Fish & pond care
What swims here, and what keeps it well
These pages describe the kinds of fish and pond stock we usually keep. What is actually in the tanks changes week to week, so please call or send an enquiry before making a special trip.
Tropical & freshwater
Freshwater aquarium fish
Most of the shop is given over to freshwater tanks: community fish, livebearers, tetras, barbs, catfish and bottom dwellers, along with cichlids and the occasional larger centrepiece fish.
If you are stocking a tank for the first time, bring the dimensions and tell us how long it has been running. If you are adding to an established setup, it helps to know what is already in there. We would rather talk you out of a fish that will not suit your tank than sell it to you twice.
- Community and shoaling fish
- Livebearers, tetras, barbs and rasboras
- Catfish, loaches and other bottom dwellers
- Cichlids and larger single specimens
- Siamese fighters and other single-tank fish
A guide to the kinds of fish that pass through the shop is further down this page. For what is in this week, ask us and we will tell you honestly.
Choosing fish
What to bring when you come in
Your tank size
Length, width and height, or the litres if you know them. It decides almost everything else.
What you already keep
A list, or a photo of the tank on your phone. It saves a lot of guesswork at the counter.
How long it has been running
A tank set up last weekend and one running three years need very different advice.
More on this in the advice pages.
Garden ponds
Pond fish, plants and care
Pond stock is seasonal. Through the warmer months you will usually find coldwater and pond fish, marginal and oxygenating plants, and the food and treatments that go with them. Later in the year the planting thins out and the emphasis moves to keeping an established pond in good order.
Tell us the rough size and depth of your pond and what is already living in it, and we can talk through what will work.
- Coldwater and pond fish, subject to season
- Marginal, oxygenating and floating plants
- Pond foods for different water temperatures
- Treatments, test kits and water care
- Pumps, filters, netting and replacement parts
Planting and livestock vary a great deal through the year. Please check with the shop before travelling for something specific.
What we stock
Fish that pass through the shop
A guide to what has been stocked over the years and what is most often available, not a live list. Stock changes week to week, so call ahead for stock details on 020 8856 0505.
Community and tropical
Neon tetras and other tetras, danios, mollies, guppies, swordtails, platies, barbs, gouramis, Siamese fighting fish, catfish, plecos including L-numbers, loaches and rainbowfish.
Goldfish and fancy varieties
Standard goldfish, shubunkins, Sarasa comets, fantails, black moors, telescopes, orandas, ryukins, ranchus, lionheads, celestials, bubble eyes and panda moors.
Pond fish
Koi and butterfly koi, ghost carp, mirror carp, grass carp, orfe, tench, rudd, gudgeon, sterlets, and comet goldfish in standard, lemon and black.
Cichlids
Malawi and Tanganyika cichlids, Central and South American cichlids, discus, angelfish, rams and other dwarf cichlids, and some larger cichlids.
The occasional and unusual
Black ghost knifefish, reedfish, freshwater eels, puffers and freshwater lobsters.
Brackish fish
Spotted puffers, monos and scats.
Other coldwater
Weather loach, butterfly plecos and coldwater snails.
Beyond fish
Shrimp, snails, frogs, terrapins, musk turtles and axolotls.
Nothing here is a promise that a fish is in today, and some only appear now and then. If you are making a trip for something particular, please ring first.
A look at the stock
Around the shop
Photographs taken in the shop. They show stock at the time and are not a guarantee that the same fish or plants are in today.
Looking for something specific?
Send us the fish or product name and a little about your setup. We will tell you whether we have it, whether we are likely to, and what else might suit.