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Hi guys,

This is a bit overdue, but better late than never, right?
As some of you know, I went on vacation for a few weeks over Christmas and was fortunate enough to visit some places in Asia where cultivation of many varieties of aquatic plants is already well established and there is a substantial demand for planted tanks. Fortunately for me (since I couldn't take these plants back to Australia), these places also sell very cheap (at least compared to Oz) planted tank tools & equipments, which explained why I came back with one luggage full of aquarium stuff.

First stop was Taipei, Taiwan. The "fish market" is located on Min Chuan West Road. It was a group of 15-20 well-appointed storefronts on both sides of a wide, commercial road. More than half of these stores carry a wide variety of aquatic plants neatly arranged in CO2-enriched tanks. Taiwan mosses (of course) are in abundance, as are Riccia, Glosso, mini-moss, and rare plants that made me want to ! What's more, most the plants displayed are in perfect health with no signs of algae or nutrient deficiency, unlike most specimens I see in my local LFS's. Here is an example:


They also have employees whose job is to solely take care of the plants and display tanks. The display tanks in some of these shops are quite amazing pieces of aquascaping genius. Words don't do them justice, so I'll just show you some examples (sorry, some of the colors don't come out as nice after reducing the sizes):







Some shops also sell smaller & nano tanks that are already aquascaped. You just buy the complete set as displayed - how nice is that? (Not sure what they tell customers about maintaining the plants though)


A couple of shops also carry a good range of ADA tanks, substrates, equipments & tools (all very $$$$) - mostly in a locked cabinet. They also carry a good selection of locally made tools and planted tank equipments. About the only downside to this trip was when I realized that Taiwan runs on 110V just like the US/Japan, which means I couldn't buy any equipment that runs on AC power. In general the prices are not that cheap compared to Hong Kong and Singapore (probably about the same as in North America), but still cheaper than Australia.

Unfortunately I didn't get as much time to browse the fish/invertebrate selection as I only had a little over an hour to spend on the whole streets. Some interesting shots:

Net your own fish!


These awesome-looking tiny (~2cm) shrimps cost US$50 each! (Anyone know what they are? The tags are all in Chinese)


Nice school of denison barbs - never seen these IRL before!


Next stop of Hong Kong. The "goldfish market" is at Tung Choi street in the Mongkok district of Kowloon, which is easily reached by the nice subway (MTR). It's also adjacent to the "electronics market" and "shoes market", so your significant other can come along and won't bother your fish shopping (didn't quite work out for us though - my toddler son decided to pee on me in one of the shops while my wife was a few blocks away ). Anyways, the scene on this street is really a sight to behold. Two blocks of narrow street, packed on both sides with both actual stores and little holes-in-the-walls where small plastic bags of individual or small groups of fish and plants are hung on hooks. Something like this:


There are at least 50 places in that street selling fish, plants, and equipments. Most of the equipments are made in China and hence very cheap. I got a solenoid for US$60, pH controller for $70, and nice-looking, ADA-knockoff glass diffuser for $3. Great selection of filters, hang-on lights, and small thermometers for nano tanks too. Not many places carry as nice selection of plants as in Taipei, but there was one place that carried a wide range of tropica plants for around $10 each, complete with the latin names on little tropica-labelled tags. Unfortunately the storekeepers here were very fussy about people taking pictures of/in their shops so I couldn't take any other pics (plus I was busy buying stuff as I didn't have much time ). I'll just show you some of the "loot":


Finally, I also visited a couple of planted tank shops in Singapore where I got a bunch more stuff (including 2 PC light fixtures) and of course met up with Bensaf in Jakarta to do a little driftwood and plant shopping. It was, all in all, a very productive trip I must say.

Cheers!

-P

Just WOW!!! Fantastic pics and I'm so envious, I'd love to go on a trip like that.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

AAAHHHHH

That makes you GREEN with envy. Look at these tanks. And that is just a store, amazing.

Nevertheless, where is a shot of yourself with Bensaf ?

Ingo

EDIT: Why did you buy 2 kitty litter scoopers ?

