The Reef-Keeping Hobby In China

Along with the other people I agree that it is cool to see other countries' aquarium hobby but in the end this just makes me more worried abotu China and its lack of responsibility. I really wonder how many other fish didn't make it out of the quarinitine stage, not to make it seem like the U.S. or Europe has a 100% survival rate but at such low prices, especially since it is a niche market in China, I wonder under what terms some of these animals were collected. Hey Steve, any ideas how their aquaculturing or conservation efforts are in China?

 

Hi Elebreind
Low prices can be related to reduced transport cost of live stock, many Gonis and other corals are found in the South China sea which means the cost of collection and transport is a lot lower than moving them half way round the world

on the subject of aquaculture, next time I visit, I will collect more images of product for sale, as opposed to display tanks, I was pleasantly surpised te 1st time I saw many frag plugs and frag discs with various species like ricordia, and Zoanthids on them - now these could be cut and spilt fragments from larger colonies rather than serious attempts to propogate ,
Ill try and find out, ask the questions

but its fair to say, that the general attitude would not include any care or consideration to the ethical aspects of the hobby, and species like Logger head turtles, can be purchased, these are normally kept hidden, in sumps etc and only shown to customers they feel they can trust

Fangcun market is subject to inspection by customs inspectors etc
but as stated earlier, China is a country where the state does not provide to any great extent for those that cant provide for themselves
and as such your concerns would be justified

but collecting and selling fish and corals IMO , is a better choice than say growing and cultivating poppies for the same pupose?

I suppose Im saying I have learned to put it into perspective

Steve

 

I live in China, and it is true that saltwater aquarium hobby in China is not so good now, I think the main problem is lack of information, the publishing is controlled by government, so every kind of info from outside is difficult to get into the country. Many basic concept such as Berlin method, live rock, quarantine... is just been accepted for few years after the web is playing the great role in knowledge exchange for the hobby, so many customers in China do not know much about the saltwater aquarium at all, not to speak of the topic of responsibility related.

But As many other things in China, there are always worse side and better side in same time: there are also some serious aquarist in China have knowledges knows what is good and what is bad, they could also keep a mature reef tank dominated with SPS, and there are even some aquafarms begin to run in China such as this one : ±±¾©AMFº£Ë®Å©³¡ , I know there are some aquafarms running in South China near FangCun, so it is not strange to see some frags selling in the market.

 

Ni Hao
xie, xie ni

Hi Welles,where are you located, do you keep salt water fish, corals

Steve

 

Hello, Steve

I am live in Beijing and I am keeping a 250 gallon reef tank

 

we are going to need images, and tank spec details from you

welcome to the site Welles

Steve

 

Thanks, steve, here some recently images:

 

not sure whats up with my computer welles I am not seeing images only the red cross indicating they are there

if you or anyone else can tell me how to view these, I would appreciate it

Steve

 

The display tank is 80 x 28 x 28 inch, about 250 gallon water in total, lighting is 3x400W, IceCap ballast with XM 10000K and ReefLux 12000K bulb. The skimmer is Chinese made BUBBLE-MAGUS 360 (external model with three aquabee 2000I pump), 2x6100,1x6200 with TUNZE 7095, 1xTUNZE Wavebox and 1x MP40W for streaming, Neptune AC3 for controller.

 

sorry, I think you could get the image here: Picasa Web Albums - haiwei - Reef Tank