tropical fish shops

[fish48]

I regularly visit my local tropical fish shops occasionally I like to visit some that are not so local, two very good fish shops in Salisbury UK, Maidenhead Aquatics Wilton averry good selection of fish and many unusual fish some that I've never seen before ,
second shop Porton Garden, Aquatics & Pets
Porton, a very large selection of fish and many unusual types. a good number of different Cory catfish Tetras and many other fish to choose from and a good section of livebearers .

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[Magnum Man]

I'm a little over 100 miles away from a good fish shop... so I have to mail order most... I have a local dog groomer, that has a small bank of aquariums, I mostly buy frozen foods there, as mail ordering that was a nightmare... and their fish don't often live through quarantine

 

[fish48]

I regularly visit my local tropical fish shops occasionally I like to visit some that are not so local, two very good fish shops in Salisbury UK, Maidenhead Aquatics Wilton averry good selection of fish and many unusual fish some that I've never seen before ,
second shop Porton Garden, Aquatics & Pets
Porton, a very large selection of fish and many unusual types. a good number of different Cory catfish Tetras and many other fish to choose from and a good section of livebearers .
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my last shop visit Maidenhead Aquatics Gosport

 

[fish48]

I'm a little over 100 miles away from a good fish shop... so I have to mail order most... I have a local dog groomer, that has a small bank of aquariums, I mostly buy frozen foods there, as mail ordering that was a nightmare... and their fish don't often live through quarantine

not too bad for me only 30 miles away

 

[emeraldking]

Well, I'm also a sucker for visiting fish stores... It's a guilty pleasure of mine...

 

[Fishkeeper123]

not too bad for me only 30 miles away

Yeah I like how Maidenhead is in most places in the uk and I have a few different Maidenhead’s within 30 minutes away.

 

[fish48]

Yeah I like how Maidenhead is in most places in the uk and I have a few different Maidenhead’s within 30 minutes away.

within 30 minutes I have a choice of 3 Maidenhead Aquatics 4 Pets at Home and five others

 

[Oldspartan]

I'm a little over 100 miles away from a good fish shop... so I have to mail order most... I have a local dog groomer, that has a small bank of aquariums, I mostly buy frozen foods there, as mail ordering that was a nightmare... and their fish don't often live through quarantine

Wow --- I am 7 miles from two big box pert stores, Petco and PetSmart, two locally owned small chain stores (both same ownership), a LFS, and about 40 miles from what I call my not so LFS and another big box chain I cannot remember the name of.

The Petco I avoid because it is grubby, the PetSmart is nice, and I believe they actually try to be what I call ethical about sales; the locally owned chain stores have decent well-kept fish areas managed by knowledgeable people. The LFS I avoid because of some bad experiences when I was starting out. The not so LFS is where we do the lion share of live fish business. They will order what we want, quarantine the purchase and have a great guarantee. The guarantee is great, I think, because the fish live, at least those we purchased have. They also have a large pond operation, (they actually offered me work after seeing our ponds, bog and stream), so they generally satisfy all our needs.

Both the locally owned chain and the not so LFS both exchange credits for Linda's Molly, Swordtail, and Guppy babies too, which is an added bonus because her fish are very promiscous.

I think we are blessed to live in the country yet within hooting distance of some very good options. It does not hurt we are close to the Saratoga Flat and Harness tracks, two casinos and the Queen of American Lakes, (Lake George) either.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I live about a 1/2 hour drive from two different up-scale fish stored in the same town, It is a very wealthy area, I have been to one of the a few times. Their prices are very high. I go on weekdays but have been told on weeked there mecedes and limos are tripple parked. The customer point and say I will take this and that. They do not ask the cost.

To work there you must be able to pass a written exam on fish knowledege. I knew one the older employess there since he purchased zebras from me about 15 years ago. He also would come to my clun meeting back then. Unfortumately he passed away a couple of years ago.

I did buy a few fish form the store and i was willing to skip quarantining them. Their tanks are always immaculate and the fish are a;ways very healthy.

https://houseoffins.com/
https://www.youtube.com/houseoffins

I buy very very few of my fish from retail outlets or even from online vendors. Most have come from breeders and/or direct imports workig with hothers who do this. One has to buy a larger number of fish and then do more work to make sure they are properly quarantined and made healthy when they are not. But, the most difference is amazing. Fish like neon or cardinal tetras sell for about 30-40 cents in quantity last time I priced them years ago. Stores sell them for a few dollars each. They usually buy from either wholesalers or from the transshipper operations.

 

[GaryE]

My local aquarium club in a quiet, economically threatened little Atlantic coast city is actually planning a summer weekend trip to the nearest big city, 9.5 hours away. And yes, it is fish nerds planning to do the rounds of several good aquarium stores and a wholesaler. We'll probably carpool, and rent a few hotel rooms to party. I'll be the guide, as I was an urban beast until 3 years ago. Things reach a desperate state when you plan on travelling that far!

We have a few dog and cat supply stores with tanks in them, and one dedicated aquarium store with a great owner, but very few tanks. We're trying to help him grow.

We have a club, which is important as people make fish and plants available to each other. There is a genuine fishkeeping community, of mostly 20s and 30s aquarists. The city here is small, but there are a lot of good fishkeepers here - I think more percentage-wise than in large cities. Less expensive houses and a lower cost of living matter for that. If cost of living were calculated based on fish prices, we'd be a mess though. 17 dollar panda Corys in one store, beside 8 dollar neons - 3 times the price of a large centre.

But for a store with things out of the ordinary at fair prices, we have a 380km ride (each way).