had a bit of time off today so i thought id look around a few shops – heres the ones i visited:
peter barratts – gosforth
for once pleasantly suprised – no white spot for a change!!!- however there was a few tanks of fish – especially a poor looking group of b.kubotia – bacterial infection – all gasping, red gills , couple already dead that were in particularly bad condition. one thing you cant take away from barratts is the range of fish, they always have a greater variety of species to most similar shops but the quality and condition of the fish is poor at best – its one shop i would never buy from personally as its on a central system (which doesnt work effectively as you see the same diseases in multiple tanks) . they did have a couple of nice pim ornatus but they were a bit expensive for what they are but the biggest problem is the tank/fish/water quality. staff were chatting amongst themselves as usual but seemed helpful with the customer who did approach them
chandlers garden centre – gosforth park
all tanks looked clean and healthy but quite a small range – more of a specialised koi place which had more stock and looks like its gearing up for koi season. again no one made eye contact apart from 1 lad outside in the koi section
dobbies garden centre – ponteland
again a couple of tanks under treatment but at least they were being treated – not like barratts – marines looked reasonable if a little pricey but there wasnt much interesting in the f/w section (although it is thursday so a lot of stuff comes in today and tomorrow) reasonable amount of dry stock – mainly aqua one unfortunately – other than that out of the 3 staff not 1 even made eye contact with me or the other customers there
cyber aqua – team valley
moving more into being more of a pet shop (now sell rabbits etc) but obviously still specialise in the marine side – everything in terms of fish health looked good, and prices seemed more reasonable – as for the f/w side again very clean and tidy (they have quarantine at the back) but only bread and butter stock. staff friendly – this was the only place someone approached me and asked if i needed a hand with anything so thats one thing theyve got right , the only criticism would be that if anything i was a bit dissapointed by the amount of tanks -for the amount of space they have theres only a small number of f/w and marine tanks which obviously impacts on the stock they can keep – but other than that i would say this is the most pleasant of the 4 shops to visit – best service and cleanest healthiest stock.
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<p>Thanks for that, quite insightful. Where’s cyber aqua?</p>
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<p>Thanks for that, quite insightful. Where’s cyber aqua?<!--QuoteEnd--></div>
<p><!--QuoteEEnd--><br />on the team valley – just behind the printers i used to work at which was on kingsway – worth having a look at</p>
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<p><!--QuoteEEnd--><br />no i didnt have time today – hevent been in there for a while now</p>
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” border=”0″ alt=”cool.gif” /> Are Cyber doing freshwater now??</p>
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” border=”0″ alt=”cool.gif” /> Are Cyber doing freshwater now??<!--QuoteEnd--></div>
<p><!--QuoteEEnd--><br />yeah, they are in new premises but to be honest its very basic stuff – danios , tetras etc but for anyone looking for these kind of fish i would def go here</p>
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