Taiwan Today

The darting colors of scales reflecting tank lights through never-ending streams of bubbles is now relaxing eyes and minds in homes the length of the island. The craze has no age or class restrictions, and rising demand has spawned a rapid increase in specialty shops selling tropical fish.

After a hard day at school, office, or factory, frayed nerves call seek solace for a moment or for an evening; aquarium fish charge no fee, demand no affection, and normally are quite unconcerned about what they eat. No flea collar, no unsightly spots on rugs, no fur clinging to clothes or nostrils—fish have their definite strong points compared to other pets. But strongest of all is how they provide escape in the midst of hectic urban settings.

FCR sent staff writer Eugenia Yun to learn more about this new fad, and to find out whether or not fish therapy really works.

A few years ago, a health survey reported that 70 percent of the families in Taipei owned aquariums—and that 60 percent of these raised mosquitoes. While it is unclear if the mosquito population problem has been substantially influenced since then, there is no question that the number of aquarium owners has continued to grow. The contentment of earlier days with a simple jar or bowl of water with an oxygen-starved goldfish or two has been replaced in people's minds by more elaborate desires.

Today over 2,000 island shops, 500 in Taipei alone, offer a full range of exotic fish and the equipment to keep them healthy and attractively visible to appreciative families. Searching for upscale aquariums and ever fancier fish to stock them has added a new dimen­sion to local window shopping. Along with better equipment has come more media attention, especially as advertising has further increased the popularity of the hobby.

Local shops offer three main options to potential buyers: common goldfish varieties with comparatively simple and inexpensive equipments tropical fresh water fish; and more complex aquatic environments for salt water fish. Any choice leads to immense possibilities, as each category of fish is resplendent with variegated colorations, shapes, and even personalities. Prices vary as well, with expensive koi, extraordinarily popular in Japan as well, awaiting customers eager to deflate their wallets or pocketbooks.

For those with smaller budgets, there are swordtails, guppies, fighting fish, pencil fish, butterfly fish, and angel fish just for a start. The list of available species is nearly endless, and fully half of those for sale are native varieties. The rest are exotic species imported primarily from the Amazon River valley, Southeast Asia, and other tropical areas. As the market expands, shop owners constantly seek new varieties in an effort to convince customers to buy yet one more fish—or another aquarium.

Shoppers bring a rich diversity of expectations and orientations to their aquatic selections. Some like larger fishes noted for their longevity and languid movements, while others prefer smaller, more lively types. Sometimes tropical fish are chosen with reference to work environment. Office secretaries, who must remain calm and cool in the midst of business day chaos, can come home and vicariously let off steam by watching their fighting fish go a few rounds.

Experience also plays a role in fish selection. Expensive equipment is not enough to keep more exotic species healthy and happy, and many families opt for goldfish as a starter. This is especially true with families that have younger children eager to "feed" fish with an assortment of toys, detergent, or other objects within reach. A tank of belly-up expensive fish is not the way to foster relaxed family relations.

Salt water fish are the most difficult to raise, but are favored by interior designers who love to add an aquarium of these particularly colorful tropical fishes to living rooms or more public spaces such as offices, coffeeshops, and specialty clothes stores. And Taipei's restaurants, long famous for large tanks full of fish for evening meals, are matching these holding areas for serving platters with aquariums in dining areas. Now patrons can taste the joys of steamed grouper on their plates while watching a lion fish show off its poisoned but beautiful spines in a tank at their elbows.

Business firms have in fact become the major customers for local aquatic shops. It is popularly believed that fish can bring about wealth and good luck. This is more than a vague feeling casually expressed. It is common for a local geomancer to be consulted about the best location for an aquarium at either home or office. After properly situated, the splendid tank will be stocked with equally expensive contents. For example, by displaying a golden dragon fish, which can cost from US$800 to US$1,000, a business indicates its own wealth and confident corporate personality. This particular fish with its big mouth, two lengthy feelers, and large scales is especially popular because of the long Chinese attraction to the dragon, which unlike the West is viewed as a wholly favorable apparition that dispenses good fortune and justice. Welcoming customers with a dragon fish is therefore good luck indeed.

The dragon fish comes from the Arowana family, with origins in the Amazon River area. Other varieties including red and spoiled dragon fish are found in the mountain areas of Indo­nesia, Malaysia, and Australia. Today, these rare species are unfortunately on the brink of extinction and have been put on international endangered species lists for protection. The Taiwan Fisheries Bureau has responded to this concern, and has forbidden their import since August 1987. As a result, availability has radically declined and buyers must search for other varieties to give both good luck and peace of mind.

