff who know how to solve all your fish issues and concerns. I don't go anywhere else

Anael Forbes

Great place to pick up fish and aquarium supplies.

Thao Tran

Worst customer service...i just wanted to exchange for another heater as my heater has stopped working after 1 month. It was still within warranty and i got yelled at for no apparent reason by a skinny guy with lots of tattoos on his arms...i definitely do not recommend buying from this place..if you want to be treated with respect go elsewhere.

Naomi Leaf

Very friendly staff

Sergey Volkov

I love this shop. Huge choice of aquarium's stuffs, ???? ???? and more for reasonable prices.

brian beck

Great place, always have what we need and staff are very friendly.

Amber Gooding

helpful staff, organized store, wide selection of fresh water life

B MacNeil

Great staff, good location, nice selection...definitely recommend this store !!!

Tuan Vu

Lots of plants and fishes, although some of the Rams I bought from them had internal parasites, for the most part their fishes seem healthy and their tanks well maintained. Large selection of live plants. Some very nice showcase planted tanks too.

Shayne Shameless

Huge Selection Of Items, Has Frozen Mice and Crickets and Meal Worms Too. Quiet Staff Except For One Asian Guy Who Was Really Fun To Chat With.

Chico Dusty

They made great renovation and improved fish selections

Gary Lu

Nice tanks nice staff. Gary taught me a great lesson. Thank you.

Colleen Thomas

Excellent, friendly service and a huge selection of healthy fish, plants and snails. I read some reviews saying prices were higher here than at other big als, but they are the same or lower! Also, this location is huge, the "deep" fish room is a lot more spacious than other locations.

Robert Aldrovandi

Staff was very knowledgeable and supportive in helping me find what I needed.

Anthony C.

The worst Big Al's store I have seen with rude and ignorant stuff.... Below is the email I have sent to Allan Saul at the head office. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi Allan, I hope this email finds you well. Couldn't find any other email addresses on Big' Al's website, so decided to go straight to the source I have been Big Al's customer for multiple years now and can't express enough how great these chain of stores is. I live and work in different parts of Greater Toronto area, so I often visit different stores, especailly the one in Mississauga, where Mark is the manager and does excellent job in customer satisfaction, and one in Vaughan, which also is an amazing franchise with friendly staff who go out of their way to help each customer. Both stores are extremelly well kept and clean. However I ended up in North York store a few times (Steeles and Yonge) and would like to bring to your attention that this is one filthy store; floors are always wet and dangerous to walk on, especially with kids, a lot of merchandise is on the floor all over the store. And the worst part is the staff. Most of the time rude, swearing loudly when talking to each other (mind you lots of kids present around). Today I had to deal with Chris who wasn't just rude and ignorant, but was also trying to sell me fish by putting a wrong amount on the invoice. When I brought this up to manager's attention, he tried to cover him up in all sorts of ways, but still insisted I was wrong. And they know me very well in this location as I do buy a lot. Long story short, there is a loonie sale at all Big Al's stores, and one of the items were gouramis (buy one at regular price, another one is a loonie). I have chosen 3 gouramis and 6.99 and asked Chris to add three other gouramis for a loonie, after long and intimitaditing process (25 minutes to pull 6 fishes out of aquarium) I finally got them, which he didn't pass on to me, but left on the table and went to serve another couple. I was still standing waiting for him thinking he didn't finish packing. To my surprise the invoice said (2 gouramisx$6.99, and 4 gouramisx6.99), which makes it $42 instead of (original price for this fish was 3x$5.99 plus 3x$1) $21. Again to my surprise the manager of the store was backing this employee up. I have asked them to put fish back and promised that this was my last time visiting this store although it's very close to my home. Of course It's up to you to decide if employees of these store need extra math sessions or they are just fooling customers and ignore sale flyers alltogether. I leave it on your hands. Just wanted to share it with you as this store leaves a very bad impresssion on the whole franchise for people who never seen other stores and know that there is definetely something better with Big Al's logo out there... Sincerely, Tony

Ilya Artemyev

Everything you need in one place

Richard Israilov

purchase a Beta fish for my little Sister here for Christmas. The employees were very helpful in providing me information on how to take care of the fish and what I needed for the tank. I would recommend this place to anyone that is looking to own fish for the first time. They have a great selection.

