Aquariums West

Their fish look great, but their reptile care could be improved. They have a giant day gecko for sale who is grossly obese. They should not sell an animal who is in that state and instead should get her healthy before.

Honestly this is the best (and only?) good Aquarium store in the city. Always super knowledgeable & helpful staff regarding reptiles and fish. Aquarium equipment and supplies. A Great selection of water plants.
They also sell rodents, guinea pigs and chinchillas too!

Pretty much bought everything for our tank from this store over the past 15 years. Except our actual tank which was from the 80s.

Just a heads up side note;

It can be a little uptight with the on-going covid restrictions and how you enter and leave the store can be a bit uncomfortable and off-putting.

You have to leave your backpack behind the counter and wait behind a rope before being allowed entry.
This is understandable in our city of Vancouver where shoplifting & addiction is rampant unfortunately. This store is way too nice to let any scumbags in. I get it.

Great place with good selection of fish and everything. People working in there are always nice and knowledgeable. Definitely recommend

Nice selection of all things fish and reptiles. They have great display set ups of reptile terrariums and vivariums! All the staff were very friendly and helpful too!

Aquariums West is a great aquarium store! They have a wide selection and helpful staff. We've bought all of our fish, shrimp, snails, and plants here.

When i write this, i feel sorry about this store since it's a cute and beautiful.i go to this store several times and spent a lot of money in this store.most of the employee are very kind, nick and knowledgable.but, today, i am really unhappy with it.i want to change one fish just bought 5 mins ago since i found one of the eye of this fish is not good. I don't know who is the guy in the frontdesk, but that guy is very friendly and said, yes, it's ok.but, the man who is served in the fish room with little long mustache are very rude and unfriendly, balaba say a lot of I shouldn't do that.first, you are not boss, you don't have the right to let me do/ not do this.second, since you are employee of this store, you have resposiblity to let the customer feel good and happy, then we can come back again.the business of this store/boss will feel happy with that.so, you are a not a qualified employee.third, you don't have the right to mad with me, if you are care about the fish, you can just talk with me by using your knowledge and service.not just like fight with the customer.

I don't know whether the boss will see this comment, I feel sorry for you, since you have this kind of employee, they will break your store's customer's satisfaction. This kind of employee/person make others feel very uncomfortable and you will loss customers.you may need to fire/training them be kind and nice.

I've finally made it to this place after a long desire to come here. The lack of parking and location make it hard to visit.

The store is clean and tidy. However I am thrilled about how clean their tanks are. Also they seem to specialize in planted tanks. Fish are also quite unique.

We were asked if we needed help twice so we were looked after well. The prices are decent and we noticed other stores upping the cost of basic fish like neon tetras. I won't complain about the cost here because everything costs more in this day in age. Plus rental space downtown is not cheap.

Some of the staff members are very helpful and knowledgeable. Ended up waiting ~15 minutes to talk to a staff member and get the help I needed, there is not enough staff for how busy the store gets. 3 of the 6 shrimp I bought from here have died within 2 weeks. They had limited selection, and everything is overpriced compared to elsewhere. Overall a disappointing experience, not recommended.

The place is great, they have a good variety of products and they're very friendly, I have to clarify that the only thing is that some stuff are a bit over priced, maybe the location ‍️ besides that is a good place to find anything you need for your pets!

Huge space
Especially being located in a downtown
Freshwater and saltwater is available here.
Huge selection of filter, tanks and others.
The fish looks pretty and healthy
I bought swordtails here.

Coming here is an addiction at this point! They have everything you could possibly need and more.

Number 1 indicator that an aquarium store is high quality and knows what they are doing to me, is how they keep their bettas

Not a single miserable cup in sight!

Each fish has its own little tank and they are all healthy and happy looking!

Staff is helpful and friendly without being overbearing (think constantly asking about assistance and following you around) which is nice when just browsing the shelves and planning what to get!

Highly recommend this store

Thank you Aquarium west! Great customer service and super helpful to a newbie trying to raise neocaridina’s. They were super patient with all my questions and helped me along the way. Best experience ever!

Good if you need something desperately in the area however expensive and their saltwater selection and quality is embarrassing. Freshwater section remains good but the rest needs help.

I do like to shop often at this location because the customer service was great seems you are at home and they treat you very well the only concern is not enough marine life animal but the fresh water was amaze. And also my suggestion is it will be much greater to shop if they can renovate and expanded the area for saltwater fish.

