Aquarium stores in Taipei, Taiwan?

[VincentK]

So, going to Taipei soon, and I wanted to see if there were any nice stores there that I could spend my money on (preferably an aquarium store), I don't really know the area, so does anyone know any place I could visit while there?

[msnikkistar]

Have no idea, but if you find a place, get pictures. LOTS AND LOTS of them.

[psidriven]

try typing this in google maps. it is on minquan and the school is at the edge of the street. its only about two blocks long. lmk if you go, the owner of the nicer shrimp shop still remembers me.

SānMín Elementary School, No. 1號, Section 5, MínQuán East Rd, Songshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 105

if you have a car, there are other fish store streets in the suburbs outside of taipei that are much bigger.

[psidriven]

btw, hit every night market you can. the one in wan hua is the best. shih lin sucks.

[volatile]

I was in Taipei and checked out the area psidriven talked about. The locals referred to it as "水街" which translates to "water street."

Starting from across the elementary school all the way until Min Quan bridge (about 2 blocks away) there are 10-15 fish stores. Almost all of them sell plants and planted tank accessories. Don't expect to find much ADA stuff though, as one of the store owners told me ADA is much more expensive in Taiwan than in the USA and Hong Kong.

There is a better selection of lighting (especially clip on lighting for nano tanks) and hang on back filters than what you would find in America. I bought a 13W light fixture for $179 Taiwan dollars ($5.60 US).

Many of the stores sell various driftwood and stone. I saw a lot of nice driftwood pieces of all sizes and one store had hundreds of pounds of stones. One pile of stone looked similar to Seiryu stone and they had huge and small pieces. I think it was 60 Taiwan dollars/1 kg which equals $1.80 US/2.2 lbs.

As for shrimp, i saw a lot of CRS, RCS (including fire red), and Amano. I didn't see any Sulawesi shrimp.

Here is the Google Map link to the store I bought my light fixture and HOB filter from. They seemed to have the best pricing out of all the places I checked out. Don't buy from the first store you go into. Look around to compare prices first. Feel free to post here if there are any questions.

[blair]

Wish that stone was available over here and for equivalent pricing! The American market is very expensive. Granted the average salary is much higher...

I definitely should have sought out some of these shops while I was there :/ Nice finds.

[volatile]

Originally Posted by blair

Wish that stone was available over here and for equivalent pricing! The American market is very expensive. Granted the average salary is much higher...

I definitely should have sought out some of these shops while I was there :/ Nice finds.

I also noticed the fish were cheaper (33 cents per Cardinal Tetra or so, no Green