Review of Ottawa Aquarium Stores, a Brand War

As a saltwater aquarium owner, it is important for me to get the best service, products, and prices when it comes to local fish stores. In the East end of Ottawa, there are three stores that get our business, and I’ll tell you which of the three top the other two, and why. The three stores I will review are Big Al’s Aquarium Outlet, Fish Tail Aquariums, and Aqua Valley Aquarium Services Ltd. Note: when I discuss fish supply, I’m strictly referring to the marine fish and coral stock.

Big Al’s Aquarium Outlet

Big Al’s is a very large aquarium franchise and I’m referring to their store at 1900 Innes Rd. At Big Al’s(or Pig Al’s as we like to call them – a nice reference for you folks in the Ottawa area) they sell all varieties of freshwater, tropical, and marine fish, in addition to some reptiles, arachnids, and pond fish. They also have the largest supply of equipment, fish medicine, and aquariums out of the three stores. The staff at Big Al’s are always friendly and willing to help. Unfortunately, not everyone in the store has the same knowledge, and you’ll often get conflicting information. That being said, there are one or two people in there that we know we can rely on, while others just really know nothing, yet feed information as if they knew. Not good.

The fish supply at Big Al’s is decent, although their fish stock is not always the healthiest (likely due to the mismatched staff). The reasons we go to Big Al’s, is when the other two stores are closed and we need/want fish or supplies NOW. They definitely have better operating hours. Why is this the only reason we go there? Because Big Als over charges for everything. Nearly everything at Big Al’s can be found for cheaper at Fish Tails and Aqua Valley. I say nearly, because they do offer discounts on actual aquariums. If one of the other stores doesn’t sell a piece of equipment, we’ll go to Big Al’s to check the price, and will usually find it cheaper online.

Aqua Valley Aquarium Services Ltd.

Aqua Valley Aquarium is located at 1158 Ogilvie Road in a little plaza. At Aqua Valley, they’ve decided to concentrate solely on marine life, so they only offer marine fish and corals. Their stock is very impressive. They have by far the greatest variety and amount of saltwater fish, invertebrates, marine plants, and marine corals. He’s even got really cool and creepy anglers for sale. They also offer the best prices for live rock out of the three stores. The cost of any of the live fish, corals, or inverts; is much cheaper than at Big Al’s. On this fact, Aqua Valley an Fish Tails match up quite well.

The owner of the store is usually there and can answer all of your questions, but doesn’t necessarily offer the best customer service. He can sometimes be a little condescending if you yourself; are not an expert in all things fish. We have dubbed him ‘grumpy’ for this reason. Sometimes he is in a good mood, and will answer your questions in more than one word. His single employee is very nice, and will get just as excited as you are regarding your fish purchases. Even though he can sometimes be grumpy,the owner is definitely is very knowledgeable, and is pretty much an expert when it comes to marine aquariums. He has also given us discounts for no real reason. You can also barter with him, which is a rarity in Canada. He posts his prices online, but may reduce them in store for you. He also posts all the fish he caries, their cost, and whether they’re currently available. We trust his information as he hasn’t failed us so far.

Fish Tail Aquariums

Fish Tail Aquariums is located at 2208 St Joseph Blvd Unit 101 in Orleans. They’ve recently changed locations, and now have a much bigger store. Fish Tail Aquariums offers both marine and tropical fish. Their new store is still in its development stages, but it already has a very impressive set-up. The owners are young, and always willing to help you out. They are also very knowledgeable, but are honest if they don’t know the answer to something. I typically rely on The Reef Forum for pertinent information about my tank anyway. The fish, inverts, live rock, and equipment they have, are all cheaper than at Big Al’s, and comparable to Aqua Valley. They don’t have quite the stock that Aqua Valley has yet, but now have the room and infrastructure to do so in the future. They have a brand new website, where they provide pricing information on their aquariums, equipment and supplies; but offer no insight as to the live stock they currently have, or how much they charge.

Although we have dubbed him ‘grumpy’, he really is a good man, and is very talented at maintaining many many tanks with many different species in them. We love going to his store even if to just browse the cool fish, and dream of one day owning a much larger aquarium.  Aqua Valley Aquariums is the best aquarium store in the area, and wins this brand war; at least for now.

Enjoy!

~Darleya~