UK Fish Store Directory

[beux]

I've not seen this place mentioned yet and I think it is well worth a look:

A Drop In The Ocean - Davyhulme, Manchester (Lostock Circle)

Knowledge - 8 -

The guy I spoke to was awesome and didn't mind telling me: 1. *not* to buy any fish, other than 4 danio's, from him yet because of a little thing called cycling (which he explained) and 2. yes angelfish and most of our other cool fish are too big for your tank. I was a total newb and he was very informative and honest. So so helpful too.

Variety - 5 -

I say 5, the part of the store dedicated to actual fish is quite small but they still have enough tropical and marine fish to keep most people happy.

Quality - 9 -

Not a dead fish in sight, sparkling clean tanks, lovely store - this place is owned by a guy who *loves* his fish.

 

[monkeyman]

Spot on markings
Its a pity such a good fish shop is let down by the totally surly,unfriendly staff.

Glad to see someone else who thinks the staff stink up there!

 

[L200]

JURASSIC AQUATICS,Thrumpton Lane,Retford,Notts

Has marines,trops and coldwater and most bits and bobs!

Knowledge 7

they seem to know there stuff

Variety 7

usually a decent variety of trops ,some nice very competitive prices as well esp on corals!

Quality 7-8 family business,so quality is pretty good

A shop thats in a state of renovation after being almost 'run down' now new owners have taken over many things are happening,well worth a visit,many things planned as well!

Got 2 tropical tanks and a marine setup from there and im still happy!

Will be fantastic in a couple of years im sure!

 

[iain.betson]

Pet Paks of - Hardwick

Variety: 6
Quality: 8
Staff: 8

Scotsdales Garden Centre - Trumpington

Variety: 8
Quality: 3
Staff: 3

Royston Garden Centre - Royston

Variety: 2
Quality: 6
Staff: 6

Amwell Aquatics - Soham

Variety: 9
Quality: 8
Staff: 9

sorry about this but petpaks of hardwick is a dump, i would say

Variety: 7
Quality: 3
staff: 4

never seen so many dead fish! or seen the staff having to remove so many dead fish. I went in there last week and it made me so angry to see clown loaches, dwarf puffers and all manners of fish dead diseased or quite clearly suffering from stress. i go in there quite alot and it seems to be getting worse. i even saw a khuli loach that had been squashed under a log. the way they handle the fish when removing them from the tanks is a disgrace

 

[bunjiweb]

Always a shame to hear stories such as this about a shop. It sickens me that anyone would run a fish shop with such low standards as to let dead fish float about in the tank, and to let diseased fish be readily sold.

I wish there were tighters controls on the quality of shops as I think alot of places would then be forced to close down.

I really need to update the first page of this thread but its such a long hard job..

Ben

 

[carrera]

Liverpool (North West)
Lister Drive Fisheries
Variety: 8 (quite good selection.. a lot of pond fish in the area that used to be swimming baths)
Quality: 3 (quite a lot of dead fish in tanks, a lot of fish with what looks like TB in the pond area)
Service: 4 (service is good.. for a shop.. not too knowledgable, wont make suggestions or give advice towards fish needs)

overall not a very good lfs as regards to quality and employee knowledge, i would steer clear of this one, also stock dyed fish

Smithdown Aquarium
Variety: 8
Quality: 9
Service: 9

a much better lfs for anyone in the liverpool area, fish are much more active and are in cleaner tanks. i noticed a hospital tank and a new arrivals quarantine tank. the guy taught me a little about tetras while he was getting some out for me and even got me 2 males and 4 females, which he said was best. fish are clearly labled, some even with a sliver of advice about the fish on the labels too. i will be going here from now on

 

[Qays]

Luton:
Aquatic Supplies
Variety: 5- Only sell traditional community tropical fish, and some coldwater.

Quality: 9 Absolutely Excellent! The limited amount of fish they have are kept soo well! never seen a dead or ill fish and i go there all the time. The tanks are also very clean and VERY nicely decorated!

Service: 8 Have helped me so much and are never after the money, Its never busy and only 2 people (old) work there and theyre very nice! They always give me best advice on fish.

I definately recommend this shop to fish keepers who have ordinary community fish, if you want to buy good healthy fish, go here!

