Scottish Fish Store Directory

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14gtr14

Fishaholic
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I was searching through the 13 pages of the Uk directory and was getting pretty bored spending all that time looking through mainly english stores. So i thought i'd set up a new one just for scottish stores. I will start again as some of the reviews in the UK Directory are a couple of years old now.

I'll set it out the same:

NAME
VARIETY OF STOCK (out of 10) + COMMENTS
QUALITY OF STOCK (out of 10) + COMMENTS
SERVICE PROVIDED (out of 10) + COMMENTS

ANY OTHER COMMENTS

Feel free to comment on a shop that has already been commented on, after a while I'll update the first post with average scores for each shop and a general feel for comments on each shop too.


:good: greg :good:
 
I'll start us of:

Pets At Home- Livingston
5 - the usual comon community stock
2.5 - i have been in twice- 1st time all tanks were healthy and everything looked good, second, almost everything was dead or dying!
9 - Very good selection of different price groups
9 - Can't fault the plants quality- after all this store is stocked by Tropica surprisingly
5 - The lady who served me could talk for Britain, but she wasn't too knowledgeable!

For plants this store is really good, but for fish I wouldn't touch it! Hardware is pretty good too. FRESHWATER ONLY

Riverside Aquatics, Uphall, West lothian

6 - I went to this store with high hopes, but it was overpriced relatively common stock aprt from some boesmani rainbows and a freshwater crayfish
5 - a few tanks had dead or diseased fish in them + their filter system is for the whole shop, so all the tanks would have been contaminated
5- small selection
7- plants were not bad quality, a few past their best
5 - said hi on the way in, butnothing else

was pretty dissappointing, especially for West Lothian's only true aquatic centre. FRESHWATER ONLY

The Aquatic Rooms, Leith Walk, Edinburgh

9 - very wide variety of stock, marines, small selection of small cichlids, larger selection of larger cichlids, many community fish, some oddballs, and a good selection of plecs, also some weirds and wonderful turtles in another section.
7- almost all tanks were perfectly healthy, but the occasional ill looking fish
6.5- plants vary- sometimes they've none other times they've alot
7- all the plants seem relatively healthy
8- the guys know what they're talking about, but when it's busy the service is pretty rushed

great fish shop, *INFO EDITED tanks are all individually filtered INFO EDITED*

MARINES + FRESHWATER

R.D. Rintouls Pet Shop - Bathgate, West lothian

7- stocks common communtiy fish + a few discus and occasionally the odd oddball + a few marines + corals, overall a small section though
4-6 - It depends to be honest, marines always look healthy, but the freshwater tanks vary alot, sometimes there are a couple of bad tanks with dead fish and othjer times the same tanks look pretty decent
3- sometimes have plants in, only one or two species at a time though
5- ok, but someitmes sell non-aqautic plants
7- everyone is friendly, but knowledge varies alot

not bad for a pet shop tbh


---------------------------------------------

info edited: I recieved a PM from Phil, owner of Aquatic Rooms and he has told me all tanks are individually filtered: "Only one thing, In the Aquatic Rooms the only tanks that are on a centralised system are marines. Every freshwater cold or tropical are individually filtered." Sorry for wrong info. This was due to false information given to me from a competing store! [/color=#000066]
 
The Aquatic Center(a.k.a Aquacadabra2) - 15/17 Comely Green Place, Edinburgh

Variety 8-9 - All the usual community fish and some less common ones like different tetras and danios. They always have freshwater shrimp in too, the usual amano and sometimes the uncommon Cameroon armored shrimp. Update:I visited today on 01/12/06 and they had just got some stock of Microrasbora 'Galaxy'!
They seem to have lots of marines but i don't know what would count as a good selection of marine fish.
Cold water wise they have all the usual variety's of goldfish, in particular they always seem to have large fancy goldfish in addition to wcmm's and sometimes other coldwater fish. They also always have a good selection of amphibians, and they do spiders and reptiles but thats probably not relevant.

Quality of stock 9 - I've never had any health problems with their fish, and they always look healthy in the shop, they occasionally have an ill fish but naturally they don't sell ill fish and treat them.

Service 10 - Very happy to help with any problems when I've been there and knowledgeable too.

