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UK Shops for the Planted Tank Hobbyist

I used AF's E T and tropicas side by side and E F's seemed broader and had a more eliptical in shape than the strap like growths of Tropicas. It seemed to produce much longer runners too. It's purely anecdotal however, as I've known plants to take different forms just by moving them from one side of the tank to the other, swords are supposedly exrtremely difficult to identify so it's not beyond imagination that tropica have one species and AF have a incredibly similar specie or cultivar, or vice versa.
 
The sad face is that I like to have a choice. Before they sold half and half, and TBH the aquafleur ones quite often looked algaefied and leggy - vs tropica was lush and green more often than not. Obviously this could be the way the shop were treating them (in separate tanks you see), but I'm just going on what I've seen...
 
Went to Aquajardin Eastleigh last week and was pretty good. Being down south and miles from TGM my only contact with any planted tank stuff is through the internet :oops: This means that I'm used to the traditional fish shop with maybe a couple miserable looking crypts if I'm lucky, with no other kit. Most of my stuff is through the post.

These guys stocked loads of Dennerle kit, CO2 refills, dragonstone, knifestone, and a small but healthy selection of plants. They also had some Oliver Knott NS and can get hold of ADA Aquasoil for £14.99 :wideyed:. In future I've been told they will be able to get hold of a range of ADA stuff. There livestock tanks for fish were really clean with bare-bottom glass and nothing dead - which I see quite a lot elsewhere.

They have a mock 'living room' set up with a couple of really tasty gloss-black Red Sea Max marine tanks, one large planted setup and a couple of planted nanos. The display tanks had really healthy plants in, was great as it was a first to see any planted tank in the flesh that isn't my own :lol: :shh: They also had an inspirational fresh water crab tank, really clean with nice stone.

So all-in-all a little gem from my limited experience of local fish shops. I even fell for one of their 'membership' cards for a fiver which gives me 10% off for a year :thumbup:
 
I use a place called the Water Garden in Hinton Parva (Wiltshire, near Swindon). They have a good selection of plants, fish and equipment, what i like about the shop is that it`s family run and they give genuine advice rather than being a commercial establishment that just wants to push products at you. They also specialise in pond and have a few large gardens with it all on display.

If anyone in the area it`s definitely worth a look.

Cheers,
 
Paws for thought, I went in their yesterday and they had bunches of bolbitits difformis and many bacopas for 70p a bunch. The plants in their are usually pretty terrible but the livestock choice is excellent. And for those half dry inclined there was a large selection of tree frogs and Dendro species.
 
pretty impressed with ferrybridge aquatics. went there last week, they had lots in and all good quality. plants are from france apparently.
 
Lisa_Perry75 said:
Just been to MA @ Fareham, unfortunately they are not stocking any tropica plants. Due to the current poor exchange rate and customers complaints about price they now only stock Aquafleur :(
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I do the plant ordering at MH @ Swindon and there's one thing i can guarantee... i will not order plants from Tropica!

Aquafleur may have a slightly smaller selection of plants, but i sell most (excluding bulbs and motherplants) at 5/£10. There is a store near by who get Tropica plants in and their price and quality just can't compete with Aquafleur
 
I grabbed a bundle of HC and Eleocharis from Cordi last week at MH Swindon Cheney Manor branch, good plants, nice rich colours and competitive pricing. Recommended.

Had a look at the MH Swindon Stratton branch, most elecharis looked brown and not in good shape, although they can order most plants in i`d recommend going to the Cheney Manor branch as stocks seem to be replenished often.

Cheers,
 
Kesgrave Tropicals in Ipswich do several types of shrimp including Cherry, CRS, Tiger, Yellow, Orange, Amano and Rock Shrimp! They also do mail order on their eBay shop. I went there for the first time a couple of days ago, and it's basic but great! Really quite "oldschool", tanks lined up in a shed/garage but the health of everything was very good. Good prices too - even better on ebay.

Tom
 
Aquatic Design Centre is very good, I always make a detour for it, but then again I am in London a lot. They know their stuff and seem to have the latest things plant related. The price is very good too.

Surprisingly I get a lot of plants from Pets at Home; they have a lot of choice and it's Tropica! The price is excellent too, but the key is to get there when they just come in.
 
Re: UK Shops for the Planted Tank Hobbyist - SW

Hi all,
I've been to pick some fish up from Amazon Aquatics/(Last Trading Post) in Warminster/(on Ebay) this morning and since I was in last they now have a much larger display tank of plants in the shop.

The owner (Mike) is a hobbiest with a shop, rather than a shop keeper who sells fish, and they have a lot of interesting fish in at the moment, all both extremely reasonably priced and in excellent condition. I bought their remaining Marbled Hatchets, 6 Corydoras pygmaeus and some Threadfin Rainbow pairs.

