Hong Kong Trip

[Jungle-mania]

So I went to Hong Kong during the Good Friday weekend and I headed for the famous goldfish market at the end of Tung Choi Street. The place is huge! In fact, on my last day, I realise I miss out one stretch comepletely because I could not cover all of it, had a headache from all the crowd.

Anway, most of the shops sell their fish in bags all pack and ready to go, which I felt was really bad for the fish. in fact the next day when I went down again, I saw the same oscar dying in the bag!.

You get some really hard to get fish here. In the pics below, you can see a red bellied pirahna and a beluga sturgeon for sale. Coincidentally, the beluga was going for HK$48, which is roughly about S$9 and it was about my forearm length.

Most of the LFS are your typical run of the mill shops, but the shop in the picture below is a shop you must go and see. There are 2 more shops, which are side by side and are really small, but they have the best range of rare fish and plants. They shouldn't be hard to find, as they are the only one keeping the fish in tanks and not in bags. Another worthy note is that this shop packs their fish with the same water from their own respective tank. 2 thumbs up there.

A big thing in Hong Kong is the apisto craze. In the shop in the pic below, there is a small room dedicated to apistos, I think I easily saw about a hundred or so apistos ranging from cacas to agazizii to checkerboards. The 3 line pencils and coral red pencils are really fat, they look good enough to eat.
But there is a catch, they are more expensive than Singapore, but not very much more. However, you are paying for quality.

The craze doesn't end there, they have little clay huts with mosses for them to breed in like in the pic below. Some even have small bridges too with moss!

For those who are keen in ging there to buy fish, check with your airlines first. Customs wise on both sides, you will be fine. The difficult part is with the airlines, as they may have their own rules and regulations on this issue.

Also, I came across the oddest freshwater snail of all....freshwater abalone. Unfortunately, mine were seized by customs.

Also another thing, do not buy the plants there if possible, most of the plants are terrarium in nature but they leave it in the water regardless. Even for most of the true aquatic plants, many are still in emmersed form. So refrain from getting them.

One thing I can say is that, it is definitely worth a visit there for the serious hobbyist, even if you are not going to get anything.

[BFG]

Man, I'm itching to go there!

[Cacatuoides]

More pictures!!!

What are some of the restrictions by the airlines?

[celticfish]

room full of apistos, fat coral reds....
very tempting! and all in one place.
two thumbs up for the review!!

[Jungle-mania]

The only restriction by airline is no fish no plant, period. Said something about water cotaminating the air in the plane..right....Anyway here are 3more pictures.

The firstis some kind of rocket shrimp, only that it came in a riot of red, green and yellow colour. Shrimps there are top quality and they are cheap. 80 tiger shrimps going for S$15. You get some really gorgeous crystal shrimps here, but they are on the pricy side. If one thing you want to get from Hong Kong, it is the shrimps, just make sure you make 'appropriate actions' when sending them back.

The second picture is a rotala with flowers on them, as you all may know submersed plants do not produce flowers, but it sure looks nice underwater, much like cherry blossoms, only cuter

The last pic was the abomination of our hobby, multi coloured parrot fishes. Frankly, I really like to know what the original strain look like. Way things are going, you going to get a camo-style parrot fish looking like a man.

Equipment wise, they are about the same price as Singapore, but the variety there is like an explosion of C328.

For those who are looking for a good meal before continuing your trip around goldfish market, there are alot of good food around. Trust me on that you will need to eat, it takes more than half a day to go thorugh all the shops thoroughly.

[BFG]

The only restriction by airline is no fish no plant, period. Said something about water cotaminating the air in the plane..right....Anyway here are 3more pictures.

Huh, which airline said that?

[Nicky]

You may not be able to hand carry animal/snails onto the passenger compartment of the plane. But you should be able to check it as live-cargo and pick it up from the conveyer belt at Changi airport.

I have done it before.

[Jungle-mania]

Cathay Pacific, they said the water in the bags can contaminate the air in the cabin through some mythical chemical reaction that is beyond the grasp of the human comprehension. I felt asking them to comprehending my middle finger gesture for trying to stop me at the final gate, instead of the front desk or custom check, but I guess it would be beyond their comprehension to understand my gesture.