Really good stock at my LFS (UK)

[racoll]

My LFS (Maidenhead Aquatics @ Oxford 01865 876516) has a really good stock of some very nice and rare catfish at the moment.

I thought i would share them with you all to try and get them a good home. I don't have enough tanks, and it's a shame to see them languish at the shop.

People just seem to want guppies

I can't guarantee some of the IDs (don't have time), but if anyone is interested i can take some photos.

They have all the usual fish, and i've probably missed some too.

Here are the more interesting catfish species.......

Auchenipteridae
Ageneiosus sp.
Liosomadoras morrowi
Tatia galaxias
Tatia intermedia
Tatia perugiae
Trachycorystes trachycorystes

Bagridae
Mystus bocourti
Hyalobagrus flavus

Callichthyidae
Corydoras alisae ?
C. davidsandsi
C. duplicareus
C. melini
C. polystictus
C. seussi
C. sp. â??gold peruâ?

[sidguppy]

holy smoke! where's an airplane ticket and 3 extra fishtanks when you need em?



nice stocklist indeed......

[corybreed]

Sure wish I could take a drive over. We don't have a selection on this side of the pond like that.

Mark

[Marc van Arc]

Auchenipteridae
Ageneiosus sp.
Liosomadoras morrowi
Tatia galaxias
Tatia intermedia
Tatia perugiae
Trachycorystes trachycorystes

Racoll,
You've really made my day.....
Not that I can come over, but I would be very interested in a picture of Ageneiosus sp.

[sojapat]

You should get on the M6 and head North ..
Piers stocklist would put that one to shame ..
And a lot cheaper ..
Ever seen Ageniosus from Argentina ..they have.
Not many rare corys there? Where are the Humiata fish?
Robustus ,Narcissus ,super arcuatus?
they also have 5x more loricarids..
I would have thought Maidenhead could have done a bit better ?

[Reginator]

Now I'm sad, I live in Bilbao, so only 2hrs from just about anywhere in England, but no time to pop over and no idead how to get them back .....Nothing that interesting over here...

[disco]

You should get on the M6 and head North ..
Piers stocklist would put that one to shame ..
And a lot cheaper ..
Ever seen Ageniosus from Argentina ..they have.
Not many rare corys there? Where are the Humiata fish?
Robustus ,Narcissus ,super arcuatus?
they also have 5x more loricarids..
I would have thought Maidenhead could have done a bit better ?

I have used this store quite a bit a the list above is just a start by no means does it cover all the cats in stock and I didn't notice any sizes or prices mentioned so how do you know piers are cheaper. I don't think its right that you should be knocking a store you haven't been to.

[sojapat]

I wonder how far people will travel for their fish?
I know that Pier is central in the UK but they have customers from Germany ,Greece,Isle of Man,Scotland ,Denmark.
While I was there today someone came from Portsmouth..
They Bought L25 ,L27 .L14 Lamonticthys,L128,Cory Robustus ,
Brochis Multirads..
A 5 hour drive ..
The guys said someone came on the train midweek for Cory Narcissus from London ..
A customer comes from Athens and takes fish home with him every couple of months Hypostomus Luteus ,Meradontotus tigrinnis IN HIS SUITCASE
There fish must be expensive ????
Maybe I dont need to go to Oxford...I see enough good fish!
It seems people pass other shops to get to Wigan??

[disco]

Why must there fish be expensive?
Do you think it is right for Pier to be allowing the illegal movement of fish to Italy, which I assume is what is happening unless he obtaining the correct licenses to move his livestock out of the country!

[Jools]

You should get on the M6 and head North ..
Piers stocklist would put that one to shame ..
And a lot cheaper ..
Ever seen Ageniosus from Argentina ..they have.
Not many rare corys there? Where are the Humiata fish?
Robustus ,Narcissus ,super arcuatus?
they also have 5x more loricarids..
I would have thought Maidenhead could have done a bit better ?

Neil,

It's about time to end this charade. You're the owner and manager of Pier Aquatics and if you're going to trumpet about your business that's perfectly OK, but to do so under false pretenses isn't.

Now that we've got that straightened out, it might help others understand why you know the prices other shops charge.

Jools

[Jools]

Do you think it is right for Pier to be allowing the illegal movement of fish to Italy, which I assume is what is happening unless he obtaining the correct licenses to move his livestock out of the country!