Aaron Y

Great for kids to see, friendly staff

Nimbus Water

The fish there are in very poor condition and are extremely sickly, the staff are unknowledgeable too and because of their inexperience my Oscar Fish died since they could not properly diagnose it, made me buy a bunch of expensive medicine I didnt need, all because I used their feeder fish to feed my Oscar in the first place, and those feeders had ICK! Never taking my business to this location again, they cost me my fish, and they never feed the stock they have there and thats why most of them are dead when you shop around, 0 STARS

Juan Navarrete

Great place for aquarium lovers. Good variety and trained staff with knowledge.

Alexandre Antunes

Have been going to multiple Big Al's across the GTA and I just gotta say, Gary was excellent with his product knowledge as well as his knowledge of aquariums and fish. He's a very passionate aquarist and everyone can learn a thing or two from him! Great customer service and friendly staff!

sara k

Went there today to buy a few items. The customers were really cautious about socially distancing from each other. However, the staff kept following people around. They were so close that they rubbed shoulders with my dad. Needless to say we bought nothing and left immediately. The manager needs to seriously educate the workers. Also there were a lot of dead gold fishes in with the healthy ones. Perhaps the workers should focus on cleaning up rather than crowding the place.

dimosthenis theodoropoulos

Great store. Great service. Fish quality is great. Very helpful staff and a great selection of dry goods.

J Pelletier

They have what you need.. great selection. Great guys and girls who care about their customers

Isaac Kim

Amazing fish store, have great stock and staff is friendly

Arsalan Tariq

Beware .. kids specially 2 are not allowed to get excited and scream in this branch .. the staff would mind it ..

Dennis Chan

Need livestock of brine shrimp and diaphnia to feed fish.

Kyle Kennedy

Amazing.. the most professional aquarium store I've been to. Very affordable prices, and an amazing selection from plants to live stock.

Jacqueline Corr

Huge store! Has a great selection of fish and plants. Some of the staff seem a little rude (could of just been having a bad day).

Joseph Fackenheim

Courteous, knowledgeable, and direct staff; they are *not* about getting the sale, they are about setting you and your pet up for success(/survival). 10/10 would recommend

David Wood

Fish are in good shape, staff are nice, parking is easy, and everyone I have gotten from here has survived quarentine... Don't bother looking for meds here though, they basically carry tea tree oil and ICH x

George K

Love this location. Although a 45 minute drive I go at least once every other week.

Binyomin Steinmetz

Nice selection of fish and accessories, reasonable prices.

Thai Hew

Great service and knowledgeable staff. Especially the store manager and the life stock manager both are really helpful. Been dealing with them more than 20 years. From my freshwater setup to saltwater reef tank. They have all the equipments and products plus quality live stocks. Great support from them to maintain my hobby!

Jennifer Ruttle

Very friendly staff and well organized store. Everything you could even need and more. Lots of parking and close to the mall so easy to access.

Rose1966

Staff were not vey helpful... I felt ignored. There were Alot of tanks full of fish with ick. I know the fish were new arrivals but it still didnt leave me with a great impression.

Ted McLean

One of the better centers. Well stocked and organized. Very kind staff. Went extra mile to get my order done, even though closing up. Thanks

Eugene

Good selection of fish and fish food. Prices are above average.

Peyman Raji

Very knowledgable staff. Impressiv variety of fresh and salt fish. Tools and accessories for both terrarium and aquariums at affordable prices.

Hasnain Khan

Went in yesterday, the staff was very knowledgeable an d helpful,

Darithza Monsanto

Great people. Many selections of fish, tanks and accessories.

Shahin M

Go here all the time for aquarium supplies and fish, staff are friendly, prices are good and they always have decent stock.

Prashanna Kantharasa

A good place to go when they have their coral clear-out sales.

