Aquacadabra, Edinburgh

I've been going here for years now. I've had 2 tarantulas from there and two snakes for my brother who was a complete novice. The staff are great, especially Colin, they are quite happy to advise even if you don't buy. Having read some previous reviews, every pet shop gets sick animals from time to time, but I've never seen them sell any poor quality stock, they wouldn't let me buy a lizard for that reason at one point. They will also tell you how much work is involved and what day of the week fresh insects are arriving to feed your pet!

Staff friendly and knowledgable, but here's a tip for treating white saddleback in small fish. I bought some guppies, and they developed saddleback columnaris 3 weeks later. Nothing to do with the shop. I put 7 pennies in a 100 litre tank and saved 50% of my finny friends. Then I drained and replaced and I haven't had a problem since. The copper from the pennies reacts with faecal di-sulphides and produces copper sulphate at levels of about .4 ppm, twice the level recommended for treating Bactifer columnaris.

I've been here a few times and find the staff very knowledgeable. There is a young lad called Sean who is such a fantastic help! I always make sure I get him! Some of the others are a bit less forthcoming if you ask them anything but they all seem to know about fish. I haven't had any problems with the fish I've bought.

It's a bit of a shame to blame the young staff if they are only being advised by poor management.

I would recommend this fish shop. Not sure about the prices as they seem competitive and I'm not keen on going to those giant out of town pet superstores. My wee lad loves to go there just to look at the snakes, spiders, geckos, etc. Better than Butterfly Farm! It's a brilliant shop!

i purchased a royal last year, they seem like they’re decent folk but if you have any problems like i did, they’re not interested,i went in to purchase viv+all nessisary equipment, or so i thought,uv striplight! not needed for royals, only stresses them out,water bowl the size of a eggcup!? c’mon, not even a hide? experts my arse!!! the snake i bought had mites, hadn’t even had his 1st feed! no reputable shops or breeders do this!!! I got sspca involved but to no affect really? if i had my way they’d be closed down. + licenses taken away. ken what i’m gonna chase this up more!!! If you are wanting reptiles i’d suggest Rintouls in Bathgate or a wee petshop out at Whitburn can’t remember name? excellent service from both. HAD TO GIVE THIS SHITE SHOP A STAR 2POST OPINION OTHERWISE -5!!

Well, this shop may be okay for reptiles according to the other reviewers but they obviously don’t buy fish.

Dreadful. Fish floating about dead on every visit and if you look closely they have whitespot in many tanks, which they sell stock from.

I bought over £250 of gear in one year but they didn’t refund me when they sold me neons with whitespot. Only saw the whitespot when I got home but it was the same day and anyone who knows about fish knows it doesn’t appear overnight. If they grudge a couple of pounds in refund for sick fish after a customer pays £250 for gear then you can imagine their customer services.

True, they have a good selection of fish and stock BUT it’s no good having a selection if they are sick. Plants are heaving with snails.

You must go and see this place, its fantastic. Snakes, lizards, spiders, tropical fish. Unbelievably clean and well set out. I have just moved here and keep marines, their selection of fish and corals is very good but the prices are excellent. I will be going back there soon the staff are so friendly.

Will not be buying from this shop again on matter of principle. I had bought tank, accessories, fish etc from here in the space of a year. I bought some neon tetras, took them home and saw that they had whitespot. I took them back right away but they refused to admit they had whitespot (even denied seeing the little spots with a magnifying glass) and would not refund or even exchange the approx. £3 even though I had spent over £300 there in the past year. The guy in charge left me to speak with one of the young guys who worked there and I got no satisfaction. They often have dead fish floating in their tanks or visible disease and although they have a good selection I don’t think they can really care much about their animals if they don’t even remove dead ones. Avoid. Have started to go to the place on Gorgie road instead.

I was so disappointed with aquacadabra as the younger staff members were really nice and interested in fish, but they have obviously been told to deny problems and never refund.

Really helpful knowledgeable staff. Fabby place to look around and fascinating for the kids. I would recommend any purchases from here as every pet so far has been very healthy.

This place is great if you’re looking for tropical fish, reptiles or an unusual pet. The shop is well laid out and the staff are very helpful.
If your starting off go in and ask them for some advice they are always willing to help and some of the staff even give tips through their own personal experiences with certain species.
I visit the shop regularly because they always get new things in. So whether you are looking for a new pet or just fancy a look, pop in.

This place is amazing if you like that sort of thing. We bought our two pet snakes here a year ago, they were very helpful and told us what we would need and the cheapest way of going about it, they didn't just sell us the most expensive of everything.

The also stock spiders, terapins, lizards, water dragon and hundreds of fish not to mention all the thing you need to feed them, keep the safe and warm and house them.

They are willing to help if you have a problem and are quite happy for you to pop in just for a look around at the new additions.

The animals/reptiles are housed well and well looked after until they are sold and there is a no nosense approach, if the creatures are scared or spooked you would be asked to leave it is great.