Is This The Best Loach Shop In The World? Split Thread.

[Sprocket]

o my giddy aunt.......... i live in northamptonshire (to the left, 10 miles south of daventry) and often visit thier northampton shops but never thought that the one in the (posh) was that good, guess were i'm going after xmas?........

[Martin Thoene]

It's definitely the DB

Martin.

[brett_fishman]

cool pic of the big marine tank i found on the site:


i like that ship!! i wonder if its all hollow and has hidey holes?

-brett.

[quatermass]

Cute shops the Maidenheads. They do keep wining awards in the UK fish magazines and do set very high standards and they keep getting in rare and new species for us to drool on.

They have lots of branches across England and Wales.

But odd that they claim 'centres across the UK' when they don't have them in Scotland. A bit dishonest of them. Hmm.

Maybe I should report them to the Adverting Standards people! Hehe.


Ok, I'm probably just jealous.

Here is Scotland we have a few really good shops. Going to Ultimate Aquatics is like going Toy 'R Us is a 6 year old! But its 90 mins away!

[Emma Turner]

Ah, the group is gradually creeping further north! Having said that, we have customers that come down to our store on the train from Scotland!!!

Brett, yes the huge galleon is hollow, but we don't have any species small enough to make use of it in that tank. The puffers like sleeping underneath it though.

Emma

[quatermass]

Ah, the group is gradually creeping further north! Having said that, we have customers that come down to our store on the train from Scotland!!!
Emma

Hi Emma,

Are you an employee of MH then?

Perhaps you can tell me why MaidenHead aren't in Scotland?

I presume the company's branches are franchises?

[Emma Turner]

Hi Stuart,

Yes, I'm the livestock manager at the Peterborough store, which is the shop talked about in this thread. My other half Steve is a partner in the business and also manages the store. We specialise in Asian fishes, particularly loaches.
I'm also in the process of upgrading the Fish Databank on the M/A website.

As I said earlier, M/A is gradually moving further north, as and when suitable sites become available.

Emma

[botiaboy]

Do you carry any sinibotia?I didn't see any pics, but i might have accidentally scrolled past them...

[Emma Turner]

Only Sinibotia robusta. Over here in the UK we have some very tight restrictions on the importation of cooler water species.

Emma

[LoachOrgy]

wow, wish i were near you......you never see that much variety. i don't even see that much variety in all of the fish stores in the area. big al's, petsmart, barrier reef, you name it. in just a few shots i can see how diverse and well kept everything looks. its definitely a step up from all the other lfs i have seen! Great job!

[loachmom]

wow, wish i were near you......you never see that much variety. i don't even see that much variety in all of the fish stores in the area. big al's, petsmart, barrier reef, you name it. in just a few shots i can see how diverse and well kept everything looks. its definitely a step up from all the other lfs i have seen! Great job!

Not just a "step up"----More like a LEAP!!!!!!

[Emma Turner]

Thank you.

[Martin Thoene]

Here's the original post that started this thread.

The whole post is now available as an article at the Loaches Online Community site:

http://www.loaches.com/articles/is-this ... -the-world

............................................................................................................

For the benefit of those regulars who weren't present on August 18th 2006, I thought I would post this as a sticky so that the information doesn't get lost in the sands of time. I may turn it into a proper article with Jeff's help.

I have to thank profusely Helen Nightingale for giving me the lift from Norwich to Crowland. Emma Turner for organizing everyone else to be there which made it such a fantastic day, and a terrorist group for completely screwing up international air travel with carry-on liquids that took away any temptation on my part to spend a lot of money

THE BEST LOACH SHOP IN THE WORLD

That's a hell of a claim. It's me that's claiming that, not the ever so modest proprieters. Why do I think it's the best? Well firstly, I doubt there's a better one anywhere. I can't see anywhere else getting close when it comes to variety of species, cleanliness of tanks and premises, healthiness of the stock, and being run by someone with complete passion.

I think that's the key.

Emma and Steve set up the store around 4 years ago. Steve is a super nice guy and obviously the businessman of the pair. Emma, as we realize from her posts on LOL is highly knowledgeable and the passion behind the Loach section. I'm sure she drives Steve nuts with her desire to get in rare species for the loach enthusiasts amongst their customers.

You reach Maidenhead Aquatics Peterborough store at it's Crowland location by walking through a Garden Centre. This is a big place, immaculately clean and well laid out. Then you reach your goal.......



Walking in, you pass on your left well stocked shelves with fish foods and other equipment. The first thing that you get awed by are the two enormous Marine show tanks. One to your left houses large specimens and the right-hand one is a fabulous Reef tank.



This houses some beautiful fish.


Yellow Tangs, Zebrazona flavescens


A beautiful Acanthurus sohal with attendant Cleaner Wrasse

Over in the other display tank was this guy.


Clown Trigger, Balistoides niger

To the left of this tank are banked rows of well-stocked marine tanks with beautiful specemins of fish and invertebrates.


A cheeky Blenny peeps out from a Barnacle cluster

As you walk through the shop you pass other show tanks that are all beautifully set up and attractive. Quite a few loaches in evidence too!

Then you get to the 8 foot long display tank that houses Clowns and other loaches amongst its inhabitants.



There's some unusual residents.


Unusually coloured Botia rostrata who was highly uncooperative about being photographed.


A Bristle-nosed Plec who reminded everyone of an Anglerfish with his "lure".

The group of visitors gathered in front of the tank for the "team shot".