 

[5andra]

Riverside Aquaria
27, Linden Avenue, Stirling, Stirlingshire FK7 7PQ


Variety - 9 (Wide variety)
Quality - 8 (Tanks are imaculate, fish very well kept)
Service - 8 (Staff well informed and informative, willing to explain and share knowlege, and no bad or ill informed information has been given to me by this store. My only reservation is some of the fish they stock!)

Pets at Home Ltd
Unit 2, Gylemuir Rd, Glasgow Rd, Corstorphine, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH12 7UF
Variety - 6 (Usual variety)
Quality - 3 (Quite a lot of dead fish – Don’t seem mega bothered about the tanks)
Service - 1 (Staff haven’t got a clue, and very understaffed)


Aquatic-Rooms
335-337, Leith Walk, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH6 8SD

Variety - 10 (A wide spectrum of fish variety and they allso have had some really unusual ones in)
Quality - 10 (very clean tanks not seen anything that has been odd)
Service - 10 (Staff well informed and helpfull, more of a social fish area than a shop we have been in about a dozen times now still not bought anything and they seem to remember us and welcome us even ask if we need any advice never mind help)


Pets at Home Ltd
1b, Springkerse Retail Park, Stirling, Stirlingshire FK7 7TL

Variety - 6 (Usual variety)
Quality - 6 (clean tanks)
Service - 1 (Staff haven’t got a clue)

Ultimate Aquatics
Unit 1-3,Block 2, Prestonhall Industrial Estate, Cupar, Fife KY15 4RD

Variety - 10 (A wide spectrum of fish variety and they allso have had some really unusual ones in)
Quality - 10 (very clean tanks not seen anything that has been odd)
Service - 10 (Staff well informed and helpfull)

http/www.uda.co.uk/

If their is a store that should be a 10 + , for me this is the one! shame it is just so far away from me



I'm still trying to find a good one nearer me open to any suggestions!

own Location FALKIRK

 

[aberdeen aquarist]

Riverside Aquaria
27, Linden Avenue, Stirling, Stirlingshire FK7 7PQ


Variety - 9 (Wide variety)
Quality - 8 (Tanks are imaculate, fish very well kept)
Service - 8 (Staff well informed and informative, willing to explain and share knowlege, and no bad or ill informed information has been given to me by this store. My only reservation is some of the fish they stock!)

Aquatic-Rooms
335-337, Leith Walk, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH6 8SD

Variety - 10 (A wide spectrum of fish variety and they allso have had some really unusual ones in)
Quality - 10 (very clean tanks not seen anything that has been odd)
Service - 10 (Staff well informed and helpfull, more of a social fish area than a shop we have been in about a dozen times now still not bought anything and they seem to remember us and welcome us even ask if we need any advice never mind help)




Ultimate Aquatics
Unit 1-3,Block 2, Prestonhall Industrial Estate, Cupar, Fife KY15 4RD

Variety - 10 (A wide spectrum of fish variety and they allso have had some really unusual ones in)
Quality - 10 (very clean tanks not seen anything that has been odd)
Service - 10 (Staff well informed and helpfull)

http/www.uda.co.uk/

If their is a store that should be a 10 + , for me this is the one! shame it is just so far away from me



I'm still trying to find a good one nearer me open to any suggestions!

own Location FALKIRK

5andra, I agree with you about riverside, great wee shop and always has something different.
Ultimate Aquatics however is a different matter, their fish idenitification isn't good, and they have never been that friendly to me and seem to be going for quantity, not quality.

The aquatic rooms I haven't been to yet, are they really that good? I have a free day on Saturday, I may pay them a visit!!

 

[5andra]

aberdeen aquarist, for me yes, have been known to be in their for a couple of hours!!!!!! still not bought anything and they talk to you.

Remember their is a downstairs not very well signposted mind, but it is their with marine, My husband loves it we live in Falkirk and he quite often will just disapear, (by the way that is not his norm) and when he returns that is where he has been and anyone who knows edinburgh knows the traffic.

They do have a web page http/www.aquatic-rooms.co.uk/ so you can look and see however they are not well listed by PFK but this is a store that is and that i havent as yet visited but it is on my going to list.


The Aquatic Centre
15-17 Comely Green Place Edinburgh http/www.aceaqua.com/ and this one does seem to be well liked by pfk

I will state i am new to fish keeping so my judgement is made more on how a store looks how tanks are kept and the variety of fish on show my eye is not trained as yet to notice bad labeling or other issues that can be a problem in the future and to a wide extent i am reliant upon what i am told and what i read when i am in a fish store.

