UK Fish Store Directory

[byejune]

LONDON stores:

PETSATHOME
Blackheath Road
LONDON
Variety/Selection 7 (OK about 20 or so tanks)
Cleanliness and quality 5 (clean and ok, they replace fish if fishy dies within a week - not sure if thats the best policy really but oh well)
Staff friendlyness and knowledge 5 (v friendly and mostly will give ok advice....mainly interested in selling though)



FIN-KING AQUATIC
242 Southwark Park Road
London
SE16 3RN
telephone:
020 72318063
LONDON
Variety/Selection 10 (vvvv good tons -for a london LFS and all sorts makes choosing very difficuult )
Cleanliness and quality 10 (brilliant they really take care of their fish)
Staff friendlyness and knowledge 10 (extermely good they won't sell u fish unless you bring a water sample and they REALLY know what they're doing AND they give TONS of brilliant advice)
EXTREMELY BRILLIANT SHOP (family run too!!) but a bit out of the way



DIGITAL LIQUID
9 Heath Street London NW3 6UA
Telephone 020 7435 4448
HAMPSTEAD HIGH STREET
LONDON
Variety/Selection 5 (ok bit limited really, some tropical some marine and the usual coldwater)
Cleanliness and quality 7 (OK some dead fish in water)
Staff friendlyness and knowledge 7 (kinda ok, depending on who you get but not too informative mainly cos they're quite busy usually)
nice looking shop though

also a tiny dodgy shop in ELEPHANT AND CASTLE that i wouldn't really recommend...not very clean... but only popped in once and they didn't have what i needed at the time.....i think maybe they didn't do coldwater fish or something?

 

[jarcher1390]

North Lakes Aquatics

Sid Boulter
North Lakes Aquatics
Robinson Street
Penrith, Cumbria CA11 9HR
England

Telephone:01768 891495
Fax:01768 899872

Variety/section 10

Sid the owner know his fish and travels around the world collecting. Some times it dont look like they got much in but if u look hard enough u will see the variety and some rare fish

Cleaness 9

tanks are pritty well cleaned. And as soon as ill fish are spotted tey are put straight into quarentien and treated accordingly

Staff 10

there is always some 1 who knows what they are doing especaily sid. they dont and sell over fishes concern. the fish allways comes first and will give advise on simple things to the most complicated.

If u are in the area i advise u call in they are open all year round apart from the very specail ocasions. They open 10 till 5:30 on week days and saturday and 10 till 4:30 on sunday

http/www.northlakesaquatics.co.uk/ Look on the fish list to see the specail fish

 

[-Ian-]

Here's a few more around Brum.

A&D Aquatics - Oldbury

Variety - 8 - always a decent tropical, marine and coldwater range available
Quality - 5 - About half the fish I've bought from there died within 3 months, I persevered with them for a while as they generally get good reviews but I'll no longer be buying any more fish from them. The tanks always appear disease free however, I've seen the occasional dead fish now and again but considering the amount of tanks they have, nothing excessive. Maybe I've just been unlucky
Service - 10 - helpful knowledgable staff

Pet at Home - Oldbury

Variety - 6
Quality - 0 - We bulk buy our cat food from here and have been going in every 4-6 weeks for over 2 years. EVERY time there have been dead fish in more than half the tanks, I've also seen whitespot and fin rot.
Service - ??? - dunno, I'd never consider buying fish from them so haven't asked the staff anything about them

Noahs Ark - Northfield, Birmingham

Variety - 5 - they're a petshop who also sell freshwater tropical fish, never a huge range but not a bad selection
Quality - 10 - I've never seen a diseased or dead fish, the tanks are clean and seem less crowded than most other fish shops
Service - 8 - very friendly and chatty, maybe not as knowledgable as staff from specialist fish shops but they don't try and bull**** you like some petshop staff will

Hollybush - Cannock

Variety - 10 - excellent. a huge range of coldwater, tropical and marine
Quality - 9 - like A+D (who I think are owned by Hollybush) you get the occasional dead fish but no disease
Service - 9 - helpful and knowledgable staff but not quite as good as A+D

Midland Waterlife - Bromsgrove

Variety - 8 - Very good tropical selection especially considering the shop isn't especially big, I can't remember if they sell marine though
Quality - 10 - Clean tanks with no diseased or dead fish ever seen
Service - 6 - knowledgable but unhelpful staff, miserable bunch who seem to regard customer queries as a chore

 

[Bazza696]

My local haunt for fish is
Swallon aquatics
Swallon nursuries
London road
Rayleigh Essex SS6 9ES
01268 781265

Variety 8 - they have a lot of community fish and larger fish, a nice marine section, and a huge freshwater section.
Quality 9 - never had any problems with the fish from there, an i have got at least 80 fish from there.
Service 7 - the staff are good but get pushed at weekends, especially sunday

 

[KathyM]

ill add a few.....


Fish People (Keighley)

Variety 9
Quality 9
Service 9

I'll back this one up too. It's not a big place, but it's my only "proper" LFS and we've had no problems with them.