Plants 8 - Still not had a good long look, but they have a small 'room' dedicated to tanks with plants in them and all the plants are healthy too.
 
:hyper: EXCITING UPDATE :hyper:

I have been informed by "@@@@@" ( a member on this forum) that the owner of the Aquatic rooms on Leith Walk, Edinburgh has bought a warehouse in tranent and is in the process of creating the best aquatic centre in Scotland! It'll be completed In January-February!!

just thought I'd add this just now and update it in January-February!!

cheers @@@@@ for the info mate!

and thanks 3-fingers for getting another shop down
 
Ultimate Aquatics, Cupar

VARIETY OF STOCK (9/10)

Strictly a fish shop and they have a cold/fresh and marine water section. They specialise in freshwater and have loads of fish (a whole room of floor to ceiling tanks and thats just the freshwater) to choose from.

QUALITY OF STOCK (9/10)

They look after their little fishy friends. They have another warehouse where they quarantine their fish for two weeks before they go on sale in the shop.

SERVICE PROVIDED (9/10)

Yip.... they can catch fish.
 
This is largely a repost of the reviews I did a few weeks back on the other thread, but to keep them all together...

Troon Pets & Aquaria
3c, Church St,
Troon,
Ayrshire KA10 6AU
Tel: 01292 318417

Small shop with about 16 tanks split 50/50 cold / tropical. Mostly common fish in stock - Danios, Neons, Guppies, Mollies, Platies occasional Bettas etc. The tanks are clean if somewhat heavily stocked, but fatalities are rare from what I have seen. The owner is fairly knowledgable and I've seen him suggest alternatives to inappropriate fish when people ask. The other two staff don't have much fish related knowledge in my experience.

Variety - 4 (Freshwater only)
Quality - 6
Staff - 5
Plants - 2 Sometimes has a few leaded bunches in a tiny tank.


Acorn Pet Centres Ltd
50, Newmarket St,
Ayr,
Ayrshire KA7 1LR
Tel: 01292 611056

Pretty cramped shop, 'tho once you reach the tank area it's not too bad. The tanks are clean and well lit for the most part, saw a few dead fish unfortunately and even when pointed out the staff seemed unconcerned. Asked one of the staff to identify a fish for me and she was unable to do so (Still don't know what it was, lol)

Variety - 5 (Freshwater only)
Quality - 5
Staff - 3
Plants - 0 Never seen any plants in this one.

Pet Shop (Kilmarnock) Ltd
53, The Foregate,
Kilmarnock,
Ayrshire KA1 1LU
Tel: 01563 522750

This shop has a great reputation from bygone years for fish, however it seems to have drastically reduced the amount of the shop given over to fish now, only maybe 10 small tanks or so. Old faithfulls for choices - guppies, mollies, neons. There are a couple of tiny marine display tanks in the setup that are nice to look at. The tanks are all very clean and well lit, cramped shop conditions make it a bit awkward to see the fish if there is more than one person looking.

Variety - 3 (Freshwater only)
Quality - 5
Staff - ? I never actually managed to get hold of a staff member during my one visit, the place certainly seems to be busy.
Plants - 4 Mostly leaded bunches but they had about half a dozen different types at least.


Pets at Home Ltd
Unit 3,
Central Retail Park,
Allison Damside,
Ayr,
Ayrshire KA8 8HD
Tel: 0845 6414172

Yes it's a Pets@home. The tanks are clean enough and well lit. Occasionally see casualties in tanks tho they're always gone by the next time I drop in. They have a fairly nice selection of fish, nothing outstanding but those fish available seem pretty healthy in general. Prices are good for the most part too. The staff seem somewhat lacking tho, asking one to reccomend a tank for a betta and she immediately suggests a hex shaped tank with a mirrored back :/ Talking to a different guy in the shop today he told of the awesome marine tank he had in his livingroom, yet seemed to have no concept of cycling a tank when I explained why we weren't *buying* today.

Variety - 6 (Freshwater only)
Quality - 6
Staff - 3
Plants - 6.5 They have quite a few plants in little clay pots, and some Tropica plants. Don't think the plants get much care once they're dumped in the tanks tho.


