Fish stores Calgary
 

Hey all, just wondering what fish stores there are around Calgary here. The only two I know of are golds and Pisces. Looking for a good place to buy fish and inverts for my new tank. I used to go to Pisces and mostly their fish were heathy but sometimes they have some unhealthy looking fish and I'm sure their filtration system is plumbed into all the tanks. Anywho just wondering what else is here. Thanks!

We were just talking about this on the local fb group page!
A bunch of us have been checking out the small stores in Calgary & our experiences are spread thru the page. I thought we could gather it in 1 spot for others? Any other shops missing?
~ Concept Aquariums 1313 44Ave NE
~ Golds Aquarium 4710 17 Ave SE
~ Reef Wonderland 1031 40 Ave NW
~ Ocean Creation 233 16ave NW
~ Wais Aquarium 222, 16Ave NE

Oh wow that is for the quick reply. Didn't think anyone would be awake this early haha. Awesome, I'll have to check those places out when I'm ready for fish! What's the fb group called? I would like to join!

Got woke by a kidlet... Just chilling in bed till it is a more respectful time! Out of all the little stores Reef Wonderland is the one I won't return to. Wais should be your I have to go this morning!!!!
The group is:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1563940140536238/

Nothing wrong with reef wonderland. Angus is a good guy.

I guess I should elaborate on the reason why I won't return to Reef Wonderland. #1 cement parking ' blocks places so tight infront of this Mini mall, it wad a knuckle scraping experience to get my sons wheelchair to the door. Then when we finally battled into the store all the tanks were so encrusted with algae we couldn't see in them except for from the top. The store also smelt, the only way I could described it was rotten. So while the owner may be a good guy, I won't return.
The owner at Wai's on the otherhand has personally come out to help assist getting the wheelchair up to his door & helped us back to our van.

-Wais is good livestock,probably the best coral selection, a little pricey
-Pisces is so-so for live stock some sick fish and a large mark up on others, but the biggest selection of dry goods.
-Big Als Is going out of buisness (they just don't know it).lots of empty tanks
-Ocean creations is small but sometimes has unique fish, decent prices
-Concept has great prices on fish and dry goods, but lately when I go in there is alot of empty tanks
-Reef wonderland sometimes has nothing in the tanks, almost nothing for dry goods. In his defense it has been a while since I have been there
-Golds these guys are my favorite place. Bought a regal tang for $30, huge squamosa clam with 2 green bubble tip anemones on the same rock for $125. If they had a larger dry goods selection I would not go anywhere else
-Riverfront I think is shut down for animal neglect, and it showed in their saltwater tanks. $40 dollars for baby ocellaris clowns!!! This place smells like a dirty gym sock

Calgary group on....
 

There's an open groupon with J&L right now.

Prices are definitely lower and more availability with this option!!!

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=117821

stores
 

I agreed with everything Somafish said.

My experience (other's may differ):

Concept: This is where 90% of my money allocated for the hobby goes. This is my go to place for hardware and corals. Not so much for fishes.
Pieces: From my experience, almost every tang in that store is infected with ich. I only go there for inverts; they always seem to have the inverts that I look for.
Big-al: This is where I got my 1st tank but stopped going there when I came to know about other stores.
Ocean creation: My go to place for fish. Never had any issue on any of the fishes that I bough from here. Given that I am not big on quarantine, get healthy specimen is really good.
Wai's: probably my last choice for LFS if I cannot find something locally or online. Great selection of corals but hell expensive and unless you are there for buying something, the guy is not very pleasant.
Reef wonderful: Hell expensive. Great guy but in the end, I personally wouldn't pay a 50% premium just for customer service.
Gold's aquarium: Extremely good price and they QT their fishes so, like ocean creation, you will get healthy specimen. Their prices are so cheap that sometimes, it is just shocking and will make you wonder how they manage to sell things so cheap. Used to be far away from my old place but very close to my new one so I will visit them more often now that I am back in the hobby.

Wai's has always been my go to place for supplies equipment and livestock.
Daniel has been in business a very long time for a reason - he has a business model that can weather both the good and bad times. Prices can be expensive, but that's what it takes to stay in business. If not Wai's, do you really want to buy from someone that is here today, gone tomorrow?

I went to Big Al's a couple of weeks ago and they had very little sw livestock but a LOT of artificial salt available. People probably are a little burned from last year's salt "special sale" debacle.

I've never been to Concepts new place, can't offer a opinion.

Pisces is a great overall pet store. I get all my fw and pond supplies there.

Golds I've been to once, but they had a very limited sw offering.

Riverfront needs to be shut down.

I haven't been to any of the others mentioned.

Online stores for Calgarians are available, but it costs me $50 in fuel to drive to the airport for livestock, so that is a deterrent.
BRS is very expensive when you include shipping to the local post office (in my case)
.

