Goldfish and koi in Tung Choi or Goldfish St, HK

[bwleung]

Hi Everyone,

I finally dropped the shots from my trip in Hong Kong's Goldfish Street back at the end of October 2009 into my blogs. Please see:

http://mirrorscalegoldfish.blogspot.com/2009/11/hong-kong-goldfish-street-or-tung-choi.html

and

http://mirrorscalekoi.blogspot.com/

Hope you like them, Gerard! Sorry for the delay.

Kind regards,

Bill

[suphi]

Good read, in particular, the violin music and koi growth. I wonder if this works as well on ranchu.

[herp17]

Did you happen to get pictures of the goldfish stores above the street on the second and third floors. That's were most of the hardcore goldfish shops are. You name it, they got it. :banana:

[bwleung]

Hi Herp,

All the pictures I took are there, they don't like people taking pictures. Some had signs up saying not allowed, others just told me to not take pictures.

I only had about 45 mins there max as I was stopping there en route. Things changed since I last visited Tung Choi in 2004. Then large ranchus were in many stores and so were fine kois and arowana (dragon fish) which were everywhere.

This time, I think the financial crisis hit them hard, specialty stores are few, more general stores with bags are the norm.

The problem is once you are someone with a camera, they realise you are a tourist and not a customer and so your stay is not really welcome and appreciated, more accommodated instead. As I wasn't planning to buy fish and bring back to Australia, 'you name it, they got it' places is of no value.

I don't know when you were there last, but to me, 2 shops really stand out this time as goldfish minded. They were all on the ground floor.

The first shop was where the black comet hybrid carp photo was taken. It had some of the most exotic goldfish I saw that day in HK. It was set up like a public aquarium, beautiful set up in the huge and many display tanks. There displayed were huge ranchus, orandas, calicos etc.

The other shop was where the self-colured orange jikins photo was taken. That shop had huge red ryukins but I can't take photos as they are very much inside the store and I'll get told off. The jikins and small ranchus were out the front. The display tanks were bare tanks.

Those of you who are into spy cameras or James Bond fans with gadgets, please improve on where I left off and share with us your shots of the golden babes adorned in fine dresses!

Best,

Bill

[herp17]

Hey Bill,

I was last there 2 years ago. I'm Cantonese chinese, so I fit in with the crowd with no problems. Over my trip to Hong Kong and China, I stopped at Goldfish street multiple times. First time was just looking at all the street level stores. Second time around, I started to noticed speciality pet stores on the second floors of buildings. I ended up wandering up and down stairs. I found some herps (reptiles and amphibians) stores, bird stores, and insect only stores. With those, I found the "underground" fancy goldfishes. I saw at least 3-4 of these stores on 2nd or 3rd floors. The general setup was just beautiful. A room filled with giant tanks with all blue background. All the stores kept their room lights dim to dark. So all you see is the light from the tank hoods making all the goldfish shiny like gold, white, red and black against blue background.

I'm going again in a month. Posted a thread about trying to import some goldfish over but sad to say it will just be too expensive for me at this time. And I totally understand about the photo issue. I won't want people coming in to my pet store taking pictures of my stock.

[bwleung]

Hi Herp,

Have a great time in a month's time then!

The weather will be cold in HK then.

Given you blend in like a local, do us a favour, take more photos and drop them here!

And if the shop owner chats with ya, find out (even little tips) on how they breed those BLACK ranchus, black bubble eyes, black orandas etc. They may know how they breed those BLACK goldfish and tell you as you speak the native tongue! Hopefully they don't tell you they dyed them black! :)

Also, see if you find any blue egg phoenix or mirrorscale or leather goldfish there? See if 'you name it, they got it' holds true for these three varieties!!!

I didn't see any of the above during my fleeting visit, but if you do, please take photos if you can. It will settle a few questions, such as UK and Australia are not the only places which have mirrorscale goldfish and Australia is not the only place with leather goldfish, which seems to be the case right now.

Many thanks.

Kind regards,

Bill

[herp17]

Hey Bill,

I won't be able to promise you much since my Cantonese is quite rusty. Plus, I will be in Hong Kong on the 24, 25 and 26 of December. Right on xmas, so hopefully some shops will be opened. See what happens.

[terryl]

Yep...they will open. They only close in Chinese New Year.

Terry