LFS near the Tyne.

[SPACKlick]

I did a bit of a tour of LFSs in driving range of the house today. Here are some impressions and if anyone has any direct experience of them I'd appreciate your views.

Tyne Valley Garden Centre (Mickley Square) - Lots of good reviews from 2 or more years ago as Tyne Valley Aquatics. Looks like it's under new management. Limited selection, limited knowledge, pricing not great. Quite a few pipe fittings for bodging things together though

Maidenhead Aquatics (Dobbies Gosforth) - Decent selection of fish, seem to be struggling for plants during Coronavirus. Some staff have good knowledge others are very area specific. Keep giving me free fish food for visiting. Prices seem about average. They clearly have certain favoured brands.

Pets at Home (Norham Road, North Shields) - Tiny fish section, limited equipment, limited knowledge from the one staff member I spoke to.

Pets at Home (Gateshead, Metrocentre) - Better selection of equipment and live plants in pots from AG. Some better knowledge although hampered a lot by the small space and Coronavirus

AC Aquatics (Strothers Road, High Spen) - Not a LFS, these guys build aquariums and sumps. They don't sell equipment or fish.

Exotic World (Winlaton) - Good range of marine and Freshwater fish, equipment is limited but eclectic. Didn't really look at prices or ask technical questions because they were pretty quick to know exactly what I wanted and that they didn't have it.

Aqualand (Swallwell) - Was closed and the phone number is disconnected. Last reviews online are 8 or so months old. Suspect closed permanently

Quay pet and Aquatics (Royal Quays) - Wide range of fish, only place today I saw dwarf neon rainbows and vampire shrimp. Not all fish look in good condition. Good selection of odds and sods. Interesting range of plants although limited labelling and dark water make it hard to see what you want.

[Andys temperate tank]

You should have a run down to horizon aquatics. Should take around 50 mins from newcastle.

[SPACKlick]

If I was going that far south I'd have gone to Fish Alive in Durham as well. Have heard good things of them. What's Horizon Aquatics like?

[Andys temperate tank]

If I was going that far south I'd have gone to Fish Alive in Durham as well. Have heard good things of them. What's Horizon Aquatics like?

I dont like fish alive. I've had sick fish from there a couple of times now. Horizon is fantastic, have a look.

https://youtu.be/AV8YLw53ZBQ

[Triumph-Rat]

I dont like fish alive.

Nor me, too expensive to keep

(Wasn't me!!)

[WinterRose73]

Sounds like a busy day!! Did you buy anything? Presumably no fish as you were on a mission from the sound of it

[SPACKlick]

Sounds like a busy day!! Did you buy anything? Presumably no fish as you were on a mission from the sound of it

No mission, I had a day off and wanted a bit of a pootle about, decided to check out LFS while I was at it. I bought some Juwel reflector T5 clips (Not the Hi-Flex ones) because one of my tube light reflectors clips had snapped a little and it kept falling off and making loud bangs. And a 35x45x12 11L RUB to put under my filter as Just-in-Case slow leak protection. I was also looking to buy some live plants but in all the shops I was in I found no Java moss and no Eel grass or similar. MA was due a delivery this afternoon so I will pop back in there tomorrow after going down to Horizon in the morning.

I was also looking to see where had decent examples of the species I want in the tank. Mrs Lick and I are still disagreeing slightly over Cory's. I like Duplicareus, Adolfoi and Pandas and she likes Salt and Pepper, Sterbas, Julii, Paleatus, Three Stripe, Schwartz and Agassiz. I was looking to see if anyone had calico Bristlenoses or Golden Bristlenoses but it was only Wild Types and albinos.

I also saw a pair of peregrine falcons and a whole load of young cows which was nice.

[mantis]

Looking forward to hearing your horizon review, it really does look amazing from the tours I've seen, can't wait to visit it at some point

[SPACKlick]

They were great. Good chat, good working environment. A bit too specialist for my taste (I don't need my cherry reds to be SS Crystals anything the red side of brown does me) but they have a good selection of shrimp and snails. The fish also look in pretty good nick (Except for one batch that they mentioned they couldn't sell as they'd been knocked about a bit in transit).

Lots of plants all in pretty good nick.

Hardscaping is where I care least but where I think they excel the most. There is tonnes of rock and wood of all colours and sizes. Some of it seemed very expensive but I know some woods can be.

I spent a little more than I expected (I'll be putting pics in the Tank Log later). Part of that was buying more plants than i expected and part of it was that plants are quite pricey. It's about £5.99 a plant and they're either buy 5 get the 6th free or buy 6 get the 7th free depending on what you're buying.

[Andys temperate tank]

They were great. Good chat, good working environment. A bit too specialist for my taste (I don't need my cherry reds to be SS Crystals anything the red side of brown does me) but they have a good selection of shrimp and snails. The fish also look in pretty good nick (Except for one batch that they mentioned they couldn't sell as they'd been knocked about a bit in transit).

Lots of plants all in pretty good nick.

Hardscaping is where I care least but where I think they excel the most. There is tonnes of rock and wood of all colours and sizes. Some of it seemed very expensive but I know some woods can be.

I spent a little more than I expected (I'll be putting pics in the Tank Log later). Part of that was buying more plants than i expected and part of it was that plants are quite pricey. It's about £5.99 a plant and they're either buy 5 get the 6th free or buy 6 get the 7th free depending on what you're buying.

What time were you there today. I may have been in when you were.

I'm pleased you liked it. James and Nicole are toppa.

You'll be glad for the extra plants you got when they are in.