Also, no one in Calgary has been able to offer the high quality of corals that Wai's has.
I've seen great pictures from some online vendors, and have read some favourable reviews, but have not ordered to see for myself.:wink:

Thanks for all the input guys! I'll for sure have to check out all these places when I'm ready for livestock! There's several listed that I didn't even know existed.

Pisces,Big Al's,Golds have all been open for a long time, I don't think that should be the main criteria for doing business there. Wai's was selling a 3" maxima for $300, cross the street go to Ocean Creations got a 5" with nicer pattern for $180. Regal tangs for $80 At Wai's, Golds $30. And even alot of wai's dry goods and equipment are over priced. Daniel can be very picky who he likes and who he doesn't like, it seems to me it's based on who's gonna spend the most money

You may not be aware of the Big Al's franchise history in Calgary then.:wink:

Reef stores are not cheap to operate.
Like I said, Daniel has a good business model. If you are looking for inexpensive coral frags for example, it would be best to buy from other hobbyists. (there's nothing wrong with that, btw, I support other hobbyists when I can)

Highly agree with somafish. Been into Wai's countless times, bought a few things here and there, and never once had a warm reception. On the other hand, you cross the street to Ocean creations and you greeted with a big smile and great service. Oceans may not have the coral selection that Wai's has but I would prefer to spend my money in a shop that treats me as a valued customer and not just a walking wad of cash!

Businesses can charge what the market will bear for their products.

If a new business wants to compete, it has to be able to provide a more attractive alternative, be it price or product.
So far, I have not seen anyone do that in the Calgary market. Wai's is the one to beat.

I could buy more volume if I went somewhere else, but I would hate to see Calgary lose the high quality products that Wai's offers.
I don't argue with the price, so I'm an easy customer to deal with, versus someone that complains about the price and tries to buy items for less.
Less profit = harder to do business = possibly going out of business entirely.

When I was in business, startups wold come into my market and offer cheap similar products at low prices. It hurt my sales. I know what it is like. Less than a year later, the startup was gone and out of business, because they weren't making enough money. Meanwhile, my sales suffered, I had to let people go, reduce my inventories and it took a while to build back up again. Soon another startup would try again and the cycle continued.

I wish good luck to all businesses, but I'm not a fan of shopping for cheap prices alone.

Does big als have a large selection on AGA aquariums?

I have never liked wais I have been out of the scene for a while just got Back in Aug 2015. I prefer friendlier places Dennis at golds and the guys at concepts since being back in the hobby I have avoided wais had bad experience there 10+ years ago

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I think only Pisces carries AGA stuff. They have a little side room with soils,tanks, and co2 stuff

Wai's has great corals (best in the city probably) and decent fish (sometimes). That doesn't mean everyone else who sells the same thing for less has inferior livestock.

Golds selling a tang for $30 dollars less then Wai's, doesn't mean it was from some crooked vendor. Heck i bet you the tangs came in on the same plane. Golds just knows if they sell cheaper we all keep coming back(which I do!)Plus, I know they quarantine all their new arrivals judging by Wai's tanks sometimes i think not.

If anything it kinda shows Wai's is price gouging a little for the same exact items. I've never seen a fish/coral/chemical etc. At Wai's that's price was just unbeatable. Not trying to start a fight but going back to the OP, if I was just starting out I would rather pay $15 for a clownfish rather then $30. Especially when they are the same thing.......... PS I do most my shopping at Petland

+1..he is a super guy,i buy most of my fish from him never had one sick..

Need to update the list, reef wonderland has shut down. He is only doing tank maintenance now.

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Thanks for the heads up, I will do that now!!!

No problem! I didn't even know until I showed up the other day.

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Reef Wonderland has closed, apparently though Riverfront will be reopening. I will search for more info & post again!

Riverfront reopening? what? I thought Wayne (Riverfront's owner) now works at Concepts as store manager. Concepts has also converted half of their store unit to fresh water fish. Also has some lizards.

That might be the case I had just heard he was looking for a new location.

That's interesting, I haven't seen any lizards or freshwater there yet and j was in last week. No idea why they would want to add fresh and reptiles. Their niche market was perfect.

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The small rooms end of store front has lizards or frogs. Not sure. I wasnt really into reptiles. Half of the glass work area (back room) also has numerous tanks for freshwater stuffs.

I just did the Calgary tour for the first time in years and I must say a lot has changed.

Started off at Golds. Lots of cool fish but nothing I was looking for. Was probably just an off week. However there was a good diversity of fish. Haven't been in the store in years yet the guys still recognised me and asked where I had been. Tough to beat that.