Update 29th December 2006: Please ignore above recommendation. Since I've used them more and more, they've gone further and further downhill. Original staff are ok, not talkative or what-have-you, but ok. New staff member doesn't know his arse from his elbow, and the fish quality absolutely sucks now, although they say they've got new, better suppliers. Variety has gone up, quality has gone down. Very, very disappointing. Was miles better with the original owner years back. A huge shame.

Another update - now selling dyed fish, many tanks diseased. I wish we had another local fish shop

 

[cecilbdemented]

My "local" is the great...


Cumbria Aquapets, Workington, Cumbria

Tel: 01900 604929
Variety - 7 (Small place but good variety of fish. Very good for its size. Get unusual stock for a small place too)
Quality - 8 (clean and well kept, sometimes heavily stocked just after deliveries but only for a day or two)
Service - 10 (Family Run {i think}, very helpful and sociable, good prices on fish, plants and accessories)


Furness Aquatics (in Barrow) is also support to be good, but i've only been once and not since the recent change of owners (apparently).


All the best,
Phil

 

[Mution]

Pets @ Home - Trowbridge Wiltshire
Variety: 8
Quality: 6
Staff: 5
Price: 7

Pet Planet - Trowbridge Wiltshire
Variety: 7
Quality: 7
Staff: 7
Price: 6

Leeks - Melksham Wiltshire
Variety: 8
Quality: 8
Staff: 10
Price: 5

Whitehall Garden Centre - Leacock Wilshire
Variety: 5
Quality: 8
Staff: 5
Price: 5

 

[orange shark]

Sheffield Aquatics:

Variety: 8 (A lot of Milawi Cichlids and a lot of other fish)
Quality: 8
Staff:8
Price:7 (Not cheap but not expensive)

Edited:Quality and Staff has gone up except for one guy who knows his stuff but is really rude!

 

[seanyt66]

North Lakes Aquatics

Sid Boulter
North Lakes Aquatics
Robinson Street
Penrith, Cumbria CA11 9HR
England

Telephone:01768 891495
Fax:01768 899872

Variety/section 10

Sid the owner know his fish and travels around the world collecting. Some times it dont look like they got much in but if u look hard enough u will see the variety and some rare fish

Cleaness 9

tanks are pritty well cleaned. And as soon as ill fish are spotted tey are put straight into quarentien and treated accordingly

Staff 10

there is always some 1 who knows what they are doing especaily sid. they dont and sell over fishes concern. the fish allways comes first and will give advise on simple things to the most complicated.

If u are in the area i advise u call in they are open all year round apart from the very specail ocasions. They open 10 till 5:30 on week days and saturday and 10 till 4:30 on sunday

http/www.northlakesaquatics.co.uk/ Look on the fish list to see the specail fish

Ill second this - North Lakes Aquatics is an excellent shop

Sean

My "local" is the great...


Cumbria Aquapets, Workington, Cumbria

Tel: 01900 604929
Variety - 7 (Small place but good variety of fish. Very good for its size. Get unusual stock for a small place too)
Quality - 8 (clean and well kept, sometimes heavily stocked just after deliveries but only for a day or two)
Service - 10 (Family Run {i think}, very helpful and sociable, good prices on fish, plants and accessories)


Furness Aquatics (in Barrow) is also support to be good, but i've only been once and not since the recent change of owners (apparently).


All the best,
Phil

Cumbria Aquapets

Ill second this one too - i only live 10 mins from this shop. It is small but brilliant and there is a large supply of dry goods

Sean

 

[J4MES]

Woodbank Garden Centre- Cullingworth

Variety:7
Quality:6
Staff:5 (Friendly but not always helpful)
Price:8 (do lots of offers were u buy 4 of these you pay less etc.)
Smiley Rating:

QSS- Canal Rd
Variety:10
Quality:10
Staff:9
Price:9
Smiley rating:

J4MES

 

[Cris_L]

Maidenhead Aquatics, Wyevale Garden Centre Muxton (between stafford and telford)

Variety 7
Quality 9
Service 10

Cant thank this place enough for helping me set up my first tank.

Maidenhead aquatics Mere park newport

Variety 8
quality 7
Service 7

Ripples, stafford Park Telford

Variety 8
Quality 8
Service 7

 

[Scunny]

NOTE: haha just noticed, this is yet another forum that find the town of Scun-thorpe offensive.


My Pet (formaly Target Pet Supplies) - S####horpe

Variety - 7
Quality - 3
Service - 6

Good place for buying food, treatments etc as sell them slightly cheaper than most places, and have a good selection. So far from this shop i've had 4 tiger barbs, 6 cardinal tetra, and one Betta. The tetra lasted approx a week, the barbs approx 2 days longer than the tetra, and the betta lasted a day. Mentioned this to a friend of mine and they had had similar experiences. Must add, great selection of reptiles etc.