Stefanie Brouillard

I had a very good experience at this location. As a first time turtle owner, and not knowing much, the staff was very knowledgeable about the products i needed and how to care for my new pets. They advised me with the best solution, and even saved me a couple bucks, not only for my purchase that day but in the long run aswell. This will now be my go to location for all my products and possible future pets. A lot of people are always so quick to complain but i believe the friendly and very helpful staff at this location has earned their well deserved compliment and now have a new very impressed customer.

Eugene Werner

This brand has best service in Big Al's family in GTA. Staff here are kind and enthusiastic to help u. There's also full stock of everything whatever for aquarium for reptiles. Nice place.

Jenarthan Thiru

They are really expensive

Artur Trigub

Best store , best service. My reptile gets all the nutrition and new decor from Big Al's only. Thank you.

Myles Daly

Great Staff. Very educated. Great selection of fish. Plenty products.

Sam C

Staff can be super helpful here but a few are super busy so hard to get a hold of them. Usually fish are good health but watch for signs of illness in some tanks

Tony Mail

I don't really have other fish stores to compare this to but all in all it was a great experience. The staff in the live fish area were knowledgeable and helpful. Just remember to ask questions....

Garret Meikle

Great selection of products with something for everyone from the beginners to the experts. Have a wide selection of land and water animals. Store is clean and organized and the staff is knowledgeable.

Edward Chung

Very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Good selection of fresh and salt water species.

Norm Holman

Good knowledgeable staff Friendly parking Outstanding dry goods section Very clean Staff always looks busy Always asking customers if they need help with anything

Ali Sadeghi

Good service and advice. Prices are reasonable.

Suba Ratnasingam

Today was their big tent sale. There was not much of a big sale- staffs were completely helpless. All of them seemed lost. Manger was good but the staff their were just lost. When they sold me boat tank 46 gallon two weeks ago they said I can have up to 10 gold fish. Today they said I can only fit 4! Frustrated!! When I bought the other materials from their vaughan location they sold me a tank heater. Today they tell me heater for gold fish might kill them! Not a good place to go if you are a starter! Staff their are sellers but not educators!

Steve S

Monstrous selection, largest aquarium centre I've been to in the GTA, super friendly and helpful, everything you need and way beyond!

Andrew Cook

Went in for fish, came out with fish!

Deen “Triniboy” Hosein

Nice place, a lot of different kinds of fishes to choose from

mustardmike

They are very helpful in terms of finding what you need, and answering any questions about any aquatic species they have. More often than not this location will have what you are looking for

Eliza Ziva

Absolutely amazing experience at this store! See below the email I just sent to their head office about our visit! "Hello, My name is Eliza and I wanted to let you know about an outstanding experience my family had at your North York location on Saturday. As a bit of background, our son has ADHD and multiple behavioural challenges, which can often make being out in public and socializing difficult for him. His therapist recommended we try getting him a fish because of the calming effects they have, so we visited your store to pick one out and get the supplies we’d need. Originally we were planning on buying a goldfish in a bowl. While we were looking at the goldfish one of the staff from the fish department came over to ask how we were doing and if we needed help. I really wish I had asked her name, but she was blonde and wears glasses. I think one of the other staff called her Kayla but I’m not sure. All of the staff were super friendly while we were there, but she really went above and beyond on our visit. I explained that we were looking for a goldfish for our son and the bowl to put it in. She explained that this wasn’t really the best way to keep a goldfish, and that they would do better in an aquarium. I told her that we didn’t have room for a big aquarium, and she told us not to worry, and that there were plenty of options of both aquariums and fish that would fit what we were looking for. She showed us a bunch of the aquarium packages and we picked out a nice 5 gallon aquarium that looked nice. She took us back to the fish department so we could see some fish that could live in there. The biggest thing for us was that she was super patient with our son, who was excited about getting his fish. She was trying to explain what taking care of a basic aquarium would be like, and our son kept interrupting her with questions and taking her all over the fish department to ask about things he saw in the aquariums. I apologized as he was super excited and can often be a lot to handle during those times, even for my husband and I. She smiled and told us not to worry because she remembered being the kid with a ton of fish questions too, which made us feel so much better as most people are super judgemental about our son and his challenges. She was super knowledgeable about all of the animals in the store, even the ones I didn’t know you could keep in an aquarium! Our son really wanted an orange or blue crayfish, and she explained that they would get too big for the aquarium he wanted, but that they did have dwarf crayfish that stay small and would work. She showed us some cool little frogs that we could add too, before asking what the kids favourite colors were and helping us find fish that were those colors. By the end of the trip, we had a whole list of critters that she suggested as possibilities to make the aquarium more interesting, and decided to go up an aquarium size to the 10 gallon one she suggested to fit everyone. I really appreciate that she took the time to explain everything in a way that was easy to understand, and that she was friendly and patient with our kids and made sure they were involved. It’s rare that our son can stay interested in one thing longer than a day or two, but he’s spent the last few days asking when we can go back to the store because he has more questions for the lady and wants to get his frog. I just wanted to let you as the store owner or her manager know that she was awesome, and you are lucky to have her! She probably doesn’t realize it, but she gave our son a huge boost that day. Unfortunately it’s rare for someone to interact with our son like that, and I wish all employees could be like that in stores we go to. We’ll definitely be back because of the service we received. I’ll have to ask her name the next time we see her, I have a feeling trips to the store might become a regular thing now!"