But there is much more to owning an aquarium than crass considerations about closing business deals. The main attraction comes from the pure enjoyment of raising, caring for, and enjoying tropical fish. It is a pleasure available to all. For less than US$100 any family can purchase a fair-sized aquarium with its standard equipment, including a light, filter, air pump, thermostat, thermometer, sand, rocks, water plants, and some underwater decorations. After purchased, set up, and stocked with fish, an aquarium completely changes the atmosphere of an apartment by providing restful light, color, and motion.

And there are no bothersome side effects to add tension to life. No pollution, no noise beyond a low hum, and minimal maintenance; instead, tropical fish furnish a peaceful escape from both tension and boredom. Owners claim they find their swimming fish contribute to inner tranquillity, to lower blood pressure, and are simply fun to own. No wonder fish fans are everywhere—and they always seem eager to praise the therapeutic value they have derived from their new hobby.

Take the prosperous Su family for instance. They live in a three-story villa in the southern outskirts of Taipei. As soon as visitors pass through a stone wall surrounding the family's spacious front yard, eyes are attracted to a pebble-paved path that zigzags toward a man-made pool where koi race and rest among the moss-covered rocks.

Inside, the family living room has three large aquariums as the focal points of the professionally designed interior. The largest of the three is the luxurious home of a golden dragon fish, a stately Plecostomus, and a small school of Metynnis, all of which circle a graceful piece of submerged driftwood. The other two tanks have different decorations and types of fish, and Su Ming-che, the head of the household, says there are more tanks upstairs.

Su, who is the owner of a profitable company specializing in electronics equipment, says his large collection of fish serves definite needs. "I started raising pet fish because of the advice of a geomancer. I thought that even if it doesn't help, it won't hurt either. But afterwards, I found out that it does make a difference. But not directly in making money—they just make me feel good. And being in a good mood helps me deal with business affairs more smoothly."

Mrs. Su says there is another positive result of aquariums full of fish. "Now my husband usually stays at home after office hours." A twin daughter adds: "My parents have become typical fish fans. They can sit in front of an aquarium and watch the fish for hours." And her younger sister says: "One thing especially good about raising fish is that since my parents have started the hobby, they seldom lose their tempers." There is obviously an absence of tension between children and parents in this household, and the flashing colors of their pet fish seems to help keep it that way.

Roger Perng, a drama school English teacher, says his introduction to tropical fish came early. "My father raised tropical fish, so by the time I was 14 I was trying to raise my own. One day I spent around US$50 for a fish, and I didn't even know what kind it was. My loving father was anything but happy. He shouted at me about my stupidity, especially because in those days you could hire a maid for half a month with the same amount of money."

Perng is now more experienced, but he has remained in the lower cost levels of tropical fish since then. "Now I have about 100 goldfish. They live longer, and I like their funny looks."

The wild variety of shapes and colors have made the goldfish popular for generations. Traditionally Chinese have favored goldfish with especially protuberant eyes and larger heads. They are cheap to buy and surprisingly resilient. Perng remembers one of his early successes with "curing" a sick pet.

"Once I discovered that one of my goldfish had a black spot near its left eye. At first, I scattered a little salt into the water trying to cure its disease. Then I went to an aquarium shop for a dark blue liquid medicine, and gave it a medicine bath. But it still seemed troubled and continued to turn dull. With the help of my wife, I took up courage and did an operation on it. I nervously pierced the area with a needle and took out the black spot, then applied some penicillin. It worked—I cured my pet fish! Since then, it seems to recognize me and shows a special intimacy toward me whenever I walk by."

Another satisfied owner—and an example of the power of goldfish to endure in the face of intentions good and otherwise.

Huang Hua-sung, president of Samyu Aquarium & Pets Corporation, makes his living from fish. "I started my career by raising edible fish. My business was aimed at restaurants, but I hated to sell fish for satisfying human appetites. So I turned to growing pet fish, and imported tropical fish from Peru, Thailand, Indonesia, and elsewhere. Taking advantage of my academic background in science, I successfully reproduced those exotic species and even introduced them to other markets.

"I've made some money, and lost some too. I didn't do too well in running the Yeh Liu Marine Park, and I didn't make any profit from the pet fish publications I started. But I've never given it up. In fact, I don't even want to make a lot of money out of fish. It's like a professional hobby. I just try to maintain a balance between expenditures and the income of my business."

