Big Al's Aquarium Supercentres - Mississauga

They have a good variety of fish and look cheaper than petsmart, but in the last 15 minutes, it feels like staff dont want to help.

Love going in here just to look around growing up as a kid and a grown up but I was always hesistant to buy from here because of bad experiences in the past of quality of the fish, they would always die quickly.
I learned later on they have a bad filtration system, if one tank has a disease it spreads to the other tanks!

Recently went in with my partner who got interested in the hobby (i gave up one of my tanks for her) she went to ask for help from the little spanish girl? She rolled her eyes, scuffed and seemed annoyed, I was off to the side looking at the bettas and caught it all.
The younger workers here doesnt seem to enjoy their job and want to do it. Whenever I go in and see her It kills my vibe.

When I first started out in the aquarium hobby a decade ago, this chain had kind of a poor reputation. But this has definitely changed.

These days it seems like most or all of the aquarium shops in Toronto get their stock from the same distributors. And almost all of them charge more for the same livestock. I've paid $35 here for what others have inflated to $150.

Big Al's, particularly this location, has a great selection of marine fish and they are just as healthy (if not moreso) than the same stock at more expensive stores in the area.

In fact, this location is one of the few stores I've bought from where I've never had something die quickly after purchase.

For livestock, this is a great source.

Bought a platinum guppy from this store. It died 2 days later. The rest of my fish started slowly dying. Disappointed with all the Big Al's I've been to. So sad; I use to love them so much.

They have a good selection of fish and supplies but their staff always seems annoyed when you ask them questions or even when you ask then to pack fish.
I first came to the store based on my friends recommendation but every-single-time I came in, I was made to feel that I shouldn't bother the staff. Most of these experiences were in the live fish section. It's too bad, I was hoping to build a client relationship with the store but I really don't feel like going there anymore.

Only reason I gave 4 not 5 stars is because it's always so busy. I know it's not the stores fault, but perhaps having a few more employees scheduled during peak hrs might help. Other than that, I recently got back in the hobby and this was my first visit since I was a kid (30 years ago!). Amazing selection of fish & equipment, very helpful, knowledgeable & friendly staff.

Wide variety of fish, reptiles and accessories. Staff is nice and ensures your questions are answered.

Been buying fish and equipment from here for years. Out of all the pet stores in Mississauga, this has been the most professional, clean, and organized I've been to.

Buyers Beware: 75 Gallon AQUEON Fish Tank Sold without a Cover.

I'm a Newbie, fish Hobbyist and went to Big Als Fish superstore in Mississauga. The young Boys at the store sold me a 75 Gallon Fish Tank with the stand, filter etc. 5 months later when my fish started to jump out of the tank I went to the store to buy a cover. When the sales rep who I discussing about the tank cover mentioned that you should have got a cover with the fish tank.

When I spoke to manager and mentioned that I was not given a tank cover and was unaware.he said he cannot do anything in very nonchalant manner.

I will not shop at this store ever again.

Seems like everytime I go there is less and less feeder fish. 1 of the older guys who works in the aquarium area can be really rude. Most likely will be finding a new place to go

Staff isn't very helpful, but I think that's because people come in to just look and they assume everyone is just looking?

A place where your basic human rights is being violated, as told by your government. Let's all be sheep because we know the government doesn't lie to us!

I love Big Al's aquarium service,
I have so many good memories of this place from years ago, And recently thought about getting back into fish keeping, If not now in 3 years when I retire, I want something simple but beautiful, with live plants and fish,
I still don't know if it will be big or small
But bigger is less time consuming, in water, changes, Staying hopeful.
But thanks for the memories, Big Al's

Ryan was very informative regarding how to clean a used tank and get it setup with red tail plates. Which were transitioning from 10g tank to 48g tank. Extremely impressed with his understanding and knowledge. Strong communication skills.

Big Als in Mississauga is the best store I believe of the franchises in the GTA - bright, clean, lots of items well laid out. I find their prices more expensive than Petsmart for the same or similar products. Most of the people are extremely friendly although I find one of their more senior staff members (an older gentleman) a little grumpy with limited patience.

Have been buying all my aqaurium supplies at Big Al's for as long as I can remember.
I'll brouse in other aquarium stores to find good deals but I do the bulk of my purchases at Big Al's
Great staff that can answer all your questions. Huge selection of fish to choose from especially the Mississauga location.

Good service, good fish keeping practices, clean, healthy fish, they care,
no unnecessary recomendations,
accurate recommendations,
if you need something they have it on stock, wonderful assortment of ineresting and unique assortment of fish in stock.tips to remember: buy the biggest aquarium you can afford, follow all nitrogen "cycle" practices, (you can never have too much Bennificial Bacteria,) always quarentine live stock and plants, (have hospital tank/emergency vessel options),
always wash and rinse your hands well before you put them in the tank, smell fresh water change water to ensure your water conditioner removed chlorine and chloramines to protect both fish and cycled biofilm in tank.be patient.:)
enjoy your fish!

