Petmania pet/fish shop opens in Navan

Petmania have opened a new pet store in Navan.

Navan Retail Park, Athboy Road, Navan
Tel: 046 9092560
www.petmania.ie

I'm not associated with them, was in the new shop
the other day, fish stocks are huge, staff knowledge
is good and purchased a few fish in the process.

Brian

the one in santry is the worst fish shop ive ever seen and i seen bad ones

Hi there,
New to posting...not to forum-watching or fish-keeping though....

Petmania branch in Tralee not the best! After getting a new 84l tank, decided to get live plants and go tropical community (after agonising for weeks about not returing to breeding bettas!) type tank.

Tank is currently cycling so thankfully I've not added fish yet as at least one of the 'aquatic' plants is actually a terrestrial dracena! The other I've not been able to id yet: its either an acubais (aquatic=good) or its relative arum (terrestrial=bad)...
I went back in and mentioned about the terrestrial plant to be told that it WAS an aquatic by the 'expert' in the fish section..

Also on my return visit I noticed at least a dozen fish (mainly plecos) dead and being chewed up in a number of tanks...

Thankfully I wasnt accompanied by my kids on this visit.
Decided I'd go into the other pet shop in town...to find less dead but several more distressed and chewed up male bettas as well as ...another terrestrial dracena that was 75% rotted in one tank!!

GRRR I'd like to know if there's any realistic hope of being able to get fish from the sponsor shop in Croagh without them dying from the journey to Tralee?

I must add the sheer ENVY of hearing about all the options available to those living in and around Dublin area!!! Plus the tank sizes.....sooooo jealous!!

I'd like to get to the point where I end up having a decent tropical freshwater community tank and a large marine tank......lol, guess i'm just another addict!!

Welcome ArielBetta. If you think the fish look good and they are bagged properly for the journey to Croagh they should be fine.
Unfortunitly there are still shops selling terrestrial plants as aquatic plants. I think they just buy a bulk load from a wholesalers and take it for granted they are aquatic plants.
Do you have a pic. of the Anubias/Arum for possible ID?

Hi there and thanks for the quick response!

No pix yet...must find the camera (we moved in Feb so some things are still not unpacked). I did see somewhere on the site a bit on telling the difference...like (1) if it looks like one of gran's plants (2) if it retains shape out of water (3) if it has filmy coat to protect from imersion .....these are terrestrial indicators. It looks like arum (1) but doesnt retain shape or noticably flop either but there's no filmy coating so far yet either!

I thimmk I'll give it another 24/48 hours, if it doesnt rot or develop the filmy coating I'll assume its an aquatic....at least until I get hold of a camera.

I wouldnt mind so much if it was a terrestrial-it could quite happily go in my garden where I have some arum anyway! I will be annoyed with the supplier though if it turned out that BOTH 'aquatics' were not! Especially as it may upset the tank cycle, I can't find another local source and I can buy terrestrial arums cheaper and larger from any garden centre!!
What I'd like to do is get some java fern/moss but again....suppliers
Definitely must take a trip up to that place in Croagh.... and try to leave without impulse buying fish (or at least resist until tank is fully cycled)

That sounds like an aquatic plant you have.
No harm going to Croagh to check them out. Just let the tank cycle before introducing fish. you will save yourself and the fish a lot of stress.

Hi ArielBetta
Welcome to the forum...what's the distance involved between Tralee and Croagh...? I buy 99% of my fish in Dublin and bring them back to the midlands (distance of 50 miles) and have never had any problems,actually the only problems I've ever had concerned a local superstore type shop and that was to do with the way the fish were netted,the fish (rummy nose tetras) were bought by my son as a present and when they were introduced into the tank I noticed 2 were having trouble swimming,they looked like their backs/spines had been damaged.My son mentioned when they were being netted the person doing it had not been very gentle.Both fish were dead within 2 hours so back I went to the shop where I was offered replacements,only to see the original "netter" attempt to catch 2 more rummys,She was clumsy to say the least and when I mentioned to her she was doing it wrong,got a "look" needless to say words were exchanged and I don't shop there any more,tho I do often drop in to keep an eye on things,on two occasions I've had to point out white spot in some tanks to the fish "EXPERTS" there....So now I travel to a proper shop..... Anyway Rant over...enjoy the new tank and if you do have travel a long distance to a sponsor shop explain that you have a long distance to travel home and maybe see if they will give you a polystyrene box to transport the fish home in.