I'd say it's up to the individual to ensure they have the correct paperwork. Anyone can walk into a shop, say they are flying back to somewhere else in the UK and buy a load of fish and have them packed for transit. I've done it myself (albeit packed them for a four hour drive in winter rather than a flight but it approximates to the same thing).

You don't need paperwork to take pet tropical fish out of the UK, I would guess you do however need it to take them into Italy but many countries don't have that framework in place for pet fish, so you may not.

Jools

[Marc van Arc]

I'm sure this thread wasn't meant to provoke an argument. Let me make a "political" statement:
In two stores you have as much or maybe more Auchenipterid species than all stores in the Netherlands combined. The same will probably go for other catfishes, except Loricarids and Callichthyids.
That's great. Wish I could come over and visit both shops.

[Jools]

Wish I could come over and visit both shops.

It'll cost you an airfare to Edinburgh, I do not need excuses for fish shop road trips.

Jools

[sidguppy]

check out the small print on those pricefighters if you plan such a thing, Marc.

I planned it a few times, almost went; until I found out that most if not all of those cheapo airlines refuse to let you bring polystyrene boxes with live fish.....

and regular airfare would make a trip quite expensive! to fly to Edinburgh with KLM or BA during the holidays* it would cost a few hundred bucks......that would make those fish very expensive; it might be easier to order them thru a shop in Germany for example and get them by car.
more timeconsuming, but less expensive.

Another thing has to be taken in as well: even with the regular airlines tickets can be cheap if you book well in advance!
for obvious reasons this doesn't work, because a shop won't know if they have a good supply of weird fish 3 months in advance, nor will they hold on to a bunch of Ageneiosids for that long either. Booking any airtravel with an agency that lets you take fish along a few days in advance will cost you about an arm and a leg.


*Marc has fixed holidays like I do too -comes with the job- and the travelagencies and airline companies know about those! everytime schools close for even a short holiday airfares double or triple....it's a bugger, but still.

[sojapat]

1. I dont use this site to push through my stocklist.
Like many others do ..!
2. Disco ..Athens is not in Italy
3.Joolz .Why are you trying to be-little me ?
I treat your site well.I have done nothing wrong .
It is an Alias ...What is Joolz?
I have told no LIES!
4. EU movement of fishes is permitted as long as the PORT OF ENTRY documentation is correct.
5. Without BLOWING MY OWN TRUMPET ..People on this site would not get the rare fish without people who are willing like myself to take the risks for others to take pretty photos of .

[Silurus]

You may not think you are promoting your store under false pretenses, but the uninformed reading this:

I wonder how far people will travel for their fish?
I know that Pier is central in the UK but they have customers from Germany ,Greece,Isle of Man,Scotland ,Denmark.
While I was there today someone came from Portsmouth..
They Bought L25 ,L27 .L14 Lamonticthys,L128,Cory Robustus ,
Brochis Multirads..
A 5 hour drive ..
The guys said someone came on the train midweek for Cory Narcissus from London ..
A customer comes from Athens and takes fish home with him every couple of months Hypostomus Luteus ,Meradontotus tigrinnis IN HIS SUITCASE
There fish must be expensive ????
Maybe I dont need to go to Oxford...I see enough good fish!
It seems people pass other shops to get to Wigan??

will assume that you are another satisfied customer of Pier Aquatics (when in fact you aren't). This definitely smacks of a shill.

[sojapat]

I was there when someone came from Portsmouth. The guys did tell me someone came from London I was not in then ?
I was there when someone came from Athens ..
Where in that do you get that I am a satisfied customer ?
I was there I tell no lies .
I know now that I will not win this !
I do know that I was only trying to do things in a more subtle manor than most ..Who just wack on this site a massive list .
I have a lot of respect for the people behind the Planet Cat site .
I still dont see the major problem here .
I hope Planet Catfish is not all take and no give..?

[ymmas]

you might not agree with what he has said but Athens is in Greece. An they dont export fish illegally,GREECE is in the EU

[racoll]

I'm a bit saddened by sojapats comments.

The purpose of this post was not to find out where the best fish shop in the UK was.

There wasn't much interest in the unusual catfish at the shop in question, and I hoped some would be given a good home by the members of this forum.