Lots of aquarium plant options! They have a wide range of Tropica 12 Grow options. Lots of interesting supplies for aquascaping and terrascaping.

Awesome store it's so cool. The staff where super nice and gave me a awesome deal on a plant I liked. They have everything at a good price and fully stocked. Huge selection of shrimp and fish. This is the only place I've see hillstream loaches. Also the red tail shark near the entrance is huge! 100% a must go for fish keepers. I ment I've never seen hillstreams In my life:) it was my first time there don't mean to miss lead

Very nice pet supply shop. Good selection of exotic fish, reptiles and amphibians. Very friendly and knowledgeable staff

The place was a little hard to find but once I did the staff was super helpful.

Very friendly and accommodating. They had some beautiful fish in there and some nice reptile set ups.

Aquariums West is absolutely the best Lower Mainland store for aquarium and terrarium needs. I've shopped there many times and have always found the staff to be very professional and knowledgeable. Jenn in particular has been a life-saver numerous times when I've needed amphibian advice. Highly recommend!

The staff had a general unwillingness about answering any questions I had.
If you guys are selling live animals here I feel it's very important you give the customer all the information necessary to take care of the animal.
Unless you dont care about the fish once it leaves the shop, in that case, good stuff.

Had all the fish I needed and the stuff to go with. Everyone is super helpful, even when short staffed.

The more you go the more you like it, the longer you stay in there the more you find the hidden gems. They help you test your tank water and you can call them for stock availability. You can even call them to have your items ready in a bag to pick up. They listen to your instructions carefully and they have your items ready right on time. Before buying, if you ask about the fish, if it has been medicated and quarantined, they are always able to tell you. If your fish is sick they are willing to talk to you and provide advice. The plants are on the expensive side but they do not have algae. I especially like their low iron glass aquascape tanks. You can watch them for days. The Asian staff I think his name is Douglas is super enthusiastic and funny. The manager seems kinda quiet and yeah that is kinda true and you may be scared to approach him at first but he is actually super chill dude.
Please do your research on the animal before purchasing.

Was in today to get a setup for a fluval Betta tank. As always there was fantastic customer service and they saw to any questions and requests I had. An extra star for this great shop:)

I love this place. It's like a very relaxing place for me. The website is updated daily with live animals and goods, different shipments coming from different parts of the world. The Staff were very knowledgeable and friendly. I like the gothic cool chic, she is great and knows it all. Also, the cute tall guy with aviator hat, he's very approachable, nice. The other guys as well and cashiers were on top of things. I highly recommend this place for beginners, advanced and pet enthusiasts.

This is our go-to fish store. The staff working at this location is friendly, kind and knowledgeable.

You can call them and ask about their fish inventory before visiting the store to make sure they have the fish you are looking for.

Wide range of fish food and plants are also available at this location.

Went to Aquariums West for the first time today. I've been keeping fish for decades and this is hands down the best aquarium store I've ever seen. The COVID protocols are good, the staff are friendly. If you want help, they help you, if you want to be left alone, they leave you alone. They are knowledgeable and share information without being condescending. The selection is amazing. The tanks are beautifully kept. It's just a really fantastic store.

Great selection and very high end shop, expect to pay a bit of a premium but you know you're getting healthy fish and top of the line stuff!

Professional outfit. Freshwater tanks have self-contained filtration. Connor was very helpful and knowledgeable.

These guys are very professional and courteous, and I I got a great deal on some cool coral frags.

If you want to go somewhere as a novice and come out feeling like you’re stupid, this is the place to go. Unwelcoming from the moment you step inside the door and are silently let in, most of the staff just ignore you til you hunt them down for help, but in an interaction that could result in an educational and uplifting experience sadly resulted in a very disappointed purchase. Two stars because of their comprehensive stock.

Great selection of supplies needed for any sort of fish tank, very helpful staff and always a pleasant experience when i visit

Not returning. I regret the $300 I have spent at this hostile store on a new aquarium, plants, plant soil, filtration, & wood. Passive aggressive comments is not proper customer service blond lady.

Refused to let me into the store.yet if any of the staff were ill they would be more than welcome at my clinic.what a shame.

This shop is super clean, well lit, well staffed, and well stocked. Also the staff I talked to seemed to have an in-depth knowledge of fish.