Huang says he became even more attracted to his hobby after he realized that fish had emotions. One sleepless night he was listening to classical music and turned to watch his Siamese Fighting Fish just as they started mating. "The male was trying his best to show off his beauty in front of the female. After he attracted her, the couple embraced each other and began mating. Later, after it was all over, the female was tired out and the male, although also exhausted, still acted the father's role by protecting the roe from being swallowed."

The whole mating process and its aftermath convinced Huang that there was more to fish than attractive, flashing colors. "I suddenly felt that fish were like humans. I was immediately convinced that there were ethics and love in the fish family, and that their world is not that different from ours. I now raise pet fish as if I were raising children. I believe that if you pay attention and care, they will give the same thing back to you."

Chen Tung-huan, who heads the Nanhai Aquarium in Taipei, says there is another reason why keeping pet fish has become so popular in Taiwan. "I used to live by the sea, and I spent most of my vacations swimming in the river and diving in the sea. When I grew up and moved to the city, I frequently dreamed of the wonderful underwater scenery I used to see so often. Even ten years ago, I could still swim in the rivers and watch the fish."

But those times have changed with the heavy pollution fouling most of Taiwan's waterways. It requires a trip to Kenting National Park in the south, or to the coral reefs off Penghu or Orchid Islands if people want to find tropical fish in their natural environment. The pleasures that used to be naturally available to swimmers now must be provided artificially.

Chen sees hope in the growing popularity of tropical fish aquarium sales. "Today people are more interested in returning to nature. We all need to have something softer and more alive around us—something besides the hard and monotonous products of technology. And an aquarium is the incarnation of a piece of nature."

He pauses to reflect a moment, then adds: "I also hope that people who have pet fish will cultivate ecological concepts. We've got to understand that our natural environment is deteriorating badly. I don't think industry should be developed at the expense of a balanced ecology. We need industries that make money, but they shouldn't be polluting industries."

Some shopowners specializing in tropical fish can wax eloquent about the therapeutic qualities of their product. K.K. Lau of Joy Aquatic, is a good example. "I'm from Hong Kong, and while the local market is not as competitive as Hong Kong, it recently has started to boom. I might say this is a result of the rapid economic growth here, and the rising quality of life."

Lau says that raising pets is a modern convention in most places. Dogs have always been popular, but the cramped spaces of urban life and neighbors complaining about noise can make quieter and cleaner fish a more popular alternative. But he reinforces the power of geomancers in helping business.

"Many of my customers come for an aquarium and fish after talking to their geomancers. Some people might say that what geomancers say about water and fish is pure nonsense. This is a misunderstanding. Geomancy is a spiritual study, and not unscientific. I feel geomancers can function like psychiatrists in our society. Their recommendations about the placement of an aquarium in a certain spot may seem illogical, but it seems to work. But no mailer how people begin raising pet fish; they will love it eventually."

Lau is attracted to tropical fish for creative reasons as well. "I really enjoy selling miniature sea worlds. I reproduce them according to the natural wildlife environments they come from. Water plants act as the protagonists in my designs, and fish are the supporting actors."

Lau's thoughts on the joys of owning tropical fish touch on themes that seem common to all aquarium owners. Discussions with patrons in shops reveal frequent references to childhood memories. Sun Kuohsiang, currently a student in the National Taiwan College of Marine Science & Technology, says he recalls catching fish and bringing them home when he was young. But what started out as a way to pass time ended in a career choice.

"Sometimes the small fish I caught were eaten by the bigger ones. Eventually, I went to a neighborhood aquarium to see if there was anything I could do to keep them living together more peacefully." His visit made him discontent with keeping fish in plain glass bottles. "I bought a real aquarium to raise Cichlid, and I was lucky to observe the complete birth process of the fish. There is a kind of incomparable joy in seeing the beginning of new life. Then, I took good care of the baby fish, kept them alive, and watched them grow." These early observations flowed naturally into his present study of marine science, and his related concerns that there is too much research in edible fish but not enough in ecological matters.

No matter what other reasons are mentioned for owning an aquarium, the pure amusement of observation remains foremost. As Kuo Tsung-wen, the president of a tropical fish club says, "Once you learn a little about your fish, you want to learn more. You can't stop indulging yourself in the hobby." And, like other fish owners, he adds: "The important thing is that they make you happy, and that you also make them happy by giving them a good environment. I think raising fish is good for human nature." Therapeutic indeed.