I was only trying to do things in a more subtle manor than most ..Who just wack on this site a massive list.

I dont use this site to push through my stocklist.
Like many others do ..!

I'm not sure if these comments are directed at me, but I can assure everyone that I am not an employee of the shop in question. I have met at least two members of this forum in person and they can corroborate this.

I AM just a satisfied regular customer.

Also, I was not asked by any member of staff to post this list. I did it entirely off my own back for the reasons above.

As far as I know I have not broken any forum rules, although I am aware that advertising/spamming is a grey area.

Not that I can come over, but I would be very interested in a picture of Ageneiosus sp.

Marc, when i say Ageneiosus sp. I don't mean that they are necessarily undescibed, just that I didn't ID them to species level. I'll get some photos though next time I pop in.

[Ryan S]

I can assure everyone that I am not an employee of the shop in question. I have met at least two members of this forum in person and they can corroborate this.

I'll back this up

I AM just a satisfied regular customer.

You and me both... Top stock, and good guys, always helpful and polite (hmmm, this reminds me, I must take back their Cory ID book they lent me )

[Jools]

3.Joolz .Why are you trying to be-little me ?
I treat your site well.I have done nothing wrong .

Neil,

No belittling or real problem here, I just want to explain what I am objecting to. Wish I could do it over a beer but this post will have to do.

Have a look through http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/sear ... or=sojapat , there's a consistent use of tense that implies you're not either a shop worker or indeed the owner and manager. For example:

I saw lamonticthys today at Pier in Wigan..
I will try to take some pictures they are in real good condition.And only £12! Mmm mmm good...

ANYONE reading that would take that as a post by a visitor to the shop. Why not just post that you imported some of these fish and they're on sale at £12? No problem with that - as it stands you're being somewhere between tricksy and misleading. That is against the principles of the forum rules but, in in truth, I just don't understand why.

I have told no LIES!

In that case, would you mind changing your location to at least Lancashire or something a bit more specific. Tain really isn't the truth is it?

It is an Alias ...What is Joolz?

Err, that's my name? And that's my location over there on the left and this is my honest and open feedback. Some of the other vitriol you've encountered here is because of the post hijacking again which is running foul of forum rules. That's normal and, as you say, isn't going to win any points.

So, there you go, that's what the fuss is about.

Jools

[Jools]

I have a lot of respect for the people behind the Planet Cat site .
I still dont see the major problem here .
I hope Planet Catfish is not all take and no give..?

The respect is mutual and there isn't a major problem; there is an issue and it's discussed in my immediately previous post.

On the all take and no give thing, tell you what, you pay for all my man time and the man time of the moderator team etc and then we'll be on a level playing field.

If perhaps you're referring to the issue with some of your fish appearing without credit to the shop, perhaps I should credit them to a shop in Tain? Only kidding, you know that I would credit them to you if I knew they were yours and you also know that I emailed you with the last batch of photos taken by JJ well before this post started and asked you to confirm which were yours. Whenever I've taken photos in your shop I have credited them.

Hope that sorts that too, let me know about the cory pics and I will add them accordingly.

Mr Jensen then probably owes us both a beer for mixing up fish from different shops!

Jools

[grokefish]

I stopped off in pier aquatics today on my way back from a job in cumbria. It was really good. I got a little chaetostoma. He was cheap. I think that sojapats' post was funny it sounded like one of those adverts on the shopping channel (talking really fast) and I don't think that he has done anything bad. Everyone likes to make money and I was seriously impressed with the variety and quantity of catfish there, definately one of the best I have seen in any outlet (esp.suckermouths). I live in wales and have had to travel to long distance many times to various shops, wharf aquatics, wild woods, wholesale aquatics, oxford, glouster,cornwall,wigan, edinbourgh, aberdeen , glasgow blah blah blah... and all these retailers had something good to see. It's people like sojapat that make all these unusual cats available to us, the catfish freaks, through hard work and potentially a financial gamble, not everyone is into catfish, I'd say we are a minority and stock could hang around for a long time, which is why you don't tend to see the likes of brachyplatystoma, meglodoras, acheniptridae and expensive loricaridae in the vast majority of LFS.
Sojapat, or niel whoever, have you thought about transporting these fish to these people from foreign parts for an uplift, if done well, with the fishes welfare in mind, this would be something to brag about and a potential moneyspinner.