Precious Pets - Ayr, Irvine, Saltcoats

Cheap prices for hardware, not all of them sell fish and the ones that do so are quite happy to throw bettas in with tiger barbs :crazy: Nearly every tank I looked at contained a casualty and the staff seemed more interested in reading the paper or painting their nails than answering questions.

Variety - 2 (Only a few tanks in even the ones with fish)(Freshwater only)
Quality - 3 (Half the fish seemed to have some kind of swim bladder problem... )
Staff - 1
Plants - 2 (want some cabomba ?)


Acorn Pet Centres Ltd
Unit 5,
Riverway Retail Park,
Riverway,
Irvine,
Ayrshire KA12 8AY
Tel: 01294 204250

Easy to get to, easy to park at. The tanks are well lit and I often see a staff member tending to them. The fish selection may not be outstanding but there are sometimes unusual species available. The only let down is the staff, I'm starting to think that is the norm in "chain stores".

Variety - 6 (They had some really nice Gouramis and Kribensis when I was in last week.) (Freshwater only)
Quality - 6 (The fish seem generally healthy, any casualties are rapidly dealt with, even had a staff member slap a "not for sale" sign on a tank when a fish appeared to have Ich.)
Staff - 4 (There is one girl who seems to know her stuff (maybe a 7 for her) but the rest of them drag the total way down...)
Plants - 4 (They seem to let their plant stock dwindle to nothing before taking a few weeks to get another batch in. No tropica in this one that I have seen, tho they did have some potted plants that looked "ok".)


Acorn Pet Centres Ltd
12-22, St. Andrews St,
Kilmarnock,
Ayrshire KA1 3EY
Tel: 01563 570876

This shop has an even bigger selection than the Irvine store. The place is easy to get to and park at. The tanks are perhaps slightly less well kept, certainly well lit. There seems to be one staff member who deals with the aquarium side of things, when she's on things are well maintained. If she's not in there are nearly always a casualty or 2 among the tanks that sit there all day.

Variety - 6 (Freshwater only)
Quality - 4 (Due to the sometimes lacklustre dealing with casualties)
Staff - 3 (6/7 if the knowledgable lass is on.)
Plants - There is a tank for plants, but it was empty when I visited.


Pets Aquarium & Fishing Tackle
124 Main Street,
Prestwick, KA9 1PB
01292 477863

I remember going to this shop 30 years ago when I was a kid and being fascinated with all the fish in the fish room. Today the fish room is still there, pretty much exactly as it was back then, only older. The fish selection is great, many oddballs and unusual examples are available - Huge Catfish ? Full grown Pirahna ? The tanks could be cleaner and better lit, but generally the fish seem healthy enough. The fish room just feels a bit dingy now as if it could use a lick of paint and some new lights :)

Variety - 9
Quality - 7 (Haven't bought any fish from him this time around, but I think I will sometime soon.)
Staff - 8 (The owner is very knowledgable in my experience, his dad started the shop and he's been involved with it for a long time.)
Plants - Never saw any.


Dobbies Garden World
Oldtoll
Holmston
Ayr
KA6 5JJ
Tel: 01292 294 750

This is in my opinion the best shop around here from a first impressions point of view. The area is spacious, the tanks are clean and well lit displaying some gorgeous fish that make you want to take them all home ! They sell cold/tropical and marine fish with a marine display that I could stand and watch for hours - those fish are so pretty ! The staff are semi knowledgable and one of them seems to be well above average, assessing which tank mates are suitable with what you have already. The less knowledgable staff will easily admit if they don't know something and go and get the answer for you if they can.

Variety - 9 (Freshwater and Marine with some oddballs too)
Quality - 8 (Like most places they sometimes have a problem with a batch of fish, but if there is a problem they won't sell them until it's resolved.)
Staff - 7 (There are a few that are fairly knowledgable)
Plants - 8 (They sell Tropica pots and bunches usually with a fairly good selection, tho that can be variable.)


Kilmarnock Aquatics
22, High Glencairn St,
Kilmarnock,
Ayrshire KA1 4AD
Tel: 01563 550252

Quite a small shop, very nicely laid out. Not a great deal of tanks, and probably half of them seem to be cichilids. Some nice specimens tho and seem to be in very good condition. The owner said he could try and order in specific fish if there was something specific I was after.

