Here are a few shots from one shop that allowed me to take photos. Most stores had "No Photos or Video" signs up, don't know what the deal is. I didn't get a chance to take some picture of the street, rain was coming down pretty hard.
Here is the only "real" skimmer I saw in the 30 or so shops I stopped in
The brown colored chamber is a fluidized sand bed filter, tank water goes through it than the skimmer and UV.
This area is pretty amazing, I estimate there are about 80 shops within the two short street blocks. Most are fresh water with emphasis on gold fish, Discus, and Arawanas. Some of the tropical fish(50 neon tetras, 10-20 guppies, etc..) are stored in small plastic bags with oxygen and hung from peg boards. This month's AFM have a good article about this place if anyone is into more details.
The salt water stores have mostly angels and butterflies, large Emperor angels(6+ inches) are no more than $40 USD each, CBB's are less than $5 for a 4"+, regal angels are all over the place for less than $10 each, True percs are less than $3, I saw a tank with about 150 black percs for $4 each, Majestic angels are also popular, most stores have 10-20 in stock for less than $20 for 3-5". I also saw few gold flake angels but didn't ask for the price for Warren's sake:lol:, did find out a tank full of 5"+ Scribbled angels was selling for $30, and a few Personifer Angels for $30 as well. Some angle fish rare to us are available at 1/4 of the price and most fish are from either Australia, Indo or Maldives, I did see a 75 gallon tank filled with purple tangs and another filled with sohols.
Some of the stores had more angels and butterflies than what I experienced at SDC in my past visits, I was amazed at the verity, quality and quantity. However, most fish are kept in little floating baskets no more than the size of the fish in tiled concrete pools or small cube racks(like FT's set up but smaller cubes). Maybe that is why they don't want me to take pictures.
Not many verity of coral, soft or hard. One store was selling huge aptasias on rocks, I think it may be food for some of the butterflies that don't eat prepared food. I did see a lot of jelly fish variety and other cool shrimps, including the biggest Harlequin Shrimp I have ever seen at almost two inches.
I didn't see any equipment for sale that impressed me but the Chinese made chillers are super cheap, one rated for 600 liters(150 gal) sells for $300 and the one on display is very quiet. One store carries Tunze Streams at 20% over US prices and I didn't see much US brand hardware. Most store don't run skimmers and use ceramic noodles as bio filter media with very little live rock in their system, I think they do huge water changes since most older homes in Hong Kong have fresh sea water piped in to use in the toilets.
It was a lot of fun but too bad I can't bring anything live home, I did buy six months supply of Prodibio to try out on my tank, it was a few dollar cheaper than the US distributer price.
Here is the only "real" skimmer I saw in the 30 or so shops I stopped in
The brown colored chamber is a fluidized sand bed filter, tank water goes through it than the skimmer and UV.
This area is pretty amazing, I estimate there are about 80 shops within the two short street blocks. Most are fresh water with emphasis on gold fish, Discus, and Arawanas. Some of the tropical fish(50 neon tetras, 10-20 guppies, etc..) are stored in small plastic bags with oxygen and hung from peg boards. This month's AFM have a good article about this place if anyone is into more details.
The salt water stores have mostly angels and butterflies, large Emperor angels(6+ inches) are no more than $40 USD each, CBB's are less than $5 for a 4"+, regal angels are all over the place for less than $10 each, True percs are less than $3, I saw a tank with about 150 black percs for $4 each, Majestic angels are also popular, most stores have 10-20 in stock for less than $20 for 3-5". I also saw few gold flake angels but didn't ask for the price for Warren's sake:lol:, did find out a tank full of 5"+ Scribbled angels was selling for $30, and a few Personifer Angels for $30 as well. Some angle fish rare to us are available at 1/4 of the price and most fish are from either Australia, Indo or Maldives, I did see a 75 gallon tank filled with purple tangs and another filled with sohols.
Some of the stores had more angels and butterflies than what I experienced at SDC in my past visits, I was amazed at the verity, quality and quantity. However, most fish are kept in little floating baskets no more than the size of the fish in tiled concrete pools or small cube racks(like FT's set up but smaller cubes). Maybe that is why they don't want me to take pictures.
Not many verity of coral, soft or hard. One store was selling huge aptasias on rocks, I think it may be food for some of the butterflies that don't eat prepared food. I did see a lot of jelly fish variety and other cool shrimps, including the biggest Harlequin Shrimp I have ever seen at almost two inches.
I didn't see any equipment for sale that impressed me but the Chinese made chillers are super cheap, one rated for 600 liters(150 gal) sells for $300 and the one on display is very quiet. One store carries Tunze Streams at 20% over US prices and I didn't see much US brand hardware. Most store don't run skimmers and use ceramic noodles as bio filter media with very little live rock in their system, I think they do huge water changes since most older homes in Hong Kong have fresh sea water piped in to use in the toilets.
It was a lot of fun but too bad I can't bring anything live home, I did buy six months supply of Prodibio to try out on my tank, it was a few dollar cheaper than the US distributer price.
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have a safe trip.