Great Store. I bought some Marine Shrimp there that I am very happy with! They are healthy and were well cared for inside the store. I was helped by two very knowledgeable employees Jen & CJ who were more then happy to spend all the time with me that I needed to have all my questions answered, and the Shrimp were bagged as I selected them. That visit was great experience overall and I will for sure be returning to the shop!

Drove a long ways to visit this store on recommendation. I’ve visited twice now. The first time my experience was actually alright. The young lady staff member that helped me was very nice, and willing to show me around the store and help me find what I needed.
That visit I spent just over $200 on live creatures and feed for them.

The second time however, I had come in to pick up some marine fish for the aquarium. The young lady who helped me first time was not working, and the 2 men that were in store were very unhelpful. The big guy who sits up at the front counter ingores customer’s questions, and directs answers at he younger employees to relay to me as a customer. Even though I am standing right in front of them.
The fish were also very over priced and few in far between. When asked about when they would get some new fish in they told me “3 weeks” and that “its hard to get stuff in rn die to covid” however I know from shopping around to other fish stores in the area that this is not the case. They are just lazy.

Long story short.
Bad customer service. They don’t care about helping people, they just want money for there overpriced fish, in limited stock. (50% mark up of market value)
No stock on Marine fish. And the manager (i assume the manager) is not friendly.

Go to “Canada Corals” in Coquitlam for your marine fish aquarium needs. The prices are much better! (Meaning average market value) and they are much more willing to help!

Lots of their products are marked up by a lot compared to other stores. Some employees were very helpful, others did not help at all. From my experience I was purchasing a tank and I asked an employee if I needed to buy a heater to go with the tank. Employee told me it came with one so I didn't bother buying a separate one. Once I open the box, I realized it didn't actually come with a heater. Considering I spent half a grand on products that day, the service was pretty bad.

Aquariums West is my go-to shop for fish and reptile supplies. I have an assortment of pets at home, and it's so convenient to get all of my shopping done in one place. The staff is very friendly, knowledgeable, helpful, and gives advice to work within your budget. The animal's husbandry standards and care are superb. I have seen them give great advice to first-time pet owners, and they are equally able to help me answer more advanced questions about my animal care. If a staff member on duty doesn't have insight into a specific issue, they have great teamwork to source the correct information for their customers. The only downside is that their hours conflict with my (admittedly unusual) work schedule, so I really have to prioritize scheduling my trips! Highly recommend for all exotic pet and reptile needs!

Great store in so many ways, however I have virtually _never_ bought a fish from them without importing an ich infection. Then they give you the standard answer that “it was always present in your tank” (which is complete nonsense). Then you lose some fish and have to fork out $20-$40 for medication, none of which they take any responsibility for. They should treat all their new fish for ich, and not just wait for the disease to show.

If I could, I would NOT even give a star at all. Brought my kids there couple of times to shop fishes. My kids start to build their own aquarium with their own hard earned allowance, The staff named Jane was no help at all, but let us feel pushy and was told if my kids can’t make quick decision, there are people waiting to get in (as matter of fact, it’s about store closing time not a lot customers in the store). I am really surprised how they treat their next generation customers. “Quick sales welcomed, but if you can’t make quick purchase decision, there are people waiting in line” attitude.

Since then, we don’t go there anymore. As a fish lover living downtown, I would rather drive my kids all the way to North America aquarium on Kingsway or April’s Aquarium in north Burnaby.

If you feel being treated the same way, go there and feel the differences.

Hi Jennifer, I sincerely hope you watch your own copy of the video from this incident along with your employee. Playing the retail worker victim card doesn't fly when the worker is the aggressor. As for being singled out. His attack on my family and not the white family is the definition of discrimination. Covid has been hard on everyone, don't make excuses for him. Thanks for the apology, even riddled with caveats.

We went to Aquariums west to buy a a goldfish for my daughter's 10th birthday which is today. After waiting in line for our turn we were accosted by a worker telling us that there are signs saying only 2 people at a time. There was only one person in front of us. I pointed out that the sign also says children are exempt. The oldest of my 3 daughters is 12. He then told us he can't have one family take up the whole store and that we would have to split up our group. He was agitated and clearly didn't want us to be there. He told us it's a professional day and that people are bringing their kids all day.

