| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Sammysnake |
Posted - 03/09/2010 : 20:02:24
I visited a certain aquatic/rep shop in Henlow, Beds the other week (don't know if I'm allowed to name it) whilst I was on holiday as I'd heard they had lots of reps. I'm certainly no expert but I was pretty disgusted by some of the conditions I saw. The water dragons were being kept in a dry cage with no humidity and only a small still bowl of water (surely that's not right is it?) Also, a tank full of tiny baby beardies where every single one had either the end of its tail nibbled off, a big chunk of tail missing or the last few cms of tail blackened and withered. It wasn't nice to see. |
| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| miss_mystra |
Posted - 07/09/2010 : 09:45:56
quote:
Originally posted by BurnedAtTheStake
Goldfish! This is what got me on to snakes, going to the pet supermarket for a couple of goldfish for a soothing front room feature, disliking supermarket so going to local rep shop which also sells fish ... well, you can guess the rest ...
I too got started with weather loach ... I love weather loach, and plecs. But goldfish! In my experience they are greedy, messy, need loads and loads of room and mercifully I found a 50 gallon header tank in a skip, converted it into an outdoor pond with fountain and deported all the goldfish ... they are very very happy out there. Well, they are huge and greedy, so I reckon they must be happy.
Yes, I love those black moor beasties. I used to try to keep them ...disaster. When I started fishkeeping again I learned they were very sensitive to water quality, but have never dared to buy any more.
If anyone wants a really bombproof fish, I can recommend weather loach (great characters, will grow a foot long though) white cloud mountain minnows (need to live in shoal of at least 6) and chinese bitterlings (grow to size of small goldfish - silver with intriguing flashes of turqoise).
I do try to keep up with water treatments,filter changes, water changes, gravel cleaning and the rest ... but those damn goldfish stay outside!
haha i'm with you about the weather loach, mine is hilarious..he's called the Lieutenant!! In the summer if it got a bit warm he would climb on top of the pump and sit out of the water just dangling his head in... he eats the goldfish food... the goldfish eats his food... bunch of finned idiots bless em
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| BurnedAtTheStake |
Posted - 06/09/2010 : 23:13:34
Goldfish! This is what got me on to snakes, going to the pet supermarket for a couple of goldfish for a soothing front room feature, disliking supermarket so going to local rep shop which also sells fish ... well, you can guess the rest ...
I too got started with weather loach ... I love weather loach, and plecs. But goldfish! In my experience they are greedy, messy, need loads and loads of room and mercifully I found a 50 gallon header tank in a skip, converted it into an outdoor pond with fountain and deported all the goldfish ... they are very very happy out there. Well, they are huge and greedy, so I reckon they must be happy.
Yes, I love those black moor beasties. I used to try to keep them ...disaster. When I started fishkeeping again I learned they were very sensitive to water quality, but have never dared to buy any more.
If anyone wants a really bombproof fish, I can recommend weather loach (great characters, will grow a foot long though) white cloud mountain minnows (need to live in shoal of at least 6) and chinese bitterlings (grow to size of small goldfish - silver with intriguing flashes of turqoise).
I do try to keep up with water treatments,filter changes, water changes, gravel cleaning and the rest ... but those damn goldfish stay outside! |
| Mouse |
Posted - 06/09/2010 : 22:56:07
We had some that gre so big we couldn't keep them in an indoor tank, and so they went out into the garden pond with the koi, and grew even bigger....:D |
| miss_mystra |
Posted - 06/09/2010 : 13:47:05
Goldfish are lovely, but you'd be surprised how much room they actually need in comparision to what these shops and starter kits make out, i've found that out the hard way :( I have a 40L tank and been told it's not enough room for one goldfish let alone the three i originally had there, getting one very soon tho..plus there is a weather loach ("oh it wont grow much bigger..." yeah right!) and an apple snail in there too, getting a big beastie 4 ft tank.
I always thought a couple years was how long a goldfish was supposed to live for... now i know better turns out they can live about 20 years but need a huge tank!! |
| FiestaSTLou |
Posted - 06/09/2010 : 13:01:37
i dont know what litre it is, but its like a starter kit one with a pump, we wher told it could house 4 :) |
| herriotfan |
Posted - 06/09/2010 : 12:27:18
Make sure your tank is big enough to house more! They can grow quite large. |
| FiestaSTLou |
Posted - 06/09/2010 : 12:14:27
really, iv only got 2 gold fish atm now so may go get some at the weekend, have wanted them for ages but i never thought i could! thanks for giving me the proper advise. :) |
| herriotfan |
Posted - 06/09/2010 : 11:38:31
Sounds like the fish you mean are blackmoors and they can be kept with other goldfish. We had some for many years together when our children were young.
