Aquarium Forums UK

I have been visiting a number of stores in the Kent area over the past few months, as I've returned to the hobby and wanted to get a better idea of where I might best find the things I am looking for when I don't want to "just order it online". I've looked at chains as well as independent stores and while I feel I'm nowhere near done yet, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the fish den when it comes to fish.

It's not the largest store by any means, but I didn't feel anything was really missing. There are a couple of tanks with plants and a good selection of equipment and sundries. Also quite stunning are the two open top display tanks by the entrance/till area. I will say that a scaper's heart may find satisfaction easier elsewhere, as the selection for materials was quite limited and nothing special, though honestly, that was not why I came back after an initial "scouting" visit. They had a solid selection of classic species, angels, tetras, loaches, bettas, cichlids, etc, but also a couple of oddballs, puffers, rope fish, axolotl, halfbeaks... which as nice. I've been out of the loop for a bit, but those ropefish were really something special to see for the first time. Everything looked to be in good health, and the staff were attentive to me and other customers, and answered my questions confidently. Prices were also quite reasonable.

What stood out to me about this store was that I saw a lot of mature, or near mature fish. It was lovely to see groups of full size fish, instead of hundreds of pale juveniles, showing off their colours. Makes it easier to convince the other half that we should get another tank for those really pretty fish! I went home with a group of paleatus corys that completely overshadowed the small, adult male I already had (a remnant of someone else's tank), as well as a lively group of gold-dust mollies. All were in good health, settled immediately and gave me no problems at all.

Definitely worth checking out if you're local!

I only quibble I had with this store last time I visited was every single aquarium had duckweed ...loads of duckweed!

@Isy have they got rid of the duck weed when you visited?

Surprised to hear about the duckweed, I've had fish delivered from there a few times as they keep an up to date stock list, I've never noticed any in the bags but it's too far away to visit so can't say for sure.

Staffylover wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 20:11 pm Surprised to hear about the duckweed, I've had fish delivered from there a few times as they keep an up to date stock list, I've never noticed any in the bags but it's too far away to visit so can't say for sure.

Why ever not @Staffylover ...it's only 180 miles.

Just up the road for me. Next hospital visit I'll have to drop in.

@Martinspuddle I honestly don't recall if it was across all the tanks, I wasn't really paying attention to that. There was definitely some in the tank where I picked the mollies from, some ended up in the bag, but I don't tend to have issues with it. I'll watch out on that front for next time.

Isy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 08, 2024 16:34 pm There was definitely some in the tank where I picked the mollies from, some ended up in the bag, but I don't tend to have issues with it. I'll watch out on that front for next time.

You'll soon know. In the meantime we'll wait for the thread posted 'how do I get rid of duckweed' by Isy.