Felipe Ortiz

Heaven for fish lovers ....

Галина Степченкова

Excellent shopping!

Coskun Ardic

Good

Sophia Ahdipour

Have nice veraity of fishes and most equipment with average prices

Brutus Cornelieus

DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE!! Big Al's Aquarium gives you false information. Such as this: We were buying a box turtle and asking the owners information on it. One person said "He's 8 years old." And another said "He's 5.". They sell you things you don't need! For example: We got a ZooMed bottle to put in his water, and then our vet said it's better off used for fish, and not needed for our turtle. But the thing that angered me the most, is this. The man we were discussing with said "We barely need to take him to the vet. And neither will you if you keep him just as healthy as we did". Oh yeah? Well we took him to the vet, and they said the store did NOT keep him well as he had Metabolic Bone Disease due to malnutrition. The turtle has an overgrown beak, the shell is not growing correctly or only on one side, and your turtle's claws are too long. The reason the people here have smiles on their faces is because they lie their way into making a quick buck.

Will Gagne

Better fish selection and products then Big Al's in Hamilton

Gary Holland

Many tiny bowls with clearly unhealthy bettas just lying on the bottom and gross water. Too bad they don't have hundreds of large filtered tanks to put fish in...

J Avinoam

Great shop for the North end of the city. I go personally for fish, plants and driftwood. I find their selection is usually quite wide

A W

Variety is good, but 1 of the shrimps I bought recently died the same day of the purchase.

Matt Dougherty

Stock does not match website. Staff was pretty rude to boot. Would not recommend this location.

Courtney W

Huge selection for everything aquarium. They keep their tanks clean and well maintained. It is always fun to visit and look at all the fish. Almost like going to an aquarium with no admission fee!

ReXx Effects

Ive been going to this Big Als for years when I'm in the area, it has been a while and sadly I found out when I went in that due to municipal law changes, they are no longer allowed to carry any live reptiles, which is so sad since there are less and less places to go and Big als always had the best advice and selection in town !

Yidan X

The fishes are just so cute to look at. I went there to buy stuff to set up my first fish tank. Jordan was very patient to answer all my beginner questions and helped me pick all the stuff.

Wilson Khoo

Friendly helpful staff.

Jasur Teshaev

Got help from Gerry. What a wonderful, knowledgeable, attentative salesman and kind person. These kind of people make one come back and buy goods and services. I wish I could give more stars.

Ian Edgar

I feel like a kid in a candy store here. The aquariums are beautiful and the selection of fish is amazing. Please bring back the shark tank!

Jennifer Runyan

Very knowledgeable staff, they always have answers to our fish problems. Great selection of products and beautiful fish!

farzaad gopal

Great experience. People were so helpful. The staff were so lively and it wss even close to closing time yet they did not spare any details.

Mio

Very professional. They answers every of my question kindly with patient

John Wayne Perreault

Fish wanted where way to expensive so me and the wife are still shopping around to other fish stores

Mandana Irani

The store staff laughed and made fun of my accent when I went there to buy Gold fish. I kept explaining myself to clear any confusion but they never took me seriously and continued laughing among themselves.

