New shop in Sheffield

[Linda]

Just wondered if anyone has been to the new shop in Attercliffe yet.

Want to know if it's worth a trip into Sheffield

[Norvern Rob]

Just wondered if anyone has been to the new shop in Attercliffe yet.

Want to know if it's worth a trip into Sheffield

I'll be calling in over Xmas Linda so will let you know what I think.

[Linda]

Thanks Rob

[sabdfh]

Wonder if its Jeremy setting up again?

[Norvern Rob]

It's the guy that used to run Aqua-hobby David.

I popped in there today and was suprised at how big the shop was, with 2 or 3 big coral tables and a lot of fish tanks. Some of the corals had die off but there were some nice LPS and a few SPS.

The fish all looked fine, I know they had a big WS outbreak recently but there was no sign of it today. The fish selection was pretty good, with a few Leopard Wrasse, several species of Goby, Anthias, Chromis, Tangs etc - including 3 or 4 very nice Powder Blues that didn't look like the usual sorry looking shop specimens.

The dry section is smaller but there looks to be plenty of stuff crammed in, I got the test kits and carbon I went for, plus some frozen food so overall it looks to be a decent local shop for once.

[Linda]

Thanks for the feedback Rob

Still havn't got myself down there yet.................hopefully it will be soon

[sabdfh]

Cheers for the fedback Rob. We shall have to go one day. Not tomorrow though 'cos we're off to Cockfields.

[Norvern Rob]

Cheers for the fedback Rob. We shall have to go one day. Not tomorrow though 'cos we're off to Cockfields.

Well the corals aren't a patch on Cockfields at the moment that's for sure.

[Midland-marine]

Hi all

Just got back from cockfields and even though i have no idea about the other place i could say it is not a patch on Mark's

Could have spent all i will ever earn in there today

AWESOME selection and quality of stock

[Norvern Rob]

Hi all

Just got back from cockfields and even though i have no idea about the other place i could say it is not a patch on Mark's

Could have spent all i will ever earn in there today

AWESOME selection and quality of stock

To be fair there aren't many places that have a coral selection like Cockfields have, it's just nice to have a LOCAL shop where I can actually buy the basics from without having to order them.

AFAIK the guy wasn't stocking marines for that long in the old shop, so it's early days yet. The setup of the shop definitely has potential.

[sgbett]

Stock I have bought from attercliffe:

Atlantic Purple tip - less than careful about moving it, but did let me inspect its foot before I completed the purchase.

Trachyphillia sp - was very bleached out virtually white, got it fairly cheap £20 though for this reason. Has coloured up well over the past 6 weeks though, the outer mantle is nearly all red now (interestingly the reds in the shop at the time were 2-3 times the price of the bleached out one)

Chilli coral. Doing ok so far, but I feed a lot cyclopeeze,phyto etc in addition to various flake and frozen.

Regal Tang - broke out in severe whitespot within 24 hours and dead within 48.
Flame Angel - died within 24 hours unknown causes.

I appreciate that fish can be finicky and two is not a very big sample size. I have bought several fish though (maybe 20?) and though I have lost fish - perhaps through my own failure to provide appropriate care - perhaps by chance, I have never lost any immediately following purchase.

Not saying this is anything to do with them, just my observations/experience. They have a lot of nice stuff. They also have the kind of nice stuff that is quite specialised or unsuitable for the average reef tank, and seem happy to sell it to anyone.

I watched them sell a spiny puffer to a customer who appeared to have no idea of its care requirements. They also used a net to catch it, and then seemed to find it hilarious when it puffed up.

I haven't been altogether convinced with any of the answers that have been give to my play dumb questions. I know that there are a lot of grey areas in this hobby but some stuff is fairly well accepted as being right and wrong. That kind of stuff you shouldn't get wrong.

Finally, I'm much happier to buy from a place that says 'I don't know' when you ask them a question about something that they might not have the answer to there and then.

I wouldn't say don't go their but I would be careful about what I bought, but I guess that's the same anywhere.

[Linda]

It's a few weeks since I went and I must say I was less than impressed with the corals - all looked in poor health. They did have a varied selection of fish and I gather they have expanded their tanks over the whole of the ground floor, or are about to.

The only thing I bought was a very large hermit crab to get rid of some substrate algae in the Betta 680. They did say if it didn't do the job or I wasn't happy I could take it back.

I also got some unsatisfactory answers to some questions, but I think that's true of most shops.

As Rob says at least there is somewhere local to get dry goods, although there are a couple more nearer to me than this one.



I take it you are local to us then sgbett? You must come on a raid next time we have one and see some real shops

[sgbett]

South of sheffield - woodseats.

I was really pleased when it opened, I used to use Jeremy as I have known him for years, it was a shame he had to shut down. I haven't found anywhere since that I would consider my LFS.

Simply Aquatics seems to be OK but very small, and totally the opposite side of the city.

I'm thinking of making Wharf my regular. I have been there three or four times and they always seem to have a good selection that look healthy enough. What do other people think?

[Linda]

I went to Woodseats junior school, but that was a very long time ago

Am now living near Barnsley but there's nothing this side of Sheffield either. I tend to go into W.Yorks if I want local, but the Manchester shops are far better than anything around these parts. Worth waiting and taking a shopping list on a raid