Variety - 5 (All fresh water, nearly all tropical. about 50% cichilids)
Quality - 9 (All the fish look to be in great health, never seen a dead fish in these tanks.)
Staff - 8 (Very friendly, Not really chatted to him much but he does seem to know his stuff.)
Plants - ? (Never saw any, but wasn't looking really)
 
I didn't think it would be worth mentioning shops like Acorn or Pets at home because they suck big style and I wouldn't recommend anyone to these shops.
 
There is also a riverside aquatics in Nairn, Highlands. Same guys that own the one in livingston. Its very good, wide range of fish , good advice, well maintained tanks. Only thing was though, he wouldn't mind what you bought I asked about certain fish and if they were compatible with tank sizes and over stocking etc.... he basically told me I could buy what I wanted as it was my tank. (fair enough but you would like them to say no if they didnot think it was right).

Variety: 6 (some odd balls, rams, cichlids, silver dollars, good range for up here in the Higlands)
Quality: 8 Clean tanks, didnot notice if they were all filtered by 1 system or not also some were a bit small for the amopunt of fish I reckon
Staff: 9
Plants: 9 very healthy plants but not a great deal of selection


Also a really good shop in Lossiemouth called D&I tropicals, excellent advice, well kept tanks and WILL give his opinion if he thinks what you are buying is the wrong thing. also does marine fish.

Variety: 6-7
Quality: 9
Staff: 9
Plants: Never bought plants from there
 
The Aquarium
Unit 5, Castlelaurie Works, Bankside, Falkirk. Telephone 01324 631110



VARIETY OF STOCK (7/10)

Cold and Tropical Fish , They hold the usual suspects , neon guppies ect, they always seem to have a not bad selection of oddballs , the also have a nice selection of catfish and starting to get more cichlids in.

QUALITY OF STOCK (10/10)

Never seen a dead or ill fish in there yet , they seem to quarantine there fish before they sell them , every fish iv had from them are still going strong, in fact out of all the shops iv bought fish from there stock has been the best so far..


SERVICE PROVIDED (9/10)

Great service , Johns usually the guy who deals in the fish room , he always has time for a good old natter lol

PLANTS (4/10)

They have a very small selection , never really had a look

DRY GOODS (7/10)

Not the biggest selection but they have everything you would need , they always have a good selection of tanks, they also do custom tanks
 
Any chance of getting this pinned? I feel it would help the newer guys in Scotland find the better shops, and identify the poorer shops. it'll also help the older guys here find "hidden gems" in Scotland ha! :p

cheers greg :good:
 
Defo agree about getting this pinned , if that's not possible it might be a good idea to have the fish store directory broken down into regions, when i first joined i gave up looking through the store directory as it was to much to sort through
 
Riverside Aquatics, Stirling
Stocks dyed fish relatively often.
VARIETY OF STOCK (7/10)
QUALITY OF STOCK 3/10. Dyed fish and parrot fish are often in stock; however others seem to be healthy etc.
SERVICE PROVIDED 8/10: they give decent advice and are freindly, but very much the salespeople
PLANTS 3/10: overcrowded into badly lit tank in shop, little variety, expensive
DRY GOODs 7/10: not bad, not great.

Dobbies Garden Centre, Stirling
- I know, I know, but truely they are really good!!!
Vareity: 9/10: some marine species, some coldwater, and a good mix of tropicals, incl african cichlids, occasional oddballs, amazonians, etc. It does depend on when you visit.

Quality: 7/10: they quarantine in the store, which isn't perfect, but I've never had any sort of problem, nor have I seen any diseased looking fish in there. What lowers the score is the discus, which look better now but used to be really poor.

Service: 8/10. They give good advice, are really helpful, and are willing to miss out on a sale rather than sell something unsuitable. This for livestock, plants and dry goods. They also seem to know there stuff. They do suffer from being in a garden centre as it can get mad busy at weekends with endless numbers of little children swarming about.

Plants: 9/10: typically they have a good variety of healthy looking specimins in stock, with substrate cables, co2, ferts, lighting, books, and advice on hand.

Dry goods: 8/10 good variety of foods, incl frozen, sell brine shrimp hatching stuff, good selection of test kits etc etc.
 

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