Lar

The one in santry is hit and miss but there is a bald lad in there who is great ive noticed if he isnt there the fish area is very shabby alrite. i got two red tailed sharks in there a with in a day they were both dead( not my fault ) they both had white spot i didnt no at the time what it was i did say to the person when buyin the red tails, what are the white spots on them and was told that some come like that when they are young and that they will go as they grow.

What a load of f**king sh*t

ArielBetta wrote:
Hi there,
.GRRR I'd like to know if there's any realistic hope of being able to get fish from the sponsor shop in Croagh without them dying from the journey to Tralee?

Get up to Tom in croagh he's a lovely set up and will i'm sure give you a polybox to transport your fish if you ask him... decent lad with some great quality fish..

also as for journey times i regularly go from lmk to galway to buy my stock from aquapaws another great shop and again they will give yo a ploybox for transportation... on the rare occassion i've not got one just wrap them in a jacket/jumper for the trip it works just as well and i've done this on trips from dub to lmk

Dub to Lmk....wow, good to know they can survive a trip like that.

News on Petmania Tralee situation... I went in there today and gently made a few 'suggestions'
In fairness to the guy in there (he's new in the door, been there only 3 days, but got a genuine interest in fish!) he took it all on board...even moved 2 particularly badly battered bettas!
There seems to be some hope there yet!! A 'watch this space' I think..or less I'm just overly optimistic.............

Everyday fish are flown from one end of the World to the other,with stop overs and delats,etc.If bagged reasonably well in a shop,you can drive them from Dublin to Cork and back again.If bagged properly,a couple of days wouldnt be a problem for a lot of species.

Have been going to Petmania in Ballymun/Santry for over a year. The main fish guy left at the end of 2008. He was really excellent and had taught the others most of what they know. The main guy there now is struggling, I think he is over loaded at the moment. Was in there last week and all the tanks were in a dreadful state. Went back two days later and he was busy cleaning all the tanks. He seems to be on his own at the moment.

Id say give him a chance and he will get better. I know Pet Stop went through a similar change, I think maybe it happens with staff changes etc. Dont get me wrong here, Im not bad mouthing the shops in question, just giving them time to adjust.

Puggy wrote:

Have been going to Petmania in Ballymun/Santry for over a year. The main fish guy left at the end of 2008. He was really excellent and had taught the others most of what they know. The main guy there now is struggling, I think he is over loaded at the moment. Was in there last week and all the tanks were in a dreadful state. Went back two days later and he was busy cleaning all the tanks. He seems to be on his own at the moment.

Id say give him a chance and he will get better. I know Pet Stop went through a similar change, I think maybe it happens with staff changes etc. Dont get me wrong here, Im not bad mouthing the shops in question, just giving them time to adjust.

Hey Puggy i'ts Jim here used to run the fish in petmania santry. Thanks for the compliment! I was there for a year but unfortunately recession hit and there were cheaper options! Peter mainly runs the fish now, he is quite good especially with the predatory fish side of things he has an awesome collection of fish himself. He's part time so there are a few people on fish but no dedicated specialists. Between them they have a good knowledge base. I am good friends with the staff and am in regularly and am happy to give advice to my old customers anytime.

So guys as of December 2008 I was no longer responsible for the condition of any fish or tanks in petmania Santry. ( and if any Dublin fish shops are looking for an experienced casco's aquarium systems maintenance guy/fish nut I'm on the market....!)