Pet King

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

In fact, Zhang Zian didn’t know much about fish. He had been cramming in the knowledge ever since he decided to open an aquarium. He had also received a lot of information from Karl and Paul. When his parents were running the pet shop, there were only a few freshwater fish merely for the sake it. They didn’t have much experience with fish.

As they walked, Snowy relayed to him the questions that the aquarium fans had asked in the live broadcast. He could not handle the questions as well as he could handle the questions about cats and dogs and he often had to think twice before giving an answer. As they were walking, they had to dodge pedestrians and vehicles and Zian had to give smart answers to the mocking questions from the online fans. Neither the fans nor Snowy had realized that he was wracking his brain to answer their questions.

The fans were right. Almost all of the aquariums in Binhai City ended up losing money. There was one aquarium that was barely able to make ends meet––aquariums were quite expensive. The tanks, equipment, materials, and aquatic creatures weren’t the only things that were expensive––the electricity bill alone was a huge expense each month.

The cost to stock aquatic creatures was much higher than it was for cats or dogs, but they were also less popular than cats and dogs. It was more likely to lose money than gain any.

Zhang Zian was hesitating. If he couldn’t manage it well, then he might lose everything that he had been saving up for in the past.

Aquariums were struggling to survive, yet the aquarium market in Binhai City didn’t disappear because of it. The vendors at the market minimized the pressure to stock by selling the newly acquired fish within the week and by trying to avoid their fish dying as much as they could. To avoid them dying, they did not feed the fish, but instead added drugs to their water––it was a known secret of this business.

They walked a few blocks and approached the aquarium market.

Despite the fact that it was a working day, most elementary schools were closed so there were parents occasionally walking towards the market with their children.

The parents held the fish bowl in their arms, while the kids carried transparent plastic bags with one or two cheap coldwater fish inside. Both the parents and the kids looked happy, although Zhang Zian knew that most of these fish would die within a few days.

Children didn’t know anything about fish, nor did they have any patience. They wanted the fish to grow bigger, so they were always afraid that they were starving it. They fed the fish too often and often ended up killing them by overfeeding them. Even if they didn’t, the water in the tank usually turned cloudy in a few days from food residue floating everywhere. In the end, the fish would die due to deteriorating water quality.

There were strict pet raising guidelines in Germany that prevented that from happening. If China tried to follow their example, then the aquarium market would be shut down the following day.

“Is that the aquarium market over there? It’s my first time being here.” Snowy tipped her toes and glanced in the distance.

“I’ve never been here, either.”

Zhang Zian also glanced over towards the aquarium market.

The aquarium market looked fancier than the dog market did. The dog market was full of individual stands in the open air, possibly because the pets sold there were hardier and could survive in the rain or the sunshine. In comparison, there was a three-floor building of reasonable size in the aquarium market to provide shelter for the vendors. It seemed more regulated than the dog market, but fraud was still inevitable. At least they were not as heartless as some of the abominable dog vendors.

There was a rusty sign at the entrance of the aquarium market that said: “Flower, Bird, Fish, and Insect Market of Binhai City.”

Beep!

A truck honked behind them.

They moved to the side to make space. A truck loaded with all kinds of ornamental fish drove into the aquarium market and stopped at the back of the market building. A few workers covered in a fish smell walked out and unloaded the fish tanks one after another. The fish vendors had been waiting for a long time. They crowded over quickly, trying to get the cheap fish ahead of others.

There were a few individual fish vendors next to the three-story building. They were selling their fish for lower prices. The types of fish that the kids were carrying earlier were probably bought from them.

Zhang Zian and Snowy discussed about it. Since they were already at the market, they decided to visit all the stands, starting from the individual vendors outside the building.

As he expected, most of the fish sold at the individual stands were cheap. They were called “beginner’s fish.”

In the fish business, according to the price and difficulty level, the ornamental fish were categorized as beginner’s fish, commercial fish, and high-end fish. There was no price cap for high-end fish, but it was hard to draw a clear line between the categories.

Most of the individual stand vendors were not professionals. They were aquarium fans selling baby fish they hatched on their own. As they could not keep too many fish in their own tanks, they could make some extra money by selling the babies. The prices were usually lower in comparison and some good ones could be found occasionally.

“That’s grass goldfish. That’s koi,” Zhang Zian said, introducing the fish one by one to Snowy as they passed each stand. “That’s gruppy, and that is molly… These are all beginner’s fish and are easy to raise. They’ll live as long as you have a filter and a heating rod. If it’s a coldwater fish, you can even skip the heating rod.”

“Girl, would you like some fish? They are cheap and easy to raise.”

The vendors started selling their fish to Snowy after seeing that she was pretty and well-dressed.

“Wow! Is this a koi? They are so chubby and cute!” Snowy bent down in front of one of the stands. The koi fish caught her eye. They were fat and big, more eye-catching than those gorgeous, but smaller, guppies and mollies.

There were koi fish of various colors at this stand, including gold, black, and mixed colors of red, white, yellow, and black. A few of them measured around 15 centimeters and looked fat as they blew bubbles in the water.

Snowy was staring at the big, fat koi fish.

“Girl, would you like some? You can take them at a cheaper price: two for 70 yuan.” The vendor was making every effort to sell them.

The koi fish Snowy was looking at were the worst kind. If they bartered for them, they might get a pair for 50 yuan, but Zhang Zian didn’t say anything. It was hard to do business in a stand in such cold weather.

They were a novelty to Snowy, but she had not been too keen on having fish ever since Snow Ball threw Jin Er’s Crucian carp into the air with its paws. She still remembered it clearly. She was worried that if she had fish, they might end up to be Snow Ball’s food or toy.

After seeing enough of them, she stood up with a smile, shook her head, and apologized to the vendor that she didn’t want them anymore. Then they continued.

“What’s going on over there? Are there any unethical vendors cheating customers?” she asked while pointing in front of her.

A few people gathered around the stand in front of them and they seemed to be arguing in loud voices. A middle-aged woman with a child was particularly loud. The vendor could no longer talk back, since a few other people were helping the middle-aged woman.

Ever since the last trip to the dog market, Snowy had developed a strong hatred towards the unethical vendors who had colored the chicks and sold the sick dogs as healthy dogs. After she saw the scene in front of her, she thought that they had maybe come across with another unethical vendor.

“Let’s not jump into conclusions too fast; let’s check it out first,” Zhang Zian suggested.

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