[Jools]

It's people like sojapat that make all these unusual cats available to us, the catfish freaks, through hard work and potentially a financial gamble, not everyone is into catfish, I'd say we are a minority and stock could hang around for a long time, which is why you don't tend to see the likes of brachyplatystoma, meglodoras, acheniptridae and expensive loricaridae in the vast majority of LFS.

I couldn't agree more about the Neil's hard work and financial gamble, well, it's not so much of a gamble when you know how to keep fish alive right after import (and many do not do this well) but the best importers travel abroad to where there fish come from and Neil is no exception. The points above are just about why all the cloak and dagger stuff?

I have to disagree however on one point - I'm quite happy I do not see Brachyplatystoma or Megalodoras at all my LFS.

Jools

[racoll]

I think that sojapats' post was funny it sounded like one of those adverts on the shopping channel (talking really fast) and I don't think that he has done anything bad. Everyone likes to make money and I was seriously impressed with the variety and quantity of catfish there, definately one of the best I have seen in any outlet

I don't think it was intended as a joke.

Perhaps sojapat felt treatened in some way by another store with some unusual fish, and felt the need to rubbish my post, which actually took quite me a long time to write up (for the benefit of others i might add).

I'm sure he's seen more and rarer fish than I ever have, but I still think that the Oxford stocklist is head and shoulders above many shops i've been to. To say "could have done a bit better" is just shameless self-promotion.

You simply do not see species such as Trachycorystes, Gymnallabes, Leptodoras, Hemiodontichthys, Planiloricaria & Cephalosilurus in the vast majority of shops. FACT.

I don't know why sojapat feels the need to rubbish my post, as his shop is hundreds of miles away, and constantly gets rave reviews from users of this forum. His shop is mentioned far more than any other in fact.

No hard feelings, but such blatant, spiteful and shameless hijacking of a topic is just rude.

[Marc van Arc]

Marc, when i say Ageneiosus sp. I don't mean that they are necessarily undescibed, just that I didn't ID them to species level. I'll get some photos though next time I pop in.

Thanks in advance for doing so. It doesn't matter that it might be a "known" species. Don't forget to ask the owner for permission; we once took pictures at Blecha (Germany) without doing so and he got rather nasty about it. I guess we were very enthousiastic, but ignorant. After we apologized, we could carry on.

[grokefish]

I agree with you joolz about the large fish I mentioned, I was merely thinking off the top of my head of unusual fish to see for sale, however, there are people that look for these fish and keep them in, I can only say, adequate conditions, realistically you could never have a tank big enough for a migrating species of catfish, because the maintenace, cost and dedication in keeping these large fish is a lifestyle choice not a hobby,(personal experience) which I know goes for small fish in large numbers also.
I don't doubt that if these fish were even recognised by the larger generic fishkeeping population irresponsible LFS would be selling them by the bucketload to unsuspecting people. I hope you get my meaning. Magazines such as practical fishkeeping are doing a very good job of disuadeing people from going down these lines (a good thing). By financial gamble I mean these are not fish that your average fih keeper will buy, slow turnover of stock, loss of profit.
I'm sorry racoll, but I found myself giggling at sopjats blatant plug, it was no reflection on your post, which I personally found invaluable, more posts like this may save people alot of time and expense travelling long distances 'on the off chance' of finding something they are looking for, I'm just gutted real jaguar cats were not on the list, but then again I would be driving up there now if they were....where are the jaguar cats????? Have all been eaten? someone on this site must know!
Why not put a poll together to see if the planet catfish comunity mind these blatent plugs, or, possibly have an area within the system where they can plug/put stock lists,(I have no idea what this would involve) I personally would find this usefull,it would absolve people of 'cloak and dagger' tactics, although there is nothing like going into a shop blind and finding a real gem I think you will agree.
Marc I saw the ageneiosus at peir aquatics, they were amazing, I nearly walked out with them all but didn't as I don't know enough about them, which I will rectify once I have finnished rambling on...

[Jools]

No hard feelings, but such blatant, spiteful and shameless hijacking of a topic is just rude.

Agreed, it was rude and that's mainly why I stepped in.

Jools

[Reginator]

If a UK shop like pier could ship to closer EU countries I'd definately become a customer.... Spain is like 10 years behind in fish