Pets At Home At Chatham Kent

[babybell911]

At the weekend I happened to be up in Chatham and I thought I'd check out the pets at home as I usually get some bargains there. When I got in there they had a change around and the fish were at the front instead of hidden in the back corner. And to my utter shock and amazement they were all fit healthy and stunning looking fish. First time this has happened to me in a pets at home.
Only one tank had any sick fish in and these had been quarantined and were under treatment and not for sale. I actually bought 7 leopard Danios from there and (touch wood) all 7 are still healthy and happy in my tank.
As I hear quite a lot of horror stories about the big chains I thought I'd share a good experience too!
I'll try and getsome pics of them if they ever stay still!

 

[Genie]

the one at cramlington (near newcastle) seems great for fish too. All bright colours, active etc. Staff dont seem to know a huge amount, apart from one. But for people who know a bit about fish anyways it seems a good place to go

 

[odannyboy]

the p.a.h in cambridge is diabolical! its so bad. saw some poor elefant noses in there on e dead and all the otheres crammed in a tiny tank thats right down low where all the little kiddies slap the glass! also doing a special "deal" of 3.99 for albino oscars! wont be a good deal in 12 months time when theve eaten all your other fish cos some nuptie put it in a community tank.common plecs also( they grow huge) its so sad.they should only be alowwed to sell small cheap average community fish to small cheap average ( ie poor) fish keepers. keep the exotic decent stuff at specialist stores which can only be found by those of us who read the fishkeeping mags and webpages.sorry to rant but its the fish i care about not chainstores staffed by school leavers on the minimum wages!

 

[babybell911]

We have one at aylesford which is also appaling and the chatham one used to be too. Which is why I was so amazed. It used to be you couldn.t look in a tank without seeing something dead or obviously ill.

 

[rfisher]

Hi,

The store at Southend recently underwent refurbishment with brand new tanks setup. The whole area was made brighter and looked really nice and modern. Unfortunately several of the tanks had a lot of dead fish in them. In fact in the tank that was supposed to house Albnio Corys, all you could see was one lonely one at the bottom of the tank not looking too happy, and then when you bend down to have a closer look, there were 8, Yes I said 8, dead corys that had been sucked up into the filter mesh and looked like they had been there for some time. Such a shame, the place is always busy whatever time of the week you go there. I have not bought anything from there except hardware on one occasion when I needed a new heater in a hurry. I did mention to one of the staff about the corys and was told that he would look at it as soon as he gets a chance.

However I just happend to be in the same area the next day and just thought I would have another look round whilst I was waiting for the wife, and all 8 dead cory's were still there. So I went and found another member of staff and they went and did it straight away and thanked me for pointing them out.

Richard

 

[promithius]

Ive been in mixed minds about the derby store. The fish do look generally healthy, and they do quarentine sick fish, but i have also seen the state of the tanks. I brought 2 adf's from there last week, and as soon as the girl put then net near the subtrate, all the muck and filth was stired up so that you could no longer see the back of the tank. it looked like it hadnt been cleaned in about 6 months

 

[jkrekord]

odannyboy, do you realize your comments can be took in very much the wrong way, i personally dont take offence (nor am i poor), but the comment that only small cheap fish shoul be sold their to small cheap average fishkeepers. Some people may not have the biggest bank balance in the world and have to settle for a "cheap" set up, it does'nt mean they are a bad fishkeeper. Some people prefer small cheap fish. I myslef only have female betta splendens and a krib, does that make me a small cheap fishkeep whos below average? Also im a school leaver and im looking for a job in fish retail...oops yet again that means i know nothing and am unsuitable for a job. I understand what your saying, but in future please could you make the effort of watching how you phrase things.

Personally i think Pets at Home are gradually improveing, the most local one to me in bolton, has gone from abysmal, to rather good the alst time i went.

 

[modaz]

the pets @home in christchurch in bournemouth has too had a makeover, it looks good, nice a clean and well presented but thier selection of fish is very poor and staff not to knowledgable on issues, the plants come in looking great but after a few days look crap!!!!! the one in poole is a no go area for me, cause if i go in there again im likely to get banned and that not for shoplifting the place is a dive and the fish and plant are a disgrace, the staff are from another planet and blame eachother when an issue is pointed out.

 

[Genie]

most pet shops around here (newcastle ish) are more for cats/dogs/reptiles, so their staff either dont have the knowledge or just dont seem to care. Wish there was somewhere better

 

[oddball_lover]

Must be something about the South East...

The Pets at Home in Crayford is outstanding!

 

[karlos100]

P.A.H in chatham gave my tank white spot. the new fish id bought had only been in a few hors and was flicking off everything it could find. so P.A.H got more money from me for treatment.Great.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Yup, certainly seems like there's some refurb going on. Lots of changing around at the Pompey one, mainly with the small furry areas, and I haven't seen any changes to the fish section yet. Slightly odd though, from what I saw last time they're going to start selling land hermits, and possibly stick insects or similar.

 

[shibby]

well i work at one in weston, and hence why im hear to learn so i can help out more, i must admit though we doo have knowlegdable people on fish, and we do a dfc every hour at least to try and stop experiance like that cory incedent.

i do hate it though wen u go into a shop and expect good advice, i want to be able to give it to help people out! and all p.a.h stores have had a reshape etc.

and oohfreshy ur right we are selling land hermits and stick insects .... so far none of sold where im at!!!

 

[alessasavoca]

the pets @home in christchurch in bournemouth has too had a makeover, it looks good, nice a clean and well presented but thier selection of fish is very poor and staff not to knowledgable on issues, the plants come in looking great but after a few days look crap!!!!! the one in poole is a no go area for me, cause if i go in there again im likely to get banned and that not for shoplifting the place is a dive and the fish and plant are a disgrace, the staff are from another planet and blame eachother when an issue is pointed out.

Where abouts is the one in christchurch?

 

[Orodreth]

The Pets at Home in Sittingbourne (South-east England) is actually a brand new one and all looks very nice. The fish seem healthy and the tanks look good. The only problems I have are that the staff aren't so great, I saw one who seemed good but I have only come across them once, all the rest seem to give different advice and contradict each other. Also, they don't have quite the variety of fish that some of my other LFS do.