It was my first visit. The people who should help customers are all over the place. You do not need to search for them like almost all business now. The employees are very nice, helping and very professional. Good prices and I found all what I need.

This place is the real thing what you want you will get the prices are pretty good and the staff are welcoming

Big Al's is a great store in general it just sticks that they are not like a true franchise so they all run differently. You literally can't get the same brand of fish food at each one. And your point don't accumulate as whole. The accumulate only with the stores that affiliate with one another

Many fish to choose from. And reptiles. But please let the shark go. Why would u have him in such a little tank. Very cruel

My reasoning for the 2 star review is based solely on the saltwater aquarium aspect. From reading other reviews I assume they are on point with other things, however when it comes to marine fish/supplies/equipment they are sometimes double the price for the exact same products found at other stores.

Great resources for reptiles and fish. Under staffed but I think that's due to covid regulations in place currently.

Wide selection of aquariums, fish both fresh water/pond, and salt water. Knowledgeable and attentive staff. (Lots of other pet supplies)

Friendly staff and clean store. The fish are a little small for the price, but that's post-covid fall out and I'm sure will even out eventually. Always a wide selection of fish.

Great selection, the staff is great when you call, the one staff lady who is at the door for curbside pickup is very rude. My son picked up glofish and one died before he go home and an other die by morning, he took them back and wanted to get replacement and she said I wouldn't you already killed 2, he explained what happened and she said that fine it's your money if you want to waste it.

Love this place for all of our fish needs! The staff is extremely helpful and they have a huge selection of beautiful fish and reptiles.

If you know Jake at BigAls, you know you are in good hands. He takes his time to explain the pros and cons of whatever you are interested in buying. He is a very humble, down to earth human being. Out of all the employees that work there, I always prefer to call to see if Jake is working; before I go in. The reason why I am writing so nice about him is because I had a new found passion for reef aquariums and he helped me get the best items they had in their store and also recommended me to wait on some certain products to get a good deal. He also got me my protein skimmer that was on hold for more than a month due to some delay on their shipment. He just called in a different Bigals store and got me my protein skimmer within 2 days. Keep in mind that he is always busy and works only on some certain days, so thats why it took me so long to get a hold of him. I also want to add that I was having trouble setting up my protein skimmer as it was not working properly for 2 weeks and when I went to the store, unfortunately Jake was not working that day so some other employee tested out my protein skimmer and just gave it back to me with no real advice; saying that it was working fine. I had to do my own research and go through all the troubles myself to figure out the overflowing and micro bubbles problem. Other than that as you all know this store is beautiful. Oh I would also like to mention how Jake helped me save my tangs from ich problem. Again, I am new to this hobby and learning something new every day. I spent close to $200 going to animal clinic and getting formalin medicine to treat my fishes from this nasty ich problem. My fishes were dying due to the harshness of that medicine. Lost 8 clownfishes and blue tang because of this. One day I just walked in the store and I was lucky to find him in the store. I told him about what happened to my fishes due to that ich disease and he quickly recommended me the garlic juice bottle that they sell at their store. He asked me to feed them foods soaked in this garlic and they should be fine. One week later I was very happy to see that all the ich has been gone from my foxface fish and sailfin tang. It has been almost 5 weeks now since then and I haven’t had any problems with my fishes ever since. They also have instagram and youtube channel. Make sure to follow and subscribe to their channel. On youtube they have very informative content. To everyone thats reading this and looking to start a new hobby of freshwater or saltwater fish aquarium, make sure to get in contact with Jake. Thank you so much for helping me.

Amazing service, very knowledgeable staff and very helpful. Will come back for sure and recommend this place! Big thanks to Monika!

This was the first time I visited Big Al’s in Mississauga (actually recommended but Petsmart since they couldn’t help me), and I would like to mention that Jessica was so helpful, thoughtful and understanding for my needs with my inquiries and situation (had to buy a Betta fish that looked like our last one that recently past away, for my young daughters). Jessica was was very sympathetic towards my needs and gave great suggestions on how she may be able to give me options on buying the fish during this lack-down situation. As recommended I sent her pictures of our old fish and Jessica was able to find 4 of her choices to the front where I could select the one that was best suited for my family’s needs. All the employees gave great suggestions while I was paying and all were cheerful, professional and made me feel quite satisfied for going to Big Al’s for my needs. I would recommend this store in particular for how well they deal with customer service, especially how well Jessica dealt with my needs. Thank you very much
Andre

Amazing place big als I dislike Brampton location as I posted a review there as well not a good store at all.

