Big Al's Aquarium Services

While I am a loyal customer to Al's, as their product line is amazing, I seem to always have to plan a large chunk of my day to go and quickly grab something.Staff constantly seems frazzled due to under-staffing, a struggle I think we're all very familiar with. There's rarely anyone available to assist customers because they have so many duties to perform throughout the store. When you do manage to grab one of them, their answers are rushed and ultimately unhelpful. I spent nearly 25 minutes waiting for someone to grab me a fish once. Certainly frustrating.

Not a great experience. Been here more than a handful of times to check out the fish and every single time the place has dead fish floating in the aquariums. The second you walk into the place you are hit with a smell of fish. Which is more or less expected in a fish store but this was to a gross point. The manager was not helpful what so ever. When asking questions she was not able to help with the prices or really anyway at all. They are very unorganized, when asking for prices they would go between at least 3 other people and we would have to watch to see who they spoke to, then go see that person ourselves and ask AGAIN. Over all we still bought our things, but it was to no help of the manager or workers, honestly their prices are great, but that is dictated by the chain not this store. If you have the option to go to another Big Al's I would suggest doing so, this one you will have to know everything for yourself and expect to piss around for minimum an hour.

Incredible selection of food and supplies - The store brand frozen stuff is a good as anything else I've bought. I only keep freshwater fish myself, but an impressive variety of marine fish here too. Staff is attentive and helpful, but not pushy.

The store is well maintainedThe staff is very friendly and knowledgeableThis is the place that I go for my fish needs. I used to shop around for pricing and types of fish. I have to say, that I have learned that deals are better at Al's and the fish are more healthy. They have a great selection of breeds and accessories.The staff have bent over backward for us. They truly make the client feel like they matter and are not just money rolling in.Thank you to the team at Big Al's! You are all wonderful.

I called needing a 37 gallon aquarium. They said they had one in stock. I arrived and discovered that in fact they none. I had travelled across the city and had hired someone to help deliver the aquarium to my home only to discover that this wasn't going to happen.At this point I had no option but to purchase an unsuitable size for the needs of our pets.I asked for some accommodation with regard to the error they committed and was told that I could get 10% off.An insulting gesture on their part to make up for their error.I still need the 37 gallon tank! Could they deliver it to me to make up for not having it in stock when they said they did? No, sorry. Manager doesn't allow that. I was told to buy both aquariums and then come and pick up the 37 gallon when it came into stock AND pay for delivery to my home across the city.So, I received a discount of 7$ for my trouble. The generosity of Big Al's spirit is staggering.

Hi Big Als west, I used to shop at your location a couple years ago. I recently went into the store to check out your stock and i was saddened by the state of the place and all of the fish. I saw many dead fish floating around and a fish with some sort of fungus on it swimming in a community tank. when i commented on the betta fish wall and all the dead fish the employees kinda laughed it off and removed them from the shelf. I also witness more dead fish in the larger tanks.The store didn't have that same clean feeling. I have to say I'm a little afraid to restock my tank with your fish. The front retail staff was very informative and kind.Thank you

I recently went to purchase a fish tank and stand from Big Al's. They did not have the tank and stand I wanted in stalk and did not want to sell me the floor model at a discount despite chips all along the bottom. The employee said you can fix that with a magic marker. Your paying full price for it" it was so rude but I liked the tank so I ordered one and paid for it in full. 2 weeks after the tank was suppose to be delivered

Me and my husband went in last month to buy two turtles we were helped by a girl who told us everything" about the turtles. We ended up buying the starter kit for them and got home to set them up and excited and then realized we did not have a filteration system that this girl said was in the tank. We called right away and they told us to come in the following day and they would give it to us. So the next day I drive back to Kanata to get the filter get home and it does not work

Very unfortunate experience here. I would not recommend it all. We bought our fish tank kit for our 8 year old 4 days ahead of her birthday with the promise that we would come back k and buy the fish on her birthday. When setting the tank up on her actual birthday, we discovered that the first step conditioner was not included in the kit - and when we looked at the receipt discovered that we had been charged $80 for 4 fish in error.Thinking this would be no issue, we went back to the store to buy a fish and get the conditioner. But we're told that they would not give us money back for the four fish because we would not have been charged if we didn't get them. This in spite of the fact that we got a two fish tank and don't have the water conditioner yet. Also we have an excited 8 year old with us talking about her first fish.While I understand that it is only our word, we didn't have a tank big enough, we would have had to coach an 8 year old to lie, and we clearly haven't even set it up yetWhile they did eventually offer a credit, it clearly was an errror on the stores part and frankly, after this experience, we really don't want to spend any more money at this store.I really can't recommend a store with such a customer unfriendly and distrusting policy.I imagine we will buy many more fish. But they won't be from Big Al's