# Good place to buy fish?



## PlantedNerd (Apr 6, 2013)

Hello, I thought this would be the place to ask if there were any good fish/pet stores that sell fish near York Region besides Big Al's and Petsmart. Was hoping to find a fish species that isn't terribly common. 

Thanks


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

petsmart is a no. for some reason i dont buy stock at pj's pets too. every time i go to the scarborough store i see ick in the tanks so its hard for me to grab fish even when there's a sale.

I like big als scarborough, its the corporate store and most of them seem more helpful. There are one or two guys that just dont care but most of the others care more for the fish than the sale. be careful too, some tanks do have ick, The chili rasboras tank there always has 10 or so fish that come down with ick. 

if looking for smaller fish i like aquainspiration has nice stock sometimes and the tank seems really clean. i think dragon king at steeles has nice stock and pretty clean too, they specialize in discus i think. i have gotten cardinal tetras from them and they seem quite healthy and i saw their new cardinal tetra stock recently still looks nice and healthy/ clean system. Also its not on sale but still pretty cheap 25 dollars for 20 cardinals, $50 for 50.


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## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

the Big Al's in North York has nice workers until you reach the fish room. The workers at the fish room seemed ticked off every time I asked a question.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

Kimchi24 said:


> the Big Al's in North York has nice workers until you reach the fish room. The workers at the fish room seemed ticked off every time I asked a question.


Believe it or not BA in North York considered the best one for fish stock from all other BAs. Fish room manager there is the best one and has 25+ years experience. Here is my personal statistics. Fish bought from other small LFS stores or from forum people 10% survived / 90 % dead. Fish bought from BA North York 85% Survived / 15% Dead


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

BA NY

Has some great staff and the fish room senior staff are great guys. I've known some of them for over 15 years and can't say one bad thing about them. 

Next time don't bother with one of the kids look and wait for one of the adults.


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

Jackson said:


> BA NY
> 
> Next time don't bother with one of the kids look and wait for one of the adults.


HAHAH AGREED. the NY BA fishroom managers are great (there's only one manager).....or rather the "adults" .

BA scarb has some more unique and rare stock from the other BAs i find though . i'd say always go local stores than chain if you're looking for a particular species that are harder to get. try "kowloon" (aquapets) on steeles and silver star bldv. most asian stores that are local carry some interesting stuff and are pretty cheap


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

+1 for BA Scarb. They've always been good any time I've been there, and for the most part, livestock I've gotten there has done well. There is also Kim's Nature, on the NE corner of Major Mac and Hwy 48. It is a year round pond and plant shop, which has now gone into shrimp and fish other than gold fish. What used to be Frank's Aquarium shop moved in there, I believe, when he closed his store.

Though you may not find too much in the way of exotic fish there, the fish I have purchased there have done well for me. So far, no issues with any of them. I've had kuhli loaches, a couple of species of danios + one or two others from there and none have died mysteriously or brought anything nasty with them. One danio they gave me for free, as it was missing a gill cover. This left it with a big red 'hole' in the side of it's head, which was not very attractive, so I'd said I would not buy that one, but when they offered it for free, I figured it could not hurt. It is still alive and quite healthy several months later. The injury, however it happened, had healed cleanly some time before I brought it home.

Shrimp I got there have been sort of half 'n half. Some did fine, others did not, but since I live in Mississauga, it is always a long trip home for them, and I often wonder if that has something to do with ongoing survival of some species. Plus I've had problems with my landlord doing mulltiple pest control treatments and the tank with those shrimp may have been exposed, which may be why I lost many of them. 

Kim's usually has decent plants, most times I've been in, they've had a good variety, as well as a large assortment of mosses. Prices vary.. they've had some nice sales in the past on mosses.


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