It's so annoying when these places have no idea about the pets they are 'advising' on.  |
| FiestaSTLou |
Posted - 06/09/2010 : 11:11:13
thats horrible! :o what did they say when u told them?
sounds abit like pet at home, no dead fish on the floor but the amount of times iv gone in there for aspen and went to see the fishys and found dead ones floating at the top :( the most interesting bit was when i went in there for some fish for a tank my dad got me a while ago, i already had 2 normal gold fish but wanted 2 black ones with huge eyes, but the very enthusiastic fish guy in there said i couldnt have them as they cant be in tanks with normal goldfish cos one or the other (cant remember) would die... this i accept as i know nothing about fish but made me wonder as they housed their googly eyed black fish with normal gold fish! |
| miss_mystra |
Posted - 06/09/2010 : 10:40:22
aww that doesn't sound nice :( trouble is reporting them gets them a warning where they make the place perfect in time for inspection...hmpf
Went to a local place (i wont say where as some may work it out) the other day which i always remember being really good when i was little... not so good now... the animals there just looked so listless or frustrated. Worst was the goldfish area, whilst looking at some fish in the tank i slipped on something... i thought the worst then thought don't be daft its just the wet floor! I was wrong... it was the worst, a poor little goldfish had jumped out and was on the floor. And i had full trod on him and slipped on him. I felt awful - i guess he could have already been dead. Didn't help there was another 3 dead fish on the floor next to it... i was nearly sick :S i have a really spot for fish too so felt like i had stepped on a puppy :(
The shop used to have a great reputation for fish and reptiles... now its just full of chavs and staff for couldn't care less :(
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| FiestaSTLou |
Posted - 04/09/2010 : 18:08:46
thats horrible to hear :( |
| n/a |
Posted - 04/09/2010 : 18:02:56
ok went to the shop in henlow and its disgusting!
saw the beardies with no tail some reps had massive bowls they could swim in or too small. some with the wrong bedding and while i was there i called marc and asked about a bosc....
it had a red sore mouth and he said it could me mouth wart i think???
he also said look for mites in the water so we did and we found them on the water bowls. none of the animals were kept clean...
it was awful to see!
 |
| Claude |
Posted - 04/09/2010 : 17:17:53
Ameyzoo is local to me too. Very good indeed! |
| FiestaSTLou |
Posted - 04/09/2010 : 17:11:03
thats so sad :(
we use ameyz to anna was in there today getting food :) cant say a bad word about the conditions the reps kept in, all tip top :) |
| nova1990 |
Posted - 03/09/2010 : 23:17:18
theres a reptile shop in ipswich like that. they had like 10 cornsnakes in one tank and that was tiny and covered in sand. baby beardies in another tank with tails missing. rats kepted in hamster cages with sawdust as bedding. horrible shop, only reason i go there is because its the only shop in ipswich that sells snake food |
| n/a |
Posted - 03/09/2010 : 22:17:27
oh no! i heard it was really good at henlow. im going tomorrow to have a look. i will report back what its like....
luckily my local rep shop ameyzoo is fantastic! mark is brilliant!!!  |
| herriotfan |
Posted - 03/09/2010 : 22:12:05
OMG!  I went there a few years ago and was very impressed with the husbandry of the place. Sounds like it's got new owner/staff who have no idea. What a terrible way for a place to go, especially for the animals.
I'm very lucky to have an excellent reptile shop fairly local where they really know their stuff. |
| Figs |
Posted - 03/09/2010 : 20:57:57
I've seen a shop like that in Widnes - and it wasnt just with the reps either!
A hairless rat kept right in front of a fan (and it wasnt a hot day either)
Finches with feathers falling out in a cage with no water, food or perches
a tiny baby leopard gecko in a tank with a big bowl of water that literally took up half the tank
Adult pairs of beardies kept in completely bare 2ft tanks - puffy eyes, curled lips, black toes and missing tail tips
A big king snake kept in a completely bare 2ft tank with stuck shed all over him
How sad |
| Tiffany-x |
Posted - 03/09/2010 : 20:38:22
Haha yeah, my local-ish petshop is fantastic. They seem to know about all of the animals they keep in such amazing detail and everything is spotlessly clean. The only thing I could fault is I think some of the vivs are a bit small but at the end of the day its only for until they are sold. Unfortunately there are a lot of rubbish places and there isnt a great deal we can do about that. :/
Tiffany-x |
| Lixra |
Posted - 03/09/2010 : 20:26:09
Sadly, there will always be places like these. Usually, it's the local places that are better than the bigger chains from my experience, but I've seen a few places that were absolutely appalling. Like, the owners should seriously be taken out with a crossbow or something... ;) |