LOVELOVELOVE this location, staff is amazing and knows their stuff, don't try to upsell you or make a sale regardless of what you need.

Ordered online, fish, n did curbside pickup. Their system in place is great. 2 cashiers setup just inside the door. Pritected w barriers between them. Easy breezy. I would suggest you call the store if you have something specific in mind that you want

I like this pet store I've been there before just to browse around and take a look at some of the animals including their huge selection of fresh and sea fish, they keep their place nice and neatly they have a lot of products for every customer, staff is super friendly they're willing to help you, they are involved in the whole stage for better selection and make recommendations base on ir needs and wants, so far positive experience and I'm definitely coming back here, just recently bought a few fish for my aquarium first-timer got all my answers and best of all their prices are reasonable. Come check them out.

Hands down the best customer service experience I’ve ever had at any form of pet store! I live in Hamilton and will return to this location for any of my needs! Alicia is the most helpful employee there and provided knowledge and information well beyond the scope of expectations! That girl deserves a raise!

Biggest fish selection in GTA! Tuesday's shark feeding show is awesome. Would visit again in future.

I have bough all my 50 gallon fish tank supplies at Big Al's in Mississauga! We work hard as a Junk Removal company in Mississauga and we were proud to be hired by Big Al's for a big clean-up job! Thank you Big Al's for being the best in the business!

The staff is great. Knowledgeable and friendly. They don't try to upsell you. They do their best to make sure you know how to care for the fish and reptiles you are buying. We left with a wealth of knowledge without spending a large fortune.

Ok, don't always have everything in stock. I have to try to buy algae remover for over 3 weeks, this is a simple and regular product. Got it elsewhere.

This place is huge, great selection and variety of fish and products. Also has a sweet shark/eel display that you could gaze at for hours

Well stocked and well run by efficient and knowledgeable staff.always a pleasant experience to visit

Pretty clean tanks and lots of livestock, more livestock than any of the other big Al's I have costed l visited, the staff cares about the well being of the fish they sell you.

Good prices, far selection of fish, staff where good although not able to answer all questions about products they offer

I frequent this location and the one in Vaughan a lot. I started going to Mississauga location before they even moved beside Chinatown. Most of the staff here are nice and courteous, unfortunately they get overshadowed by the ones who do not know what customer service is. The one female cashier looks you dead in the eye and expects you to greet her first. I say thank you when get my change and receipt, no response from her.

I really hope management will take note of these complaints seriously. It is disappointing to see this place become what it is today. Although I picked up livestock as recently as 2 months ago, it is clear your mainganos have internal parasites, yet they are still for sale and you added additional fish in that tank. If you are not winning on prices, health of fish, and definitely not in customer service - you are losing out when you should be way ahead given your footprint. The curly blonde hair girl in livestock dressed in country jeans is just rude and have no business working in retail or customer service, her attitude is more appropriate for correctional services or Ontario. Governmeng offices as a receptionist. Absolutely terrible, but I'm sure I'll be back out of convenience, not as frequent though. Considering I spent now well over 5.5k since April and have visited almost twice weekly, it is evident the "I don't care" attitude stems from managment down.

Staff very helpful. The place is very wet on the floor and slippery. Prices have gone up for the fishes. Worth buying only when on sale.

Very helpful and friendly staff. Brian has helped me to trouble shoot my tank problems and l was impressed with his knowledge, patience and willing to help after l purchased units in their store. Brian is really an expert in his field. Excellent customer service. I highly recommend this store.

BRIAN thanks buddy!

Staff are knowledgable, friendly and always helpful. Been going there for over 20 years. They helped with my salt water aquariums, my pond care and now my terbium. They always give good advise. There prices are okay and they are good when the have a sale.

Overpriced plants, fish and aquarium equipment. I got a crinum calamastratum plant for my aquarium for $26 + tax. Next week they reduced price of that plant to $11 +tax. What kind of pricing strategy is this? No return or refund policy. Why did I buy that plant? Yes, good question.

Helpful staff and nice aquarium displays and kits for sale but variety of fish not as large as 20 years ago. Finatics had a better variety of fish.

Asked for 40 feeder fish.got barely 30.other than that, this place is a fantastic place to bring the kids for a peek at some incredible fish, snakes, lizards and monkeys.ok no monkeys.

Big Als sales staff are always knowledgeable in their answers to my questions. Good prices and variety of fish and amphibians.

Recomended for families with kids. It's such a relaxing time to revist the store and look at all the tropical fish and buy from time to time. Every kid should have a fish tank:)

Great selection on smaller fresh water fish. Limited on on 5-6" fresh water.

Great staff and very knowledgeable.