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Where to buy in the North West.

Tropica plants

Shop name: Pets at Home

Location:

St Helens
Unit 9
St Helens Linkway
Ravenhead Retail Park
St Helens
WA9 1JF

There is also one at (i haven't visited this one myself so cant be 100% sure of delivery day)

Unit 7
Riverside Retail Park
Wharf Street
Warrington
WA1 2GZ

Directions:

You can use the AA route planner here to find your way there with above post codes.

What they offer or specialise in:

They get a regular delivery of Tropica plants. The delivery day varies, but they order in a mixed batch of approx 60 plants. The assistant manager Keith was very helpful. He ordered plants which take 4 days delivery, and said feel free to ring the store to see if they have arrived. He even took me in te back room to look at some specimen plants! The storage tank isn't great BUT if you get there on delivery day,you can pick them up fresh.

Over all verdict of the shop:

Its a pets at home store, but if you can wear dark glasses and swallow your fish keepers pride, you can make a surgical strike on a Wednesday to pick up some high quality plants!!! Just be aware that they sell two brands of plants, the basic stems are unlabelled, but there were plenty of various Tropica crypts etc when I visited.
 
CO2 cylinders and refills

I think I have just got a real bargain. I just bought a Full CO2 cylinder for £20 today.

Refills are approx £3 !!

The place I went to is a compressed gas supplier in St Helens.

http://www.gascylindersuk.co.uk/

IMAGE_218.jpg


The place is distinctly a working mans joint. It reminded me of my uncles garage, but the service was prompt and straightforward. As soon as I explained the tropical plants I were growing were not 'illegal' he was more than helpful :)

I have yet to use my cylinder, but it is beverage quality CO2 in a brand new cylinder filled in front of me... I'm quite confident it will be OK.
 
Shop Name: BRITAINS AQUATIC SUPERSTORE

Location:
225 Folds road
Bolton
Lancashire
BL1 2TW

What they Offer: Tropical and Coldwater fish and plants
 
The Aquarium at Cockfields Farm
Cockfields Farm
Lees Road
Ashton under lyne
OL6 8AR

Tel: 0161 331 3322
Fax: 0161 331 3332
Email: info@cockfields.co.uk

Opening hours

Monday-Friday 9.00am - 6.00pm
Saturdays 9.00am - 5.30pm

I visited "The Aquarium" at cockfields farm between Ashton and Oldham. Though a multipurpose building with a farm shop and a cafe it's quite nice and offers local goods. Plus it has chickens and a lama for the kids to have a look at.

The fish selection I thought was very good, from basics like WCMM and barbs to larger fish like Parrot ciclids and some huge pelcs. It has three "bays", one of Marine fish, and two of Tropical with the back of one with Goldfish. Fish health as a whole looked ok, although I spotted three dead fish and a very unhealthy looking albino tiger barb, swimming on its side, which the staff member mentioned had always looked poorly... hmm. One thing I did like was that almost all fish could be bought as young fish or at adult size, which was nice.

The selection of plants was disappointing - a small Tropica stand for plants and the staff member I was with didn't know what Anubias was. The selection of tanks was reasonable but the number of things to go into tanks, rocks, slate, substrate etc. was lacking.

As far as pumps and filters, there was a pretty typical selection of Tetra and Fluval. Sadly almost no eheim products (i have eheim filters).
 
Shop name:
North Lakes Aquatics

Location:
Robinson Street
Penrith
Cumbria
CA11 9HR

Directions:
Penrith's not a big place and the natives are friendly. Go there and ask! It's at the north end of town.

What they offer or specialise in:
Big independent store with lots of everything - plenty of dry goods, good for Eheim spares, big range of fish (quarantined) - specialise in corys, but all sorts of others,including shrimp. Good range of books (including Takashi Amano), Tropica plants. Nils is a knowledgeable and friendly member of staff.

Overall verdict of the shop:
I'm a very inexperienced fishkeeper, so I may not be the best judge - but this is certainly the best LFS in Cumbria that I've seen.

Website:
http://www.northlakesaquatics.com
 
Maidenhead Aquatics - Ashton
Ashton Park
Lord Sheldon Way Ashton-under-Lyne
Lancashire OL7 0DN

Open 7 days a week - please phone for opening hours (Closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day)
Contact
T 0161 371 9419
F 0161 371 9491

Directions: Just off the M60 near the Snipe retail park in Ashton Park Garden centre.

The store is new, only setup mid last year.

Visited the store now about 5 times, and always found the staff helpful. The tanks are always clean and i only once noticed one dead fish. Selection is reasonable but due to being a small concession in a garden centre the space is small.

Split between Marine and tropical with about 4 tanks for cold water the small space limits the fish offered but the selection is usually quite broad. Sometimes have shrimp and snails too.

A good range of tanks, plants and substrates also lighting. Main ranges are JBL, Interpet and tetra.
 
my fave shop is pier aquatics in wigan there plant selection is poor but they get lots of beautifull and very rare tetra`s ,shrimp ,pleco`s huge & tiny they also have a good selection of wood some huge pecies well worth a visit
 
Aqualife
338 Southport Road
Leyland
PR26 8LQ

Steve is a very knowledgable fish keeper and has a superb selection of fish and plants
you have to spend plenty of time looking in each tank to see whats hidding in the plants
well worth a visit ;-]
 
dean said:
Aqualife
338 Southport Road
Leyland
PR26 8LQ

Steve is a very knowledgable fish keeper and has a superb selection of fish and plants
you have to spend plenty of time looking in each tank to see whats hidding in the plants
well worth a visit ;-]

They're who I recently discovered, found them tremendous!
 