Goran B

Hey, place to go to if you want fish, aquatic plants, aquariums or anything else involving fish keeping

Jessyka Mac

I shop regularly, friendly knowledable staff at this location. I don't see myself shopping at any other location, great customer service clean store good selection.

Ankur Bhatheja

Beautiful but limited to fishes as pets only.

Nick Mazzei

Staff are very friendly and helpful. Overall a very pleasant experience!

kunal thakur

Good place decent and helpful staff. Limited selection of corals.

John Kovacs

Meh! Very disappointing, no fish sales whatsoever.

Hei Chan

Smaller than the Scarborough location but staff is more helpful

Silvana Pezzo Sansone

It's to bad and a RIP off when you buy salt water fish and we all know how expensive they are and die on you so soon, there is no compensation for you and you loose out! I recently bought 4 saltwater fish and the most expensive one the Clown Tang dies just after a month. The others are fine along with my original ones so I'm not doing anything different in caring for them. I did contact the store and there is no guarantee on them, but if I may have the remains of the fish maybe something they can do. Ok really, good luck in finding any of that in a large tank, also I'm aware and so are the staff that salt water fish when they pass, they usually disintegrate through your system, and also other fish pick at it as well. It's a costly hobby as is and this does not help ! Mike Pugliese Just another fish tank lover

Maria M.

We bought all our fishes here. We still remember when they had a lizard's section and snakes. All fishes we bought are healthy and nice. Staff is friendly and helpful.

Ralph YEUNG

Wonderful experience and a nice shopping place

Steve Woolf

Helpful staff, wide selection of fish and aquarium supplies

jason caetano

I'm always in and out of this place. Love it. Even got my fiancee hooked on visiting with the reptiles. Staff have become friends and service is perfect. All your fish, reptile and aquarium supply needs are available here. Open literally everyday including holidays and always a fun visit. Bring your children to see the amazing variety of animals and displays. Sign up for VIP points, sales and email notifications aswell as weekly specials. The two absolute best locations of Big Al's are Mississauga and Scarborough by far! Mississauga being miles ahead in the staff and service categories!

Colin R

Wide variety of aquariums, fish and even live plants.

Bruce Taylor

Staff are belligerent! Told me lies on the phone to make me drive to the store. Couldn't answer basic questions that other stores could immediately. Refused to show me an aquarium light, tried instead to upsell me on a whole new tank setup with stand.....greasy. When I told him I didn't need a new tank he walked away even though I needed help finding several other products. I would recommend Menagerie downtown or Aquatic Kingdom in Mississauga.

Ass Feet

Ripped me off selling me $456 led lights when amazon sells them for $230, can't make this stuff up

David Han

Great staff and quality of fish

Eliyahu Shainhouse

Beautiful variety of fish to choose from. Freshwater and saltwater. Staff have been incredibly helpful in times of trouble and troubleshooting.

Neil Singh

Been shopping here for over 30 years. the staff both for dry goods and the fish room are very polite and knowledgeable. The fish room manager Ron, is always willing to go that extra mile to help you find that one fish or seven that you are looking to add to your collection. Highly recommend.

Daniele Tenuta

Friendly, knowledgeable staff, never had a bad experience here.

david chang

Great place for aquarium and equipment. Has a nice selection of both fresh and salt water fish and creatures. Lots of water plants to choose from.

Shaomo Xing

I bought one angelfish and six 24 karat gold mollies on sale (good sale price) Wednesday, and placed them into my tank within one hour. The angelfish died on Saturday, and l found the white spots on the four mollies out of six Sunday morning. Very unhappy and will not go back.

Marc Joffe

The store has a decent selection of dry goods and a good selection of fish. Unfortunately, prices for some goods are atronomical. I try to go in knowing what prices for the items I want are before heading in.

g f

Good staff, unfortunately bought 2 fish of same species at separate times and both developed a curved spine. Their supplier is inbreeding too frequently. It was past their warranty period of 5 days so they wouldn't do anything about it ????

Bridgette Nuqui

Staff are a bit scary specially when they answer questions but they tell the truth specially when you did your research.