your local fish store(s)

[totalbeginner]

i have two fish stores locally, the differences between them are like night and day, the one i use (pets at home, dundee branch) has a limited stock but the tanks are always crystal clear, i am on holiday from work this week so i have been in a few mornings and leaned the they do daily water tests and i have never seen a dead fish. The store i don't use (house of pisces, strathmartine road, dundee) is a local business with a massive range of stock, but, there tanks are disgusting ( i am keeping this to total fact only, seen it with own eyes) lots of them have green algae on the glass(i'm not just on about a tinge, actual growths), there were a few floaters in some tanks too, plus i saw 6 4" angelfish in a tank approx 3-4gal, not nice staff are good in both though. house of pisces has a great range of tanks, all brand new,

What are your LFS like?? good/bad/ugly?

 

[minx]

Pets at Home is my nearest, however I don't use them for fish, just filter spares & food. They have way too many dead fish in the tanks for my liking & the fish never seem that lively.

I get my fish from a little place outside Sheffield. It's a place called Mastin Moor, the kind of village which is a couple of houses round a crossroads. Can't even remember what the shop's called but they have a great choice of fish and a huge dog that looks like Hagrid's dog in Harry Potter!!

 

[totalbeginner]

my pets at home has a "pets at home fish store of the year" for some year not too long ago. one of the attendants there takes it WAY too seriously, not too long ago he tried to get me to buy £70 worth of tank to quarantine a £4 siamese fighter for a wee bit of white spot (but i would be treating the main tank too of course), he is better now by the way, no quarantine. he's not a scam artist, he just loves the fish ( i feel sorry for the fish!! ).

 

[Grant R]

I use a local shop in my town, 'Maidenhead Aquatics'. They have shops up & down the country and it just so happens that the largest one is in my town. I'm always quite impressed with the staff knowledge and variety / condition of fish.

http://www.FishKeeper.co.uk is their website.

 

[Somethingfishy]

I frequent and purchase most of my stuff from the local LFS, Pets Fayre, in Tunbridge Wells. I also sometimes go to Darford and Darford Aquatics, Grant they have 4 - 5" Clowns if you are interested.

I do also on the odd occasion purchase some of the stuff on-line from www.aquatics-online.co.uk.

 

[totalbeginner]

How do you find the advice at these places my LFS's advice varies between them, but both seem to contradict most articles on the 'net ( one guy told me to cycle a tank with neons, i was told by EMS503 that danio's are more suited, did a bit of research and found this to be true. )

There should be some sort of code of practice for all livestock retailers.

 

[Somethingfishy]

You would think they would have something like that, but most are just init for a quick buck. My LFS knows his stuff and most of the advice he gives is close to accurate, only a couple of times have I proved his info wrong, one of those times being the identification of one of the fish I bought.

But other than that pretty good.

 

[Grant R]

Mine is pretty good, I think you get conflicting advice wherever you go though and it will always be the same. Just one of those things unfortunately. A lot of the advice on here will always differ as people in America may often do things differently to those here in the UK.

 

[Vicshaw]

The shop in Boston is called'Boston Aquatics Centre' Its a small little place, nice though and they sell many different types of fish-a good selection to chose from!

 

[Somethingfishy]

Hey Vicshaw,

Where abouts is Boston?

 

[catfish1102]

My LFS is excellent. Its Kesgrave Tropicals in Suffolk. Friendly knowledgable staff, loads of fish and foods and plants. They'll advise you over the phone and email too. They took back my barbs when they started beating up my angels and let me swap them for phantom tetras. Couldn't ask for more really.

 

[Somethingfishy]

Hey cat,

Firstly welcome and not being from the Uk you have to excuse the ignorance, but Suffolk is the East of England is it not? Sort of close to the continent?

If so have you ever been to Dartford and Dartford Aquatics? Very cool and a good selection of fish, they have beautiful Angels if that is what you like?

 

[catfish1102]

Hiya,
Yes Suffolk is in east England, but not near Dartford, I reckon from where I live Dartford must be about 100 miles. Have you heard of Ipswich? - I'm near there.

I have got a couple of koi angels. Very pretty, mainly white with black, yellow and pink markings. They've got silvery patches on their bodies as well, which the LFS told me is a sign of maturity. They are a pair, and have produced a few batches of eggs, but between the angels and my other fish the eggs get eaten up pretty quick.

 

[Somethingfishy]

Cool I had Angels when I first started and mine also had a couple of batches of eggs, but they never looked after them so I lost them all.

 

[Vicshaw]

Somefish sorry about the late reply. I only just realised you answered my post, but Boston is in Lncolnshire in the east midlands. People often get it mistaken with Boston in America!

 

[KittyKat]

Oxford area:

- Tesco garden centre (i'm not joking!), Abingdon: cheap, relatively clean, but would not buy fish there. Staff don't know much about fish.

- Millets Farm garden centre: OK, haven't been there in a while... will post an update

- Notcuts garden centre: clean, cheap angels. not a large choice. last time i was there staff were a bit bitchy, usually OK though

- The Goldfish Bowl: DON'T BUY THERE! good choice, but for the last few months i've been seeing DEAD FISH in their tanks! bettas DO NOT receive regular water changes and many of the tanks are overstocked. Also very expensive, i have seen mark ups of over 600% there. short staffed.

- Maidenhead Aquatics: A* v. clean, new (opened in 2005), not too expensive although can find cheaper. helpful staff who know what they are doing. will order in most fish if they do not have them at the time. good range of stock, but don't do marine.

 

[schismy007]

Hey I use Mastin Moor too, and I was using Dobbies in Barlborough but I think they gave me white spot (I got it after buying a fish from them), so not sure I will be using them anymore. If anyone is near Sheffield, the Asda in Handsworth .... well up the road from there is a really decent LFS called Fishinc and it's awesome -- that's where I got my Mudskippers from and several of my Puffer fish. If anyone wants to see lots of fish, that's the place. They have loads of Cichlids too, although I don't care for them, I know they are a very popular type of fish with many people. I also visit the local Maidenhead Aquatics over at the Dukeries, but their fish tend to be expensive, but they are good if I need something quick.

 

[alison73]

Hi, I have a very good LFS in Durham...(Fish Alive).With being new to tropical fish keeping i seek advice from any1 or anywhere i can and i have to say that the advice i get from Fish Alive is fantastic..They always have a good stock of all species, tanks and accessories and are always there to give advice. I once wanted a fish, didnt realise that some cant live with others, they wouldnt let me buy it!! lol...if i had it would have eaten my others. Sometimes i visit Pets At Home, i dont get the same feeling of help as i get at Fish Alive, great range again except a Pets At Home i visited recently in Durham and was absolutly apalled at the state of the tanks..Rotten!!! dead fish, tanks were disgusting. I bought 2 Bolivian rams because i felt sorry for them, in fact i wanted to buy the lot!! I mentioned the state of the place to a different Pets At Home and when i re-visited the Durham store i noticed a big improvement..Lets hope they keep it up for the sake of the lil fish..

 

[Shetland James]

In Shetland I use the only place one can; Da Fish Bowl.

It's actually quite good. One full wall of tanks, various others dotted about, and a 5ft Lake Malawi Chichid tank too. The bloke always offers useful, free advice if asked and his prices on heaters at least quite low. Sometimes there's no prices on the fish tanks so you don't know how much they are.

 

[Chris182]

I use pets at home for certain things and have bought a few fish from there. Some have died and others have done really well so far.

I also use blagdon water centre and cadburys water centre where they have a huge selection in both.

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