LancsRick said:
dean said:
Aqualife
338 Southport Road
Leyland
PR26 8LQ

Steve is a very knowledgable fish keeper and has a superb selection of fish and plants
you have to spend plenty of time looking in each tank to see whats hidding in the plants
well worth a visit ;-]

They're who I recently discovered, found them tremendous!

+1 recently discovered, small place but huge selection of stock, you have to look carefully to find those gems but you will. Owner seemed to know his stuff as well. This is my new favourite shop which has recently overtaken aquahome in leyland that's also pretty good http://www.aquahome.co.uk/. They are both 30 mins from me so have to be good to justify such a round trip.
 
The Abyss in Stockport - http://www.abyssaquatics.co.uk

Probably the best LFS I've been to, I always enjoy every visit, although slightly bias towards the marine end of the spectrum.

Very good selection of tropical fish and always plenty of them, but just the usual generic plant display. Needs a plant man on the inside :D

If you're ever in the area though, it's well worth a visit. :thumbup:
 
A recent 'bored' day led to a trip visiting several shops on the southern side of Manchester.
Starting at Cockfield, have to say stock levels were very down, lots of empty display tanks, only a handful of plants. Dry goods too seemed more sparse than when I last visited a few years back.
Maidenhead @ Ashton. Good basic range of plants, looks like they are getting ready for a basic bunched plants tank too (pots are Aquafleur). Good range of livestock and dry goods.
P@Home Ashton. Basic small range.
GayLyfe Levenshulme - old style nostalgia trip shop. Basic livestock range, and dry goods. Possibly best and cheapest stock of bogwood in the area. Healthy basic range of bunched plants.
Manchester Pets & Aquatics Ardwick. One to add on the itinerary if you have your small people with you. Small basic range of freshwater, and marine. Plants looked a bit sorry for themselves. Arachnophobe? Give it a miss.
Abyss - excellent range of everything really. Exception is the plants :( Refills JBL CO2
P@Home Stockport. When I visited the plants looked tired and worse for wear. Basic range of dry goods and tank filler fish.
Maidenhead @ Woodford. Appeared to be a slightly poorer relation to branch at Ashton. Pond stuff would appear to be their main earner so as you would imagine more pond stock. Plants again Aquafleur, but possibly less of a turnover so looked a little worse for wear.
Aquatics @ Wilmslow Garden Centre. Stunning discus and African cichlids. Plants looked a bit tired. Dry goods from Juwel, Tetra and Aqua One.

So to summit, plants buying still has a long long way to go to catch up with the specialist mail order sellers. Maidenhead Ashton undoubtedly the best of those I visited. Dry goods and livestock, first choice would be the Abyss, then in joint second Wilmslow, both Maidenhead. Bog wood winner by a country mile is GayLyfe, big pieces, and a reasonable choice too for probably half the price of the Abyss.
 
I'm a month into my first tank and have been looking around brick and mortar shops when i can. So based off my little knowledge i have a few places to visit.

Maidenhead Aquatics @ Bolton - Great selection of tropical fish and very well kept. Not much wood selection but the plants were fantastic. I did purchase a few things from here and picked the brain of Henry the sales assistant. really helpful.

The Living Reef @ Oldham - Mostly marine items but they are starting to sell tropical. Plants were poor and sparse, variety of fish but not much stock in at the time. Accessories were ok.

Gordon Riggs Garden Centre @ Rochdale - Plants were very poor, very poor. To make up for it they have every accessory you can imagine. Heaters and filter galore, food, chemicals, treats and even the cheap chinese sponge filters for £2. Fish looked healthy and the usual stock but nothing special. It's a bit dark and glum stuffed in the corner of the garden centre but have decent stuff at a reasonable price. Got 2L of Fluval tap conditioner for £22 so it's decently priced.

All in One Garden Centre @ Rochdale - Plants were ok and healthy but nothing special, not much wood at all, decent selection of fish but not much on the accessories side. Got 6 neon tetras as they looked healthy and it's close to home. Also had my water checked here.

To sum up my local shops are very basic on the fish, plants and wood selections. A trip to Maidenhead Aquatics @ Bolton is needed for most fish for me and wood from an online seller like swell who send me 2 pieces of amazing driftwood.
 
World of Water
Altrincham
is well worth a visit but sadly they have reduced the range of potted plants

Within the past few months, World of Water have added a very much bigger display tank with a large Arowana in. Currently, they have a wide range of driftwood. They've also updated their plant display tanks and have quite a good range in. They do seem to reduce stocks over the winter months, probably because the more seasonal pond side of the business is important to them.
 
Maidenhead @ Woodford. Appeared to be a slightly poorer relation to branch at Ashton. Pond stuff would appear to be their main earner so as you would imagine more pond stock. Plants again Aquafleur, but possibly less of a turnover so looked a little worse for wear.
Aquatics @ Wilmslow Garden Centre. Stunning discus and African cichlids. Plants looked a bit tired. Dry goods from Juwel, Tetra and Aqua One.

Maidenhead @ Woodford is my favourite. I wouldn't buy livestock from anywhere else. Plants I've bought from there have done well, but perhaps don't get the range you get from Tropica. Managed to get a Buce from them in the past few weeks. Good range of driftwood at the moment. Have two large planted tank displays and over time they appear to be doing more to cater for planted aquariums.

Aquatics @ Wilmslow Garden Centre buy in some end of line / last year's aquariums. Can get some heavily discounted deals.

Urmston Aquatics are also worth a mention. Not a huge store, but what they do, they do very well.
 
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