If I hadn't promise my kid a goldfish their website showed "in stock" I would have told him to stick it up his a$%. He tried everything short of telling us outright to leave before he would even let us in. This is the worst experience I've ever had in an aquarium store in 40 years of fishkeeping, even despite the aquarium snobs at other stores. He didn't have a problem with the other family groups in the store, just our Chinese family. I was looking forward to stocking up as they're a Rapashy dealer, but I'll gladly drive to Surrey to go to Roger's to buy it after that experience.

My wife wouldn't even set foot into the store after that gongshow. I had to take my 3 kids in 2 and then 1 just to buy some goldfish. Business must be good if they can treat people this way. There wasn't even anyone in line behind us. He didn't even want the rest of my family to wait in the store!

Yes I would love to hear from management or ownership as to why they employ this moron with anger management issues who accosted my family for no apparent reason. Maybe come look for me on the Facebook BC Aquarium hobbyists page or the "VAHS" page, or maybe the aquarium fish hobbyist page. I'll post this review there too. Thanks for the great service!

To further my previous review, it appears that the person who crossed the store to yell at my family was in fact a part owner of the business Kreig Leblanc. Maybe you should reconsider accusing people of being tourists in your store before knowing why they are there. Funny how we knew you had pearlscales and black lionheads in stock, but you never bothered to ask, did you?

When people agree to all the terms of your signage regarding occupancy and Covid regulations you shouldn't change the terms to your own advantage. We split our group, even when there was no one in line behind us. Yet you didn't even want my wife and 12 year old daughter wait in line inside the store. That was very kind of you seeing at it was +1° at the time.

Your own staff was embarrassed by your behavior when they realized we not only were we legitimate customers, but had specific purchases in mind.

Why didn't you harass the other family with children in the store? You know with the daughter that was knocking on the tanks as she went? Were we standing too quietly waiting our turn? Or were my kids too happy to see the Rainbow fish in the tank by the door. Either way I couldn't care less. Just like you didn't when you started your rant in front of my kids.

From the looks of the other reviews on this place, service is apparently a big problem. Avoid this place at all costs.

Worst costumer service ever i will never come again here they dont even desrve to get one star even.

Good selection of fishes. Staffs are friendly and helpful. Only allow 2 persons in store at a time, so be expected long wait time.

The staff here are consistently unfriendly and unpleasant. Will be avoided this store from now on.

Range of products is ok, but a little expensive.

Been to this store a number of times. Selection is decent and they have everything you need for your aquarium. Prices are quite high although they do carry good quality brands. Some (not all) of the employees could use a lesson or two on providing a basic level of customer service. I've had a couple of rude interactions with the same employee who seems only to work in the back where the fish are. Unfortunately Metro Vancouver doesn't have many aquarium stores left but I'll be going out of my way to avoid this store due to the poor service. It's simple guys, just be nice. Don't go out of your way to be difficult and rude.

Visited for the first time to get my supplies for my fish tank. The store has a lot to offer and the staffs are friendly. Also, their fish look healthy!

Aquariums West may have a decent selection of products but the fish they sell are incredibly unhealthy. Last month I had purchased a pair of black mollies and within 1 week of introducing them to a clean, healthy tank (cycled the tank for a year) they both developed sickness and died. 3 days ago I bought a pair of clownfish from them and this morning they had developed ich. They are the fist inhabitants in a 2 month long cycled tank. I believe they use the same filtration and water treatment for every tank, which spreads disease a lot easier. I will not be buying anymore aquatic life from Aquariums West. 2 stars because their plants are barely decent.

Some staff are lovely like Conor but I have had two bad experiences in there where the staff were rude and made fun of me for not knowing everything about my setup at home. Also very expensive. If you have a car and don't mind a drive to Abbotsford I would recommend Fish Addicts way more! Worth the trip for the owners personal collection of fish alone along with always keeping exciting livestock to cater for everyone's taste

Amazing service. Great selection. Their covid precautions are reasonable and not overly restrictive. Wonderful experience.

Not just the place to go for your Aquarium needs, they are also very helpful with reptiles and other small animals.

Great store, lots of livestock. A few aquarium selection, competitively priced. Street parking available for $3 per hour.
Lots of decorations and tanks set up, gives you lots of ideas.
Use the washroom before you go, no public washroom available.

My first visit, stopped in quickly to buy a betta. There were lots of options, and the staff person was super helpful and knowledgeable. Good covid safety measures in place as well. Would definitely visit again for any aquarium/fish needs!

Such an amazing experience! Beautiful store, great staff and it really feels as though the animals there are well taken care of. Definitely a business that deserves to be supported:)