However i do have a couple of really good books and dont care what anyone thinks of me when i open them up and compare what they say with the book in the middle of the store.

I am not a baby anymore and dont want the fish to suffer due to my silly mistakes and yes it has happened but hope not any more!

 

[dgwebster]

I have found UDA to be extremely good - but then again, my local is House of Pisces, Dundee:

Staff Knowledge: ..... which member of staff... overall, 4
Variety: 7 they do have a decent variety
Quality of Fish: 3 most of that variety are in extremely poor conditions.

and for the shop overall, 1 - its dark, poorly lit, tightly packed in (nothing worse than a bugger in there with pram) damp, smelly OVERCROWDED. they need a larger premise.

UDA though in comparison is a total dream. Also, it is owned by a marine biologist so at least one person knows what they talk about.

 

[aberdeen aquarist]

thats the problem though dg, one person and one person alone knows what they are doing. i mean if they can't even identify a yellow lab correctly (which for those of you who don't know is the most popular mbuna there is) then they don't deserve to get my business!! don't get me wrong, i know that people make mistakes but they were wrongly labelled on at least 3 seperate visits over a 2 year period

i have to agree with the H.O.P. description too, i have had nothing but diseased fish from then whenever i bought any. its a real shame, the shop could be the best in the country but it will never happen because of the reputation it has built up over the years.

 

[dgwebster]

funny part is, so many people in dundee rant n rave about it - the Dobbies Garden Centre at the Angus Gateway is about 30x better than HOP, although its equipment choice and variety of fish is sharply reduced.

I rescued a betta and two ADFs from HOP about 2 weeks ago now to go into another tank. It was only because I was purchasing for a new tank I took this risk to try and save some of those poor lives in that store because I would NEVER mix HOP stock with my existing tanks.

As with UDA, there is the owner, the long haired guy and the short blonde young girl know their stuff, and the young dark haired girl is a more does as she's told person, but if you ask for information, she has always done the best thing in my opinion and went and got one of the three mentioned above.

will need to take a closer look at those labels though am going there end of the month for some more stock.

 

[5andra]

The Aquarium
Unit 5 Castle Laurie Works, Bankside, Falkirk, Stirlingshire FK2 7XF


IS a local fish store to me it reminds me a bit of the HOP but it does seem to be improving quite drastically lately, the stock it getting more varied and they are doing more quality water checks! please let me know what you think?

I was at UDA yesterday, overheard them tell one guy not to get any more fish for a bit and they also checked his tank size and what was in it!

They did the same for me, but hey I do look as though i havent got much of a clue most of the time so dont take much offence to be constantly reminded about how much i dont know!

I also got a Beautiful Beautiful clown loach and the long haired guy serving me did check i knew what it eat that it was going in a suitable tank and that i knew what it EAT again!, it was really really busy (GOOD FIRDAY afternoon) and the blond on the till also checked that and made sure that i knew that it liked same species company just as the guy had done.

YES it is for another clown loach that we already had to keep company! so dont worry.

The stock at the time seemed low but still wide and varied, the long haired guy also offered to take my silver sharks from me when they get to big for the tank and said he would keep them for a week in quaratine before he gave me a credit note to make sure they were fine but it would be another week after that before he would put them for sale. For me this is good, it not only lets me know my fish will be well treated and not over transported but that he does have a genuine wish to help his customers.

HOP was the same 10 years ago we used to live in Tayport and often visited just to see what they had never bought though

 

[altselgreen]

WEST SUSSEX-EAST ENGLAND

BILLINGSHURST

ARISTAQUATICS

16 JENGERS MEAD
BILLINGSHURST
WEST SUSSEX
RH14 9PB

VARIETY 5- THEY HAVE A GOOD SELECTION OF BEGINNER FISH LOTS OF TETRAS AND LIVEBEARERS. NOT MANY CICHLIDS IN FACT THEY ONLY HAVE RAMS.

QUALITY 8- THEIR FISH ARE IN GREAT HEALTH

STAFF 10!- VERY NICE PEOPLE VERY FRIENDLY ALWAYS UP FOR A CHAT ONCE I COULDN'T GET AWAY! THEY ARE ALSO VERY HELPFUL GAVE ME TIPS ALL THE WAY WITH MY FIRST TANK AND IT LOOKS GREAT!

SAM