Emma, Helen, Graeme, Martin, Susan, Les and Mark (Mad Duff)

You just have to stand and stare at this tank.


Between Graeme and Les, you can just see the quite large area of Coldwater fish vats, and to the left is this:


A beautiful Paludarium, complete with trickling water, a misting device and some Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki that Emma denies all knowledge of who put them in there!

To the left of the 8-foot tank is the entrance to Paradise....well the Loach and Catfish Section.


The sign makes you realize how seriously Emma takes this section. Maybe the sign should read "Beware, you may become addicted"?


The ultra well-stocked Loach-lover's Nirvana.

All Maidenhead Aquatics branches use similar banked tank setups with large tanks set in the base. These usually house some big fish, such as this guy.....


Tetraodon mbu. Emma says that he's being re-housed soon.

This bank of tanks has some serious support equipment between the two rows. No wonder the water-quality is so high.


The fish boxes at the foot of the picture were how Graeme and Mark's fish got home warm.


Lots of plumbing there!

So.....what's in these wonderfully clean tanks then?


Yasuhikotakia modesta


Botia rostrata, Botia striata, and Garra species


Garra gotlya, or something else?


This is definitely Garra gotlya.


Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki and Garra gotlya.


A mixed tank of Syncrossus species.


Almost certainly one of the fish that Graeme now has. This Syncrossus berdmorei was simply stunning.


Botia dario.


Left to right, the oddball Botia reserved for Helen, a red-tailed Schistura species, and another Garra species.


Garra and Schisturas.


Extreme Garra closeup.


Mixed Schistura mayhem!(Clean the glass!)


Yasuhikotakia nigrolineata and Aborichthys elongatus.


Garra species and a Nemacheilus corica buried in the sand.


Beautiful Panda Garra (Garra flavatra), surrounded by Botia striata and what looks like a Sinobotia robusta.


Garra flavatra.


Lots of the unidentified spotted Sewellia species. These guys are pretty big.


Beautiful fish.

A whole load of Sewellia lineolata. Cry Jim, cry


Note the excellent tank labelling.



A beautiful Male Sewellia lineolata.

Phew! Time for a break......We all went down to the local Pub for refreshment. Here's me about to tuck into a substantial portion of Beef and Guinness Pie with fries. It tasted even better than it looked!



After lunch, we were granted an audience with Marge the Magnificent at Emma and Steve's home.



Only seeing this magnificent fish in the flesh gives you the real deal concept of how wonderful she is.

Got a chance to see the world's first tank-bred Sewellia lineolata for ourselves.


Just SO cute!

Here's Emma and Steve's take on my River-Tank concept.


Like seeing one of my own children

We returned to the shop where the fact that we keep more than Loaches in our tanks has to be considered. Emma and Steve stock a huge variety of "regular" tropical fish. They all look in fantastic condition and prices are good. In amongst these other banks of tanks are some beautiful gems.


A beautiful Male Stiphodon species River-goby.


A Female from the same tank.


Another species of Stiphodon. These fish are mainly algal grazers.


Cherry barbs (Barbus titteya), gorgeous Barilius species (gatensis?), plus some barbs that I forget the name of.
[/color.


Puntius denissonii , and Barbus semifascoliatus or is it pentazona?

I could have taken even more pictures to be honest. There were so many beautiful fish. I didn't take pics of a lot of the loaches.....there were far more species.

Unfortunately, I had to leave without any, but Graeme went nuts. Here's Emma catching his Syncrossus berdmorei. Every fish was bagged seperately by Steve for the long drive home. SO professional these two.


Graeme picks out fish watched by Helen, while Emma tries to keep an eye on the chosen fish. You know how frustrating that can be in most shops? Emma just latches on to an image of the fish and hunts it down. Not easy in a tank stocked with multiple species that look similar.

Here, Emma is all a blur catching fish for Mark while Susan and Les look on.



Mark and Graeme left loaded down with boxes and Helen and I stayed till after closing and chatted with Emma. Then Emma and Steve invited us back round for some tea. We finally left after 9pm!
Helen drove me back to Norwich where my Sister picked me up.

A long, but fantastic day.

So is this the BEST LOACH SHOP IN THE WORLD?

It's good.....it's VERY good. Emma and Steve are consummate professionals who only employ other dedicated fishkeepers. No weekend kids here! The shop is wonderfully kept and the livestock is absolutely second to none. It's an unfortunate fact that some of the species we saw there may no longer be imported soon due to new UK import restrictions on certain species. That may affect the sheer numbers of species stocked in the future. Something tells me though that Emma will just scour the shipper's lists for unusual tropical species and compensate for the cooler water species that will be restricted.
Right now this absolutely HAS to be the best loach shop in the world. I'm sure that will continue. The thing is, I've never seen another shop anywhere where every fish in there looks so fit and healthy and is tended by such dedicated and professional staff. They stock a wide variety of equipment, foods, and everything you need for your hobby in very clean conditions. Emma told me that in her opinion the shop was not as neat and tidy as it should be. That's a reflection of WHY this place is so darned good. When it's run by people with such high standards the person who really benefits is the customer.

I don't just think that Maidenhead Aquatics Peterborough is the best Loach shop in the world, I think it's the best FISH shop I've ever seen, and it's owned by two of the nicest fishkeepers I've ever met.

Oh.....and they gave me a sticker.......



Martin.

[ken_loaches]

just incredible! wish we had something like this in Manila.