Pet King

The wild west African style and the serene Japanese style formed a sharp contrast against each other. The other aquascaping styles were somewhere between the two of them.

Zhang Zian introduced the aquascaping styles to Snowy one by one. Even the other customers strolling by them were drawn to what Zian was saying.

“Is there a Chinese style in aquascaping?” Snowy asked after finishing the tour, yearning for more.

“Unfortunately, there is not. At least, I’ve never heard of any,” Zhang Zian answered. “Japanese aquascaping is 40 years behind western aquascaping––it took a lot of effort to catch up with the latest trends. You must understand that in Japan, the cost of aquarium tank construction and decoration can be counted into one’s mortgage, which relieves the financial burden. Aquascaping became popular in China even later than it did in Japan. It takes time to form a distinct style. Maybe someday in the future, there will be aquascaping in the Chinese style.”

Snowy felt that it was unfortunate, but art could not be forced. China was a big place, and the major cities didn’t get along with each other. It would be very hard to agree on a common style.

Apart from financial factors, sufficient time and money were needed for aquascaping. The middle class in China were usually too busy every day with old parents and young kids; they didn’t have any time to calm down and play. Most aquascaping fans were retired old people with good pensions, or the elites with financial freedom, or companies and government agencies.

After finishing with the central display area, Zhang Zian needed to get down to his real order of business. He arrived at the front of the different stores, looking for the appropriate aquarium supplies.

Snowy followed him, having no idea about the things that he was looking for. Zian picked up a handful of bottom sand and pinched, then picked up an eco-bio-block to observe the color and sniffed it under his nose. He barely asked any questions except about the prices. The store owners could tell from his behavior that he was a business insider. They usually started off with the lowest price to spare each other the hassle of bargaining.

Zhang Zian stopped at one shop, grabbed two long, rod-shaped artificial stones, and knocked one on the other.

“What’s this? Hollow bricks?” Snowy asked, noticing the tiny holes covering the surface of the two artificial stone rods. They looked light, which reminded her of the hollow bricks used in construction.

“No, these are bacteria houses, a type of filtration material to culture the nitrifying bacteria.” Zhang Zian handed one of the rods to her. “Most saltwater tanks use eco-bio-blocks for this task, so no extra bacteria houses are needed. However, for Fish-Only-Tanks, or FOT, in which there’s nothing else but the tank, they are needed. Bacteria houses turn acidic after a long time. You need to use them along with coral sand.”

After explaining, he told the store owner, “Get me one of those.”

Zhang Zian bought the bacterial house from the store he was at, and then he stopped by every store on the second floor and bought a bacterial house from each one. He stored the houses in different plastic bags, then marked down the store name with a marker.

Before Snowy asked him, he explained, “Bacterial houses are consumed in large amounts, and at least 50 kilos are needed each time. But the quality differs a lot. I’m buying some samples first, then I will smash them up and check the internal structure under a microscope. Some bacterial houses are poorly made. They have small holes in their surface, but the inside is solid. I’ll find out which store offers the best quality, then come back and buy some more. Of course, I’ll ask for a bulk price.”

Snowy was very impressed, as she didn’t really understand all of it.

They turned a corner and arrived in front of a store that sold corals.

Live corals, coral reefs, and decorative corals were often mixed up. In fact, live coral was actually a living creature. The two latter were the remains of dead coral.

Saltwater tanks included three categories: Fish Only Tanks, coral tanks, and reef tanks with fish. As the difficulty levels increased, so did the aesthetics. Most saltwater tank fans dreamed of owning a perfect reef tank. Therefore, Zhang Zian needed to acquire different kinds of corals and place them in the display tanks. Customers would be more willing to pay for those than the bare Fish Only Tanks.

The store they were at specialized in corals. Coral tanks of all sizes filled up the entire store. Zhang Zian glanced around and saw that there was quite a variety of corals. Most of the common corals could be found.

“Oh? Are these corals on both sides?”

Snowy looked from left to right. The corals on the left and right side tanks had completely different shapes. The corals on the left looked like giant flowers blooming on the reefs, whereas the corals on the right had branches like cacti.

“Yes, they are both corals––soft corals on the left, hard corals on the right. Very clearly defined.” Zhang Zian walked towards the tanks, then observed carefully through the water.

After careful observation, he noticed that the corals on the left and right seemed equal and balanced, but in fact, the soft corals on the left had more variety to them. The hard corals on the right had more numbers than variety.

The beauty of corals laid in their various colors and shapes, especially the hard corals. They looked like a thick, coral jungle.

Snowy almost had her face stuck on one of the tank’s walls, admiring the beauty of the corals through the glass in amazement. Coral tanks were completely unlike the aquascaping tanks earlier. Aquascaping tanks mainly used freshwater plant and animal resources. They were beautiful, but not as deep and mysterious as the coral tanks.

Another female customer was choosing corals in the store. She seemed to have seen all the corals available but didn’t find anything satisfactory. She asked the owner, “Sir, do you have any other corals? Are these all you have?”

“These are all I have. Nothing more.” The owner was playing on his phone and had his head down. He didn’t even bother to look up.

The female customer was in her 30s and was dressed up in designer brands. She seemed to be rich.

“The corals you have here––are they all artificially grown? Do you have anything wild? It’s fine if they cost more.” She frowned and said, “Anything from the South China Sea?”

The owner lifted up his head and glanced at her lazily. “No, it’s forbidden to sell them. I only have those from Indonesia and Australia. Last year, they were selling wild corals in this store. A few people were arrested by the law enforcement department and were released a few days later. After their return, they closed the store and left permanently.”

Wild corals looked better than cultured corals, and there were even more colors. However, as hard corals were endangered, the government had forbidden the harvesting and trading of hard corals. Corals from the South China Sea were protected by strict measures. It was quite a shame to the hardcore aquarium fans.

Most imported corals were artificially cultured corals from Australia and Indonesia.

Zhang Zian had heard about it, but couldn’t do anything about it. Since it was the law, everyone had to abide by it.