hi folks,
here i am AGAIN!!! the only fish enthusiaste in the west of scotland

the aquarium shop
next to terry's tattoo's
trongate
glasgow


staff - 8
variety - 7/8
quality - 8


the shop is small old and very dark, but it is fairly well stocked and has some nice syno's etc, tank are old and could do with re newing but they seem healthy enough because out of all there tank of which there must eb 100, i only saw maybe 2-3 dead fish prices were usual scottish prices though his syno prices werent bad

syno multipuncactus 2"-4" £12.50
syno angelicus 6" £25
syno decorus 2" - 4" £12.50

they also had albino pangusuis cats at around 6" but with no price

6" of syno. angelicus for £25 is not a bad price at all considering it is in scotland I have one that is over 7" long and i love it to bits, doesnt attack any of the other fish in my "catfish only" 57G tank.

Ben

Perry's Aquatics. Dunholme nr Lincoln 01673 860727

Variety 8
Quality 10
Knowledge of Staff 10

Quite a small place but very knowledgeable family run business. No dead fish seen when I visited. If they haven't got it then they can often get it for you.
Good variety of the usual fish.


Whisby Garden Centre, Lincoln

Variety - 6
Quality - 1
Knowledge of Staff -1

I have never bought fish from here. There have been LOTS of dead fish floating in the tanks whenever I've been here. The 1 member of staff I spoke to knew nothing about fish and did not offer to ask any other staff to assist me. Won't be going back.

bunjiweb,
thats my next progrect hopefull, a nice tank of catfish only, i love them, when i firts started out in the aquarium world, i had a good few special catfish, like a whale cat, angelicus, albino pangusius, you know how i lost the lot???

a stray cat got in throughan open window and clocked the heat of the tank, sat on top of it, and pissed over the lid, it seeped in to the water and contaminated it all, lost the lot!!, packed it ibn after that as the fish in that tank were a bit special to me, in pissed me off so took a few years out before trying again recently

scott

Thats a real shame Scotts, sounds like you had some great fish in that tank. Whale cats are verynice, adn we all love the angelicus species!

Damn cats.... at least you cant be allergic to fish!.....or can you?
Ben

Fins and Things - http://www.finsandthings.co.uk

Bovey Tracey, Devon

Variety = 9
Quality = 9
Knowledge = 10

Only found out about this place recently from a guy on here, even though I only live a few miles away!

Anyway, they've only recently moved to the new premises, and specialise in Marine set-ups etc (over 8000G's of display tanks). But since moving to the new premises, they have branched into Tropical as well, with over 12,000G's of display tanks.

The owners that I chatted to for some time about Plecs etc, both seem very friendly and knowledgeable. They are set-up as wholesalers, and directly import fish from abroad.

They even had some L046 Zebra Plecs in stock, but @ £115 ea. they were a bit of of my budget !!!

This post has been edited by andyj: Jan 14 2005, 07:51 AM

Some I use....

Medway Aquatics
Gillingham, Kent.

Variety: 9....Lots of community Fish.
Quality: 8
Staff: 9

Swallows Aquatics
Gravesend.

Variety: 10
Quality: 9
Staff: 6.

Aquatech
Crayford

Variety: 8
Quality: 10
Staff: 10

Wyvale Garden Centre
Hempstead Valley

Variety: 7
Quality: 2
Staff: 1

The worst place I have ever seen!!!

This post has been edited by KentBlokey: Jan 14 2005, 09:15 AM

Maidenhead aquatics, Bracknell:
Variety - 9
Quality - 10
Staff - 9

Very good all round, some very interesting African Cichlids and a new Discus tank with some real beauts for sale.


Maidenhead Aquatics, Bourne End
Variety - 7
Quality - 10
Staff - 8

Small (ish) shop with a lot of your "Bread and butter fish" Staff are fine but can be a bit clicky.

Lads Garden Centre
Variety - 4/5
Quality - 3/4
Staff - 4

Not a very nice place at all, only 20 or so tanks that are in a pretty bad state, I dont think they have it running on one system.

Funky Fish in Sunbury on Thames (South West London)

Quality 8

Rare to see a dead fish in there. Never had any dead fish.

Variety 7

They had all the usual suspects but never saw anything out of the ordinary. They were branching out alittle when we were there last. Good choice of tanks and other bits tho.

Staff 9

All very very helpful and knew what they were talking about. Very impressed with the service. One young chap seemed to know more than everyone else put together.

Parkers in Iron Acton (North Bristol)

Quality 5-8

Strange this place as sometimes I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole then it's fine and everything is lovely. Often dead fish or fish that look like they are beyond help. Shame really. Maybe it's down to who's working?

