Trip to BAS Bolton February 16th 2008

Trip to BAS (Bolton) Feb 16th 2008 Saturday

Myself and Dave took a little trip to BAS at Bolton yesterday….On the way we had a Malawi cichlid pair to pick up,the male of which we think we can maybe turn into a show fish with a little bit of luck and endeavour..

We got to BAS at 11am….Very busy as usual and we set about working our way through the rows of tanks…I will list below a few of the fish we saw before before I get to the bad points…

Corydoras Conspiculos
Corydoras Fowleri
A cory that looked like Cory Septriolanus(I think)

Erethistes Masoetensis

Betta Rubra (149.99 a pair)

Pangio Doriae…(a nice silvery /light bluey khuli)

Another little cat called a Pseodoglavius or similar…..like an elongated Hara cat but would surely need a fast current…

Crenicichla Compressiceps (small and slightly pricey…)


Now the bad bit….The place is disintegrating more every time we visit….To think we used to visit 5-6 times a year and now like today this will be our only visit of the year…(just in case we miss something!!!) lol

Dirty tanks…fish with no bellies,looking like they need a really good feed of a quality food and empty tanks with cracks down the front or black bin bags covering them cannot be disguised by some relatively rare fish unfortunately…Staff who don’t really look like they are 100% bothered and the whole place looks like it needs a refit or a refurb with a good coat of paint…

So to finalise…a once great shop …now not so great at all but still worth a peek if only you are going within 30 miles ish of its location….

Hi hope this is not to off topic but i was wondering if these places that people go to the uk to visit are pet shops,fish farms or aquarium centres that sell fish or aquarium cenres like the one in bray and is there any places worth a visit in Liverpool

Thats a shame as it really does have potential.3 of us visited there last November,and I saw many,many species I had never seen before.Dozens and dozens of species of danio and rasboras for a start.They had corys there I had never seen in the flesh,for less than what we can buy bronze or so called 'julii' here.
I wasnt imnpressed with the dry goods selection,everything electrical was some cheap Asian brand I knew nothing about.
However,it was well worth a visit,and I would certainly call back when in the area.A bit of effort and I'm sure they could inprove.

Pierce,BAS is a HUGE shop,basically an old warehouse.They do fishing gear as well as aquatics.Quite cold in November(you couldnt expect them to heat it economically),but they had a couple of vending machines,that did very cheap and welcome tea,coffee and soup.

Dave.

I agree the place needs a good clean up. At least a good dusting down.
They could also do with some enthusiastic staff.
Would i visit again? If i was in the greater area i would, but i wouldent expect to much to change in the near future.

Darren.