Pets At Home - S####horpe

Variety - 6
Quality - 7
Service - 9

Average selection of fish (nothing special, but got all the ones you'd expect). Good selection of live/frozen foods. Fish all seem to be in good health and active. Service is very good. Went in to buy some white spot treatment and they'd sold out, so they gave me some of their personal treatment free of charge.


Brigg Garden Centre - S####horpe

Variety - 10
Quality - 10
Service - 8

Loads of different types of fish. Slightly over priced but i dont particularly mind as i know their healthy fish coming from well maintained tanks. Good selection of tanks (one day i'll be able to afford some of the hhhuuuggggeeee tanks). Good selection of treatments and foods. The guys who work their wont speak to you, but if you ask them questions such as 'what have you being feeding the fish i just bought?' then they'll tell you. It's quite a bit out of my way, but as far as buying fish goes, i'll be getting them from here.

 

[Genie]

pets at home- cramlington (near newcastle)
Variety- 7. fish you would expect. as far as i can tell they dont sell anything out of the ordinary
Quality- havent purchased from as of yet, but from appearance a 6/7. havent noticed diseases, tanks always look clean.
service- 4 or 8. 8 if you catch the one man there who knows what hes talking about. Questioned him about my poorly gourami and received much of the advice ive read on here. Other days, just normal shop assistants who hadnt even sold any plants before which was what i was after. I had to help him.

Fish trek- Ashington (located in the garden centre in the industiral estate)
Variety- 8. Nice fish, usuals, plus some others from time to time. (some fabulous reptiles too if you like that sort of thing!)
Quality- 7. often see quarantined tanks. But are done so immediately and and treated swiftly. would NEVER sell an ill fish.
Service- 9. The owner is well knowledged on all his pets. friendly. polite. And seems to be teaching the pert time staff that work there. Gets busy, but if willing to wait you receive good advice.

 

[psycopop]

Pets @ Home - Darlington

Variety- 7. A fairly good selection, but nothing really away from the ordinary tropical/coldwater fish
Quality- 5. Was fairly good when they upgraded their tanks/displays, but has gone downhill since - found fish to be very fragile, often dying within a few days. Got 2 fancy goldfish from here, only to find whitespot on them when i got them home.
service- 2. No-one seems to know much about fish at all here. Often seen staff recommending the childrens "fun tanks" and advising that 3/4 goldfish would be quiet happy in their. Got a very wierd look when i was asking after a smallish tank to use as my hospital tank as if such a thing should never be tried.

Peter Barrats - Yarm

Variety - 8. A very good selection of fish offered in well displayed tanks.
Quality - 6. Again the fish seem quiet fragile once i get them home. Sometimes see dead/sick fish in tanks, and no-one seemed too bothered. Fish tanks for sale (specifically the smaller ones) all seem to be under-gravel filtered
Service - 3. Even though it can be quiet busy at times the staff are ofter no-where to be found. Have one or two guys who know a fair bit, and can be quiet helpful. But have a tendancy to just ignore the customers, and have random "meetings" either in the middle of the shop, or in their service area behind the tanks.

Fintasia Aquatics - Darlington

Variety - 8. Has limited space, but has a good selection of fish available which often changes. More than willing to order in anything your interested in.
Quality - 10. The tanks are kept spotless and any sick fish are quarantined straight away, any dead fish are removed straight away. Dont think ive lost any of the fish ive bought from here.
Service - 9. Would have given a 10 due to the knowledge of all staff avaiable, and the attention you get (they seem quiet happy to take the time to chat to you in detail about anything you need to know). But have given the 9 due to the opening hours they have - I often drive past the shop to see it closed, and seem to have to time my visits to suit their opening hours.

Paddock Farm and Water Gardens

Variety - 9/10. Has a large availability due to its seperate goldfish & Koy selection. The tropical selection is very good with quiet a few oddballs on display in the bottom tanks. Will order in anything you need (if their suppliers can get hold of it).
Quality - 10. Again another fish shop that sells fish I've found to be very hardy. Again will setup quarantine tanks for any sick fish, and removes dead fish quiet quickly. The staff are quiet observant of any signs of distress in their fish, and respond quickly to anything spotted.
Service - 9. The staff are mostly very knowledgable, but do get the odd day when the main tropical people aren't in. Have one member of staff who's never failed to answer anything I've asked.


Anyone else from the North-East know of a good shop that has Marine tanks on display, or can get hold of Marine supplies easily. Am looking for a marine tank setup and would like some variety if possible.

 

[helterskelter]

Noticed the south are missing a few.

Dorset (south or south west)

Atlantis Aquarium, Bournemouth.
Variety - 8
Quality - 10
Service - 10

Tropical fish world or Rift valley cichlids, Bournemouth
Variety - 6
Quality - 4
Service - 5

Southern Aquatics, Christchurch
Variety - 8
Quality - 4
Service - 5

Southern Aquatics, Poole
Variety - 7
Quality - 3
Service - 4

Koi Shop Aquatic Centre
Variety - 6
Quality - 6
Service - 6


Surly this though need updateing though.