This is something that we are desperately missing in Ottawa. Although a tad expensive to get in, 21 bucks-ish per adult, 14 for a 4 year old..... I get it, the prices need to be on the higher side so they can make sure the animals are being well taken care of. We went on a very quiet Saturday, so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. Staff were so friendly. This place would be great for a rainy day, but it was hard to stay couped up indoors when it was such a nice day outside. We were able to leave and have lunch else where (there was no cafeteria that I noticed on site), and we were able to come back after and hang out a bit more. The kids were not too impressed with the fish, but they LOVED the water table activity center. I'd recommend a visit at least once. read more

See all

amazing experience! highly recommend for families! The staff is very knowledgeable and the animals are well taken care of. Otter and beaver education and training times are worth a visit. read more

Wonderful discovery centre for kids of all ages. Very interactive exhibits! A must visit.

It was a pretty decent aquarium and I really enjoyed it. Me and my family went there together and in my opinion, it was pretty large.

Way too expensive for what you get ($21 adult). It took us 45 minutes to visit everything. The only tank I would consider clean and had healthy fish was the long nose gar tank. The other tanks had cloudy water and the fish had very muted colours. The few bluegill, which should be very colourful, were hardly recognizable. The top sport fish of the river were not present here. There was no muskellunge, northern pike or walleye. We did not see any smallmouth bass, but a few lethargic largemouth bass were floating about. One fish that we thought was odd and plentiful wasn't on the identification plaques. Turns out to be white bass, what should be a rarer native. A plaque explaining that would have been nice. The eel tank had no eels as far as we could tell. It did have a carp that kept floating vertically, head down. That's not a "funny thing that a fish does", it's a sick fish. The herpetology section had one small tank with a garter snake in it, nothing else. The touch tank had green algae growing on everything except for the new starfish, mollusks and crab they had received that week. An exhibit about invasives would be very informative as well. There are many foreign invasive mollusk, fish and plants that people don't know how to identify. .....and the door to the castle library was locked. read more

I have to say that twice I have been here and neither time have I been able to stay long enough to suit me. The first time was only for a few hours while killing some time and we didn't even get to seeing the whole place.The second was when attending a workshop that time I got to meet the river otters. It is not inexpensive but museums aren't. Parking is also a little confusing so be sure you've got that part of your visit planned. Going back is definitely on the list just haven't had the full day I'd like to make the most of the trip as I don't live in Brockville. read more

I have recently moved to Brockville and everyone I talked to told me I had to go visit this place. On family they had half off admission, so I went with a family friend and their grandchildren. It was much smaller than I thought it would be, and seemed like they ran out of ideas halfway through the building. It's very good for kids with lots of hands on exhibits (touching sea animals, understanding river currents, hydroelectric damns) but in terms of actual information and things for adults.. there wasn't much. There was a hallway of tanks that were all empty and disassembled. Seemed like the exhibit wasn't finished. Overall, seems like a good place to take your family with kids, but it's a little sparse for what you have to pay to get in. read more

We bought a season pass because we're local. We stop by as often as possible. It's got so much more than meets the eye. There are hidden rooms, little nooks and crannies all over for kids to get into. Lots of hands-on engaging activities, live animals like otters and a beaver. There's a lookout where you can see out to the water (amazing view for hydroplane races etc.). There is a hidden room where you can spy through the eyes of a painting, an arch that you can knock over and rebuild, a little diving robot in a tank, lots of arts and crafts for little ones to draw, build etc. For older kids there's a ropes course, for younger kids there's sand and blocks. A hydroelectric dam and lots of cool parts to build with always gets the attention of our little one! There's also a decent sized theatre where you can watch the otters on camera or listen to fun facts about the river and area. Oh and of course fish everywhere! Great for little ones to watch and admire. People saying it's small must be used to big city science centres. It's a big enough place and you're never bumping into people. It's just the right size for our little city. You can very easily fit hundreds of people. read more

For anyone that knows Brockville, knows that the waterfront is beautiful but there was nothing to do. Blockhouse is good for ice cream, play structure and railway exhibit but that takes minutes to do. Downtown needed something.....now the Aquatarium. With all the hype, I was expecting something crazy. The place is smaller than I would have imagined but the kids had fun. there is hidden doors and a fun ship for them to play on. The ships on display from Doran Bay model ship museum were beautiful. Overall, an okay experience. Wouldn't play to do it again. read more

Took my 4 year old and 13 year old here. My little one loved it!!! Not a whole lot to do for my 13 year old, but if your looking for something to do with little kids. I would definitely go here. read more

The cafe on the main floor does not have a healthy or variety of foods that I or one would expect we were very disappointed in that fact and also the staff did not seem to be very knowledgeable, we were the only two customers in the cafe and it was a very long wait to get served, the product we did buy was a muffin cinnamon bun type thing she warmed it and it was stone hard and dry. Not a good place to grab a snack. I won't go back. read more

I visited today with my 11-year old son. He enjoyed it but is on the verge of being too old for it. Most of the hands on activities seemed to be geared to younger kids. We paid extra for the buffet lunch which was very disappointing. There weren't enough tables, the hamburgers were cold and the sandwiches were stale. Save yourself money on the buffet and eat lunch somewhere else. read more

So my mother and I were in Brockville this weekend and decided to get out of the rain and visit the Aquatarium in downtown Brockville. It cost $39.50 for the two of us to enter. The elevator was not working but since I have a slight mobility issue the staff let us use the special elevator as stairs to the third floor would be too much for us. On the third floor there was a nice habitat tank with 2 otters. And there were a few tanks with bass, walleye and other freshwater fish but these were small. The sturgeon was impressive but not especially large. In all, there were many things to keep children occupied for about an hour in total, but not too much for adults. I would say take the $40 and buy some rods and tackle and walk over to the waters edge and spend some quality time actually catching the fish. read more

We were told that the Aquarium was small but chose to go regardless. The film apparently made in four sections was very informative and well made. It was of special interest as my gentleman friend and myself had just completed a boat tour of the 1,000 Islands. Seeing an otto swimming like an aerobic champion was astonishing. I planned to return the following day but unfortunately didn't but hope to some day in the future. read more

Seems like this publicly funded facility has no clue on marketing! The staff are out to only benefit their friends and family! It is a raggedly run facility! read more