Pet store refused to sell guppies because fish enthusiast’s tank “did not meet strict criteria”. PUBLISHED: 11:39 08 January 2013 A FISH enthusiast with 20 years experience says he was shocked when a Fenland pet store refused to sell him three tropical fish for his new tank on New Year’s Eve. Mark Southwell tried to buy three guppies for £5 from the Pets at Home store at Wisbech, and claims he was bombarded with questions by a sales assistant about the new tank.“I explained to the young sales assistant that I have been keeping fish for many years and three guppies would be fine in my tank,” said Mark. “She said my tank did not meet their criteria, so she would not sell them to me.”Mark, 32, who lives in March, then offered to place the guppies into his long established fish tank instead.“She still refused, and said she could not sell me any fish. I found the attitude of Pets at Home totally rude and patronising,” added Mark. “I appreciate they have a duty of care to the animals, but I have been keeping fish for 25 years. “

Fish are needed in a tank to get its filtration system started; but the shop staff said the tank had to be established for four weeks before fish could be put in. “I have been buying fish for 20 years and I have never been refused before. I was totally shocked, especially after I offered to put the fish in my established tank.“I am not a novice, I am extremely knowledgeable, and the incident really annoyed me.”Mark has three tanks of fish, two with tropical fish and one cold water tank.“After I was refused the fish, I transferred some fish from my established tank into the new tank and they have been perfectly fine, as I knew they would be,” he added.A spokesman for Pets at Homes said: ““Pets at Home is passionate about pets and we go to great lengths to ensure responsible pet ownership. Our colleagues all care deeply about pet welfare and we ensure they have the necessary training required to provide appropriate advice to our customers. “We understand Mr. Southwell’s frustration as an experienced fish keeper, but many of our customers are new to keeping fish and we want to ensure they understand the needs of the different fish species we sell and their living environment.

Our recommendation is that tanks are setup for three days before fish are added, to allow the tank to settle and then fish can be added gradually in accordance with the size of the tank. imported fish tank for sale in mumbai“We all deeply care about pets and as a responsible pet retailer we ensure that we put pets before profit.”8x3x3 fish tank for sale Tropical community fish including live bearers and corydoras. fish aquariums for sale in alabama Opened in February 2010, Maidenhead Aquatics at Peterborough is located inside Peterborough Garden Park, a modern retail complex that is also home to an extensive Van Hage garden centre and numerous other outlets.bubble gum machine fish tank for sale

This branch of Maidenhead Aquatics is uniquely designed with a contemporary layout, providing everything for the fish keeper in a light and airy atmosphere. orb fish tank for saleThis store specializes getting the new fish keeper started and in peaceful community fish. fish tank for sale sacramentoThis means we have a great selection of Livebearers Corydoras and other catfish and temperate fish as well as aquatic plants.  A wide range of aquariums are always available with a comprehensive selection of dry goods to complement them. The outside area provides a range of ponds, waterfalls, and pond plants and pond fish when in season. A large selection of filters, pumps, and other pond equipment can be found inside the store. We have a great team of friendly knowledgeable staff with a wealth of experience our current team have over 100 years of fish keeping experience!

The centrepiece of the shop is the huge 5,300 litre (1,166 gal) planted display tank. Measuring 3m x 2m x 0.8m (10' x 7' x 33"), it is one of the largest planted aquascapes in the UK. This mammoth tank was featured in the February 2012 issue of "Practical Fishkeeping" magazine, with a photographic step-by-step diary depicting the aquascape as carried out by the UK Aquatic Plant Society (UKAPS). Visitors can also enjoy the garden centre (which has a food emporium offering fresh local produce), Cotswold Outdoor, Pavers Shoes, Bonmarche, Le Creuset, Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Pets Corner, and more. There are also several cafés, plus display gardens and a children's play area on site. We look forward to seeing you at Maidenhead Aquatics at Peterborough!Free standard UK delivery What would you like to do?This is best time of year to enjoy the English village. It is the season of fetes, church concerts, agricultural fairs and country house opera. Pubs spill out onto village greens, cricket pavilions are alive with the sound of ball on bat, and gardens deliver an embarrassment of riches.

Some villages even have scarecrow days, peopling the streets with surprisingly realistic straw mannequins. All the eccentricity of pastoral English life is there. But new rural home-hunters these days want sophistication with their rural idyll. They want a Michelin-starred restaurant or a gastro pub, a brilliant primary school and a good deli. The recession saw a flight to the towns by people who wanted to save petrol on school runs and to stay within reach of coffee shops and cupcakes. Recent figures from Savills show how this has left the countryside looking comparatively good value to new buyers. Rural locations nationwide are still 13.8pc below the 2007 peak, and villages 6.5pc lower but recovering. Prices went up by 2.3pc last year. • Guess the link: A footballer's party palace, £80,000 Cornish pad and a fish tank • Your own private island for less than the price of the average London home There is good value for money to be found in the villages, Sophie Chick, an analyst from Savills says, and now is a good time to buy.