Other ones I noted down at the time were:
Corydoras similis and another very smart dwarf Cory. species C. habrosus[/i]. He had had C. pygmaeus in as well, but they had all just been sold. Also had a lot of local bred C. panda. Other catfish were Panaque maccus, Otocinclus spp. and the Hisonotus leucofrenatus from Luis's post. Last but not least some nice Farlowella Twig catfish (possibly F. acus). He also had a couple of other L numbers but I failed to note down what they were.

He has a good range of small fish:
Some Pencils, Nannostomus beckfordii & N. eques (I was very tempted) Dwarf sparkling Gourami, Trichopsis pumila (even more tempted) and I think Mike said the "other" Chocolate Gourami Sphaerichthys osphromenoides selatanensis but I didn't see those. He had 2 different Badis sp. one was probably Badis ruber (very smart), and another smaller one. The smaller one wasn't either Dario dario or Dario hysginon, but again it looked a very smart fish. Both species changed colour and pattern while I was watching them and they were both another instant "I want". Cichlids I noted were Apistogramma cacatuoides, A. macmasteri, Nanacara annomala "Green", N. taenia and the Slender Blockhead Steatocranus tinanti.

Last a bigger cichlid, but another absolute cracker, Thorichthys aureus their colouring was fantastic.

cheers Darrel
 
I've got to put in a word here for Porton Aquatics, just to the North of Salisbury. Apart from holding one of the most extensive selections of equipment I've ever seen in any shop (prices are nearly always as good as you find on the Internet too), they maintain their plant holding tanks every week - I rarely see any examples of the poorly maintained piles of slimy plants I see in other shops around the region. Plant stocks usually include a good, if somewhat variable, selection of small Tropica pots as well as the usual array of bare stem plants (sadly they do also maintain stocks of those non-aquatic plants that seem to catch out so many new starters to the hobby). They only have one or two members of staff that know their aquarium plants from their elbows, so if you need advice you may have to wait until that particular assistant becomes free - avoid peak times.

Good freshwater and marine fish stocks too, held in a tank room currently undergoing a major refit. I usually seem to find an excuse to call in there once a week or so if I'm driving past - worth a look if you're in the area.

They could probably do with a passing planted tank guru offering to work on their show tanks for them though :shh:

Peter
 
Dacious said:
Aquatic Design Centre is very good, I always make a detour for it, but then again I am in London a lot. They know their stuff and seem to have the latest things plant related. The price is very good too.

Surprisingly I get a lot of plants from Pets at Home; they have a lot of choice and it's Tropica! The price is excellent too, but the key is to get there when they just come in.
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Aquatic Design is really good.. And now they stock ADA, and can get items from the ADA catalogue.. No more travelling out of London to get ADA stuff.. :)
 
Hi all,
I moved down to Hampshire for a while and have traveled to all the fish shops in that region. If you want a large choice of Tropica plants I would seriously recommend that you vist MA based in Fair Oak. They have two large planted tanks, which were usually stacked on my visits. This shop is just a few miles from Aquajardin and has a massive selection of fish and a comprehensive range of drygoods too.

Jason
 
If you live in the south west Cornwall / Devon there is a shop called Homeleigh and they seem to have a good selection. I go there quite regularly and the guys know what they are talking about. They have just launched a website www.homeleighonline.co.uk and although they have an aquatic section the prices for all the JBL stuff seem to be the cheapest I can find. Because they have just started they only have a few bit on there but I phoned the guys in the shop and they got a product on there within hours and matched the best online price!
 
Does anyone know of decent places around the South West area? I'm in Bristol and appear to be limited :arghh:
 
Maidenhead Aquatics In Shelford Cambridge have recently installed a lovely teared 10ft plant tank on CO2 and have a good selection of tropica now. Was talking to the guys there and they are setting up 2 x 75g planted tanks over the next few weeks and plan to expand their range. This is on top of their specialty which is cichlids, they have an AMAZING 700gallon (guess? 15ft x 4ft x 3ft ish) chiclid tank.
things are looking up :)
 
Hi all,
Does anyone know of decent places around the South West area? I'm in Bristol and appear to be limited
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You could try Parker's at Iron Acton, I haven't been over for a while, but their fish are usually quite good and if Paddy is in he is an absolute expert. There is an MA at Brislington, again I haven't been in for a while, but they had a good range of fish in last time I went. Aquajardin at Haresfield (just towards Gloucester from Slimbridge) would be the best locally.

cheers Darrel
 
This is why TGM is so unique, the attention to detail is spot on, for example they have a area with sand so you can select rocks for your layout and see how they look in that setting, really nice touch - let's face it have you ever seen something like that elsewhere? I certainly haven't. The coffee is good too 8)

Anyway not everyone can get to Wrexham so, in the Manchester area there isn't really anything apart from Woodford Park Garden Centre in Poynton, which sells JBL CO2 stuff, refills etc, some decent plants, again depends when you can get there. Oasis Aquarium in Salford is alright for plants they have had a good selection in the past but the knowledge there is more focused on marine tanks. I haven't been in Oasis for a long time since ordering stuff over the internet is so effective I'd rather do that, or go to TGM.
 
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