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

wow...those r great pics...and indeed, nice set-up

Notice how all the tanks have those beautiful rounded corners, no black lining or anything, all very seemless. Haven't seen anything like that around here.

Awesome pics upikabu, thanks so much!


p.s. yeah, where is Bensaf and his dress...

p.p.s. the shrimp look like some sort of variety of bumblebee shrimp. I've seen the same patterns on tiny shrimp in black or brown, never in red. And NEVER 50 bucks a pop. If I'm gonna spend 50 dollars on shrimp it's going to be of the jumbo variety, cooked up in Old Bay and beer

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Back in the saddle!

Paulus,

You told me the Taiwan shops were good, but I didn't imagine that good

Amazing displays, far better then anything I've seen even in Singapore. I spot some really rare plants there, Tonninas etc.

Now to convince the wife we need a weekend break in Taipei

Nevertheless, where is a shot of yourself with Bensaf ?

Ingo, neither the server nor the ladies of FP would be able to withstand the sheer raw power of 2 such fine specimens of FP manhood in the same pic....besides me pom poms and skirt were in the dry cleaners

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

the sheer raw power of 2 such fine specimens

Guess you couldn't find someone to take a picture of the two of you together as they all ran off screaming

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi,
Gosh. Never in my life have I ever seen such a display
of aquatic plants! Truly an aquatic Gardner's paradise!

Would that we had someplace in the USA that had plant
availability like that!
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Wow, that' really beautiful. Excuse my ignornance but what your showing in Taipei is not a typical LFS there is it.

I think I need to start an account for a Taipei trip in the future.





My Scapes

I would love to visit that place or a similar place like that. It would be depressing to go there and not be able to take home plants. Bag your own fish- awesome idea but do they have some kind of system that prohibits young children from netting(playing go fish) the fish? Would it be correct to say that the U.S. aquarium hobby has not really developed a love for aquatic plants. The love for aquatic plants is evident in the pictures i see of european, taiwan, japan etc. Dont get me wrong though, there are some in the us that incorporate plants into their setups. It is also evident that they really know what they are doing.

And now I know that I want to take a trip out of this country. Wow! You couldn't bring any of the cool plants and stuff back could you?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I think that Japan would be more fun. They seem to have a good relationship with importers from South america, Asia, and Africa. They would have tons of rare fish. Still most of Asia cares way more than the US about fish

Great post and great pictures! Love the curved glass tanks. I think the latest TFH mag has an add for a Chinese manufacturer who is trying to set-up dealers for these tanks in the US. I'd be curious about the tanks as they are beautiful.

NoWhere, All-Glass uses the "black seal" or dark silcone because on of the Rizzo brothers, former owners, liked the look! I wish they still made mirror back aquariums!

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

wow..nice pictures
They have some really nice plants there that i want,have to take a trip there one day
I really liked the pyramid tank.
Thanks for sharing those great pics.

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

Glad you guys liked the pics.
At least half of the Taipei LFS's on that street have multiple display tanks in addition to the smaller aquascaped tanks that they're actually selling. It's evident that the store owners/employees are really into plants & aquascaping and spend a lot of time maintaining their tanks.

NowhereMan: yep, most of the tanks on display are the curved glass ones. I think they're all manufactured in China as that's the only place where it's cheap enough to mass produce them (need really high temp to bend glass like that). At least the ones I see here in Oz are all made in China. Oh, and there was one place that sold ADA-brand tanks (fully planted of course) and they're also have curved glass edges. They are really awesome tanks, much wider than the standard sized tanks and made from very thick glass. Not sure if they're made in China or Japan though. And of course very $$$$$.

It was a bit depressing not being able to take home the plants and fish. Actually you probably could if you live in a country with lax customs officials (right Bernard? ). One store actually told me they've sold fish to international tourists by putting them in one of those stainless-steel drink containers.

Ingo: to the kitty litter scooper comment. I've never seen them before (I hate cats!), but I'll have you know those gravel scoopers came in really handy when I had to add more sand to my existing tanks last week!

-P

Those tanks are awesome! The only things maintaining plants in my lfs are the snails in the tank.

Looked like a fun trip.

Chaos

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