Next stop was Big Al's. Lots has changed in there. When did they add dog and Cat!?! Selection was low but there was some clowns there I really wanted. My wife was with me and she veto'd that decision. I should have bought them as they were 1/2 the price from anywhere else in town.

Onto Pisces where the service was great. I am assuming I had the guy in charge there. He was nice enough to walk me through some of the acronyms I have never heard of on the fish labels and we talked about which transhippers were bringing in the best fish and from where. I also seen my first Lightning Maroon in person and I gawked over the large Blue Carpet they had while he bagged up my small clean up crew. Prices are a little high but I will be back again.

After a tour at Balzac Mall it was onto Wai's, this place used to be a little run down and over priced but I was surprised how nice it looked with the new (to me) tanks and lighting. Fish looked great and I drooled over the red saddle Anthias. They were on the top of my want list before I got out, if I upgrade I'll get a few for sure. Lots of cool stuff but I walked out with only a fish. The only thing I could complain about was the price of the discs of zoas. I know it's a little pricey there but all the fish and coral looked great.

The guys down at Ocean Creation recognised me as soon as I walked in. Again that's a good feeling after not stepping foot in there for years. They let the cat out of the bag though when the Mrs asked why they remembered me, his response "Him and his friend always spent lots of money here when they came in". So she finally caught onto my lieing about prices. Their stock was low but again probably caught them on a bad week. Some cool adult clowns but I walked out empty handed.

Back to the east side I stopped at Concept hoping to get some dry rock and frags. I wasn't at all impressed by this store. Dirty tanks, dead fish, bad smell, and expensive!! Not the Concept I knew when they were over by Big Al's. I doubt I will be back again. The Rhomboid Wrasse was the highlight of the store otherwise there is much left to be improved upon.

Reef Wonderland was closed down. Glad it was a short drive but the store was empty. Not sure when this happened. However I was still feeling I didn't get enough fish so a quick search on Google Maps and I plotted a course that just so happened to take me by Wai's again. Dennis set me up with 2 more fish for a good price and I walked out smiling. I will say it was awesome to catch up with the guys at Golds and Ocean Creation but for this trip Wai's was the number one stop.

What clowns were they at big Al's?

I can't remember what they were called. Varied from a platinum look to extreme snow with the bullet holes. I regret not getting a pair of those and a pair of True Perculas from Wai's.

Big Als seems to be empty each time someone goes in. reef wonderland closed its store doors a couple weeks ago, they are only doing tank maintenance now. Concept Aquariums has recently partnered up with the owner of Riverfront....

What do you mean they partnered up?

I think Concept took all their freshwater fish. They have a bigger freshwater area now

Owner of Riverfront is now working at Concept Aquariums. Huge room of Fw & I saw some reptile type setups too. I went in on Sat looking for a Marble Angelfish but didn't find the colouration I love.

:hat:I have been to Concept and have seen some issues with the tanks but they were in transition of changing them over - they are very busy with builds and I think the store has suffered a bit from that but now that Wayne is there also I'm sure that will help things out. I hope they can get the tanks up to pristine status in order to reflect the quality of builds that they do. I would give them another look as things have improved greatly.

As far as Wai's, I have always felt as if I was bothering him when I went into the store even though I have never tried to discount my purchases and I had purchased a lot from him over the years. Would be nice if he didn't smoke at the desk and in the store all the time especially when I bring my son in. Has been a long time since I have been in there maybe he has quit. Being fairly knowledgeable on species interaction I have often ask him about how one fish gets along with another and he always, always says they will be fine together as he doesn't actually care about your tank as long as he gets the sale. I have asked about the species knowing all well that they would not get along or cause issues for corals etc but again "yeah they'll be fine".... I have had some issues with some purchases from there in the past too, good luck in getting any kind of a refund or trade (without a massive battle). After that I was shunned basically every time I went in the store so I just stopped going, never felt welcome. Some stuff was amazing in there too bad you can't find an all round store. Very pricey, zero customer service, doesn't quarantine anything and will sell you a fish that got there that day or the day before.

I may go back again just to see if anything has changed - will give an update. It would help him greatly to get someone in there with a true passion and customer service/just happy to see you.

I'd suggest Wai's is worth a revisit. I've been there a few times in the past 8 months (with kids in tow). Never once saw him smoking nor smelled it. I do catch him eating now and then, side effect of being only employee in the store. :)

He has redone the store and cleaned it up a lot this year. Feels much nicer to go into.

As far as customer service. He always seems happy enough to me.

So you just signed up to Canreef within the last 18 days and haven't been into Wai's in years and feel that it's appropriate to give a review on it. I've been in the hobby 3 years now and haven't seen Danny smoke at the desk it's a great store and Danny is a great guy. He does have a passion for it but you would be a little tired of being there after 30+ years.