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BBQ at Sam's

Right the final agenda for Sat is as follows:

Meet at the Oxford MA shop at 12noon. Ignore the MA website is seems they are either relocating or are adding a new shop. Either way the address listed on fishkeeper.co.uk is wrong. The actual address is London Road, Wheatley, OX33 1JG.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x ... search.srf

From there we go to the Gold Fish Bowl at 118-122 Magdalen Road, Oxford, OX4 1RQ.

Then its back to mine for the rest. I should think this'll be around 2-3pm depending on how long we stare at the fishes!

I'll send round a PM with my home address and phone numbers in case people need them.

See you all Sat!

Sam
 
See you at MA, looking forward to it.
 
Hi sam, thanks for the pm i cant wait to meet some of you guys on sat ( i have met some of you already) especially for a tipple or two, regards john.
 
I'm really looking forward to this...and I'm not even going!

I'm interested in whatever you produce. That's assuming you don't pig out on chinese takeaway and beer and then wake up in the early morning not having done anything!
 
Yeah, hopefully. My life is getting quite busy at the moment - getting a new job, moving house and have a baby on the way. And at the moment it looks like it's all going to happen in the same week!

:wideyed: :lol:
 
Frolicsome_Flora said:
sorry peeps, but im not going to be able to make it.. i just have way too much on, and no time to do it in. bit gutted tell you the truth, but heyho, there will be other time.

i hope you have a good time.

That's bad news mate.

We'll be sure to get a load of pics etc. for the site, so you don't miss out too much...
 
I wished I could make it there.... If this was held in any month from the august just passed till november, I'll be able to do it on any weekends. Now I'm starting this new post which requires me to work nights and weekend I won't be able to make it. Make sure you guys take plenty of photos and load it up. Won't want to miss out on anything.
 
Hi Guys, i'm still good to go. will be at the fish shop as mentioned a few pages ago at the meeting time (forgotten store and time already lol...will check back in a mo). I may have to leave quite early though, explain later but problems at home (nothing to worry about just cant mention on the forum).

see you all on saturday
 
sorry peeps, but im not going to be able to make it.. i just have way too much on, and no time to do it in. bit gutted tell you the truth, but heyho, there will be other time.
thats a real shame mate, you'll just have to make up for it at the next one! lol
 
Hi guys, hopefully i can talk my boss into letting me leave work about threeish, pop home quick shower and i should be at yours Sam about 5 ish,see ya all tomorrow regards john. :)
 
Sam I'm really sorry but I'm not even going to be able to make it down for a part of the day. I was hoping that I could come down for the shops bit and then dash off, but it ain't happening! Hopefully I'll get along for the next one...
 
Thanks for a super day, everyone involved!

Special thanks to Sam and Biz for hosting us all. And for Dan and Becki for allowing me to stay over.

I look forward to seeing the photos... P

Perhaps someone would like to write a brief 'report' of the day. I would but I'm currently nursing a hangover combined with playing with my 2 year-old daughter. 8)
 
I'll second that. Great day, thanks Sam and Biz. I didn't stay over so i'll have a go at a "report of the day"

I arrived at maidenhead aquatics, Oxford at 12 noon to be joined shortly by Sam. about 30 mins later George Farmer, Graeme Edwards, Jeremy Gay and Dan Crawford walked through the door quickly followed by Dave Spencer.

We pretty much had the store to ourselves as the rain was hammering down (there was a touch of snow in the air as well!) to my surprise i had a very in depth discussion with one of the store guys about planted tanks, EI ferts glass diffusers etc and he actually knew what i was talking about. thats a first!

They had a big 150G at a guess planted display tank with MH lighting. unfortunately they did not have co2 in there so it was a bit algaefied, not bad though. in it was a nice mixed shoal of torpedo barbs and another similar fish about 15 in total and each about 6 - 7 inches long it made an impressive display anyway whatever they were. i'm sure someone will step in here and give the proper names.

lots of the usual fish, dry goods etc.. i was impressed with the range of co2 kit things are obviously moving forward as i have only ever seen JBL profi kits in the stores but they had a few different brands there.

plant selection was not bad. i bought some glosso, Micranthemum umbrosum, a big anubias, some red stems (not sure what exactly, fine leaved), some eustralis stellata and ludwigia arcuata.

we chatted there for about an hour then went off in convoy to the Goldfish Bowl (one of the top stores in the UK). luckily no one got lost on the way and we then set about the next visit. First impressions were a distinct lack of space. they are obviously doing well there as there is not a square foot of floor space without a tank in it. loads of fish for sale, usuals plus some impressive oddballs, prices were in line with Wildwoods in enfield. ie they have the opinion their stock is better quality than elsewhere so do not price match etc. I saw some lovely Sterbai Corys there which i have been looking for for ages but these were priced at £12.99 each and i needed 10!

The store manager made a point of saying hello and giving us a run down of what he has to offer (he knows Jeremy...nice to be treated as royalty lol) he took us "out back" to the wood store where he had a decent selection of redmoor wood amongst other wood and rocks. rocks were good although i cant tell you the names (feel free to step in someone) needless to say George, Graham and Dan were like kids in a play pen. George selected two nice big pieces for his tank, the first thing he has spent money on for the hobby this year!!! it's alright for some hey! lol

I went off happy as well as the manager said he'd do me a deal on the sterbai's. i got 10 for £75 instead of £130 - cant grumble at that so i went for it.

They did have a good shrimp stock worth mentioning with cherrys, tigers and Chrystal reds! also a new nano tank section bursting with 40+ small tanks.

One thing that stood out about the store is all the display tanks ie selling the tanks themselves not the fish in them were set up and running. i always think it's a waste when stores have a big dry goods section with loads of empty tanks. these were all filled up, decorated and filled with live stock, running on their own filters, not a centralised system.

so with every corner explored we headed to Sams.

Got back to Sams for about 4 - 4.30 floated the fish in his tank and the beers came out along with some aquajournals freebie bits and bobs people had brought along etc... John Starkey arrived about 530 and then we started to make up sams tank. I had to leave at 6 and by then we had tropica substrate with black quartz over top and 5 rocks which were moved about in at least 50 different positions before graeme settled on the design. i then had to shoot off back home so i'll hand over to one of the others to finish the report.

I had a great day and the fish / plants made it home safe and sound. Speaking of which i better pull my finger out and plant them.

Thanks again Sam, i'll do one round mine soon.
Jim

ps. i forgot my camera so i'll leave the pics to someone else. I have met most before but Dave Spencer and John Starkey i met for the first time there. Both are really nice guys and for a change age / mental picture was as i had thought although John did think i would have been a little older lol. i do love meeting people you speak to online it always has it's surprises. For anyone thinking of coming along to the next event they are all a great bunch of guys, friendly and not overly nerdy lol. you will be made very welcome so chip your hat in when the next thread opens and i'll see you there.
 
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