) loves Chadlington in Oxfordshire. “It epitomises everything a village should be,” he says. The ace in Chadlington’s pack, apart from the primary school, cricket team and annual beer festival, is the village shop, called Chadlington Quality Foods, which is a general store, delicatessen and off-licence. It sells home-cooked foods and is also a bakery. Chadlington still feels like a farming community, although the last cow was milked here in 1999. The local groceries shop and butcher. On the River Thames, close to the fast commute from Didcot to Paddington, with a shop, pubs and restaurant. A four-bedroom detached house off the high street in Sutton Courtenay. On the market for £935,000 with Thomas Merrifield. “One of the prettiest Kent villages, largely owned by the same estate, so it hasn’t changed much in the last century,” says Nick Rooke of Amos Dawton & Finn. A misty morning in Bishopsbourne. Unspoilt test valley village close to Stockbridge. “Every year we have a safari supper, street parties and jazz bands in the gardens,” says Simon North of Strutt & Parker.

A six-bedroom house on the market with Strutt & Parker for £6.2m in Houghton. The community stores and post office are run by village volunteers and who keep the village tight-knit. “There is an annual go-kart race, open tennis courts and a big cricket pitch with a pavilion and bar,” says George Burnand of the estate agent Strutt & Parker. The Ropley Pub and steam railway to Alton are key features. An elegant Georgian Grade II listed house within beautiful landscaped grounds in Ropley. Yours for £3.35m and on the market with Knight Frank. Coln St Aldwyn’s Honeyed Cotswold stone houses, The New Inn (for your duck confit and pork belly suppers), a community store with post office and cafe An attractive period 5 bedroom Cotswold stone house with a substantial converted barn offering one bedroom ancillary living accommodation and a walled garden, quietly situated along a no through road at the heart of this highly sought after village. On the market for £1.1m. One of the poshest pubs in the Cotswolds is The Kings Head Inn on the green.

The summer fete has a coconut shy, a jousting horse and tug-of-war across the brook. A detached house with countryside views in the Cotswold village of Bledington just one mile from Kingham. For sale at £895,000. Abinger Hammer Up in the Surrey Hills where the River Tillingbourne feeds the watercress beds and runs with trout, villagers picnic and watch the cricket (pictured left). The chocolate box village of Abinger Hammer in Surrey. Timber-frame cottages, village cricket green with hall and duck pond are the centrepiece, and Guildford is a whisker away. Summer Meadow, a spacious 5 bedroom home with additional guest suite set in beautiful gardens and backing onto fields.Guide price £2.25m, Savills This £2.45m house sits at the head of its very impressive tree lined driveway, with its grounds overlooking the surrounding countryside and farmland. Close to the creeks and dunes, with flint houses, doctor and deli, loved by Londoners who stay at The Hoste, a boutique hotel and spa. “The rental market is good too,” says Mike Rix of Savills.

People popping to the local shops in Burnham Market. Heart of the Broads, surrounded by boats, coots, reedbeds and windmills. This £750,000 farmhouse dates back to the 16th century and has been extended. On the market with Savills. Village green, Ofsted-outstanding primary school, community shop which stocks local produce, on the lip of the Cotswolds. Ilmington where properties are cheaper than the nearby Cotswold villages on the other side of the county line. Edge-of-Dartmoor position with monumental walks, a community shop, the Cleave pub and pretty cricket ground. “Beautiful and unspoilt,” says Richard Addington of Savills. Thatched cottages in Lustleigh Little shops and restaurants, pretty houses, good schools, Manchester commuter belt. “And golf courses on the doorstep,” says Charlie Kannreuther of Savills. A refurbished Grade II listed home complete with swimming pool. On the market for £3m. Wealth magnet, wine bars, restaurants and good schools on the doorstep. A residential estate set in beautiful countryside.

The Grade II listed house has six main reception rooms and eight bedroom suites. Price on application to Knight Frank. In an area of natural beauty with a village green fringed with period houses, brilliant pub and shop, doctor’s surgery, tennis courts. “Resident geese are currently raising their young on the green,” says Richard Bingham of Batcheller Monkhouse A detached house in the village of Sedlescombe. Perched on the South Downs with a mainline station at Hassocks two miles away, trains to London Victoria in less than an hour. “It has a fishmonger, greengrocer, restaurants, pubs and several good schools, dentist and doctor,” says Alex Mackay of Mishon Mackay. The large kitchen of a £2.85m home in Hurstpierpoint. “A village green overlooked by the church in the stunning Deben valley,” says Jonathan Penn of Jackson-Stops & Staff. A five bedroom detached house in Easton. Just inland from Aldeburgh and Snape. “Off the beaten track, lovely pub, lovely community,” says Jonathan Penn of the property agent, Jackson-Stops & Staff.

A lovely country home for sale at £750,000 in Blaxhall. On the edge of the Howardian Hills with a general store, Malt Shovel Inn, good hotel, tea room and bakery, cricket club, primary school and Grade-I listed Hovingham Hall. A converted barn on the market for £675,000 in Hovingham. As pictured on the front and considered to be one of the more picturesque villages in the area due to its beautiful setting. The beautiful village of Barrowden. Cerne Abbas Equidistant between Dorchester and Sherborne. “Three pubs, village shop, tea rooms, church and lovely village school,” says Ashley Rawlings of Jackson-Stops & Staff. It also has the rude chalk giant on the hill. A quiet road in the village of Cerne Abbas. Burton Bradstock Stone and thatch on sea with a school, pubs and the starry new Seaside Boarding House set up by the former managing director of London’s Groucho Club. Chesil Beach, Portland, West Bay to look at and gourmet food all round. In an area of natural beauty on top of Woolhope Dome.