WARNING

[betta_CT]

omg i went to the goldfish bowl in oxford on saturday as in pfk they said its worth a look.
i got there and i hated it the tanks are very over stocked dead fish floating about and being eaten by other fish.
and when it came to the bettas i just wanted to cry, they were in goldfish bowls the water was green with poop all over the bottom and stuff floating around the bowls i saw 5 DEAD bettas and loads of fish with fungus missing fins it was hurrid and the staff were very unhelpfull on the verge of ignorance. i had email the owner and he said come in and they would take me out back to see the ct females i wanted but i was told i buy whats in the bowls.
so if anyone wants to go ild say dont it would only end in tears.

 

[technium]

That does suprise me, the goldfish Bowl in Oxford used to be excellent, a little pricey but worth paying the bit extra.

I no longer live in Oxfordshire so cant comment but they were going downhill just before I left as they told me I could have a Parono Catfish in a 40g tank for life!!!!

 

[betta_CT]

tut shows how much they know, i mean if PFK mag said they was good and worth a look they should be great but to me they was crap

 

[B75]

Shame on them , If I had a shop which pfk mag recommended then I would make damn sure I kept its reputaion. Maybe PFK mag can go back in and put another article in the mag telling people of the decline, that would make the Gold Fish Bowl pull thier fingers out.

 

[BettaMomma]

Man, I have yet to go into a store and see a DEAD betta floating in a cup.

I will go BALLISTIC when I see that.
Last night was close enough for me - I saw one whose belly was so huge it was starting to split on the bottom. I lamented over that thing all night - made arrangements to go back and get him today but he was gone.

I pity the poor fool who is closest to me when I discover my first dead betta in a pet store. They'll never forget I was there that day.

 

[Bettaman]

The Top 40 UK aquatic stores
Looking for a good specialist store, or a friendly, reliable local dealer in your area? Here are the Top 40 UK aquatic stores as voted for entirely by the readers of Practical Fishkeeping magazine in our 2004 readers' poll.


A1 Aquatics, Aberdeen
Ace Pets and Aquatics, Ashford
Aqua Blue Zaire, County Durham
Aquatic Habitat, Gloucester
Calico, Penrith
Coral Reef Aquarium, Lanarkshire
Creamston Aquatics, Haverfordwest
Dartford Aquatics, Kent
Fareham Aquatics, Portchester
Fish Alive, Durham
Fit Filtration, Derbyshire
Furness Aquatics, Barrow-in-Furness
Grosvenor Tropicals, Belfast
Hertfordshire Fisheries, St Albans
Interfish, Osset
M&R Dogfish, Glasgow
Maidenhead Aquatics @ Enfield, Middlesex
Maidenhead Aquatics @ Harlestone Heath, Northants
Maidenhead Aquatics @ Hereford
Maidenhead Aquatics @ Swansea
Maidenhead Aquatics @ Wimborne, Dorset
North Lakes Aquatics, Penrith
Porton Aquatic and Pet Centre, Salisbury
Prestwood Pet Zone, West Midlands
Riverside Aquaria, Stirling
Seaworld Aquatics, Rhyl
Shirley Aquatics, Birmingham
Shotgate Aquatics, Billericay
Something Fishy, Newton Abbot
STM, Kent
Swallow Aquatics, Rayleigh
Swallow Aquatics, East Harling, Thetford
The Aqua Store, Yeovil
The Goldfish Bowl, Oxford
The Water Zoo, Peterborough
Tri-Mar, Cornwall
Ultimate Aquatics, Fife
Wharf Aquatics, Pinxton
Wholesale Tropicals, London
Wildwoods, Enfield

How we produce the Top 40
The shops listed here were voted for entirely by the readers of Practical Fishkeeping in the 2004 poll.

In previous years, we've used the number votes received for each shop to place them in the Top 40. Many shops felt that this didn't allow smaller or more specialist retailers, with smaller client bases, to compete with larger superstores, so we changed the voting system back in 2002.

Votes are now recorded both quantitatively and qualitatively with readers rating the performance of their shops in several key areas, including range of stock and quality of service. As a result, some of the shops here may not be enormous, or stock vast ranges of rare and unusual fish (though many do), but you should expect to get good fish, and good service, at any of them.

If your shop isn't listed here, please show your support next year by voting for them in the 2005 readers' poll!

SO THEY WERE RECOMMENDED BY CUSTOMERS NOT PFK

 

[Gimli]

That horrible. The least they could do is pick out the dead fish

 

[betta_CT]

yes they should have taken out the dead fish some had been in there for a long time as some of the bettas that were dead floating at the top were coverd in like white fluffy stuff and only had very faint colours of what they once looked like

 

[hozb]

Another ok store is Chiltern Aquatics in Harlington Bedfordshire, ive had great advice and crap advice so make sure u know what u want but the quality of the fish is amazing and they stock a lot of fish other stores dont... not bettas very often though!

 

[ferrikins]

Funny you should say that, we visited Fareham Aquatics. How on earth they are high on that list I don't know, was dirty, in genral, hardly had any decore or food ect, and there stock was apserlutly terrible. Not much of it and what they did have looked sicked and helf dead.


We gone to every LFS with in about an hour of Salisbury, and that was the worst shop I ever been in. I know many shops round here, that are WAY better, and should be higher on the list.

 

[betta_CT]

tut fish shop should be inspected every week or 2
the BEST fish store ive been to is wyevale garden center ive never seen a dead,dieing or sick fish the tanks are never over stocked they get fed while your are there so u know they are healthy. the best shop ever you all must go to one or the one i know its in northampton heres the web site

http/www.wyevale.co.uk/