Variety 7

Mostly tropical with some specials in there from time to time. Is a busy shop so don't wait around to buy the fish you want or you'll miss out like we did on three different bettas! Price is abit of an issue, some fish are dirt cheap and others are twice as most as the next place. A pictus is 9.99 in here. Loads of tanks and extras. Bog wood abit pricey.

Staff 8

All very helpful. One chap who I think works the weekends is really good. Gave us a few free fish (I know this doesn't make him great but it helps) and always does us a good deal. The manager is a good chap too.

Almondsbury Garden Centre (might have another name not to sure! Oh and it's in Almondsbury near Bristol)

Quality 8

not bad at all. Don't often see dead uns in here. Haven't had any problems with fish from here and they give you your money back if the fish snuffs it.

Variety 9

Loads and loads of fish all different too. Very impressive. not badly priced either. A pictus from here was 3.99 (less than half the price of the nearest). Loads and loads of tanks some very cheap.

Staff 6

Afraid it's the staff that let this place down abit. Unless you get the right person that is! Forget about going at the weekend as the youffffs just ignore you. There are a few people in there that are good but as you'd expect they are always busy as people have learned that they are the ones to use. Shame really.

Maidenhead Aquatics@ Wenvoe (Cardiff)

Variety 9

Great cichlid section and some nice L numbers too. Still too many tanks full of guppies and mollies in relation to the total number of tanks though. They have a number of P. Leopoldi which impressed me.

Quality 9

Some of their Discus have actually spawned in the sale tanks. That speaks for itself!

Staff 10

I've only spoken to one member of staff there and he was a bit stumped by my questions yet immediately aknowledged the fact and grabbed a few books of the shelf to assist. He even offered a discount as the prices were, in his words, 'Prohibitive to selling'. Too right!

A great shop overall, let down slightly by the usual Maidenhead Aquatics pricing policy.

Wyevale A28 Chartham near Canterbury Kent
9/10 for all 3 ratings

Good range of tropical and marine fish plus plants.
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Bybrook Barn Garden Centre, Ashford Kent

9/10 for all ratings

As above plus more unusual species (topaz puffers, DP's and others)
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Shotgate Nursery off the A127 between turnoffs for Wickford and Billaricay Essex

This one has the WOW factor for me. Large display tanks with large rays etc.
Definately worth an hour and a half's drive for me!!!
Staff friendly and helpful
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I agree that the goldfish bowl in magdalen rd oxford is excellent, good variety of fish that always look healthy and the staff are helpfull and informative, have purchased all my fish and plants from them.

I had a bad experience with buying fish from yarnton nurseries they all died(6 guppies) before I got them home and they told me my car was too hot!

We went to Shotgate Nursery the weekend before last and was very impressed. Spent almost 2 hours in there talking to a very helpful member of staff.
Hopefully going back there this weekend.
10/10 from me

Another good shop in the Leicester area is Friends In Soggy Homes in Birstall

Variety - 9 they cater for coldwater, tropical and marine
Quality - 9 really well kept tanks
Staff - 9 very knowledgeable and helpful, although they can get very busy at times.

Jamies Friendly Pets In Amherst Nova Scotia

Variety: 9 only freshwater, but every fish you would ever need
Quality: 6 tanks are cleaned every 2 days
Staff: 7 she is very helpful (p.s. there is only one staff!)

This post has been edited by redtailblackshark: Feb 5 2005, 07:53 PM

Yhis Fish Store Is Great
Fish Alive-DURHAM

variaty-8

qualility-8

staff-10

Frosts @ Millets farm
Nr. Abingdon Oxford

Quality - 7
Variety - 6 (mostly bread n butter fish)
Staff - 8

Me and the missus both work here. The aquatics dept had a good write up in Practical Fishkeeping this month.


Goldfish Bowl
Oxford

Quality - 9
Variety - 9
Staff - 7 (Bloke that served us was a grumpy chappy although knowledgeable)


World of Water
Bicester, Oxford

Quality - 4
Variety - 6
Staff - 4

On one visit we observed dead fish in tanks, white spot, wrongly identified fish and dirty tanks. Its not always that bad but its never great.

Views from Suffolk

Seapets
Martlesham Heath
Nr. Ipswich
01473610969

variety 8
quality 7
staff (males) 7 (females) 3


Pets At Home
Ranlalagh Road
Ipswich
01473340120

variety 6
quality 6
staff 4

store seems to be run by youngsters with no experience

Viking Aquatics
St. Margarets Street
Ipswich
01473212234

variety 8
quality 8
staff 9

very helpful/knowledgeable

Swallow Aquatics
London Road
Stanway
Colchester
01206210360

variety 9
quality 9
staff 9

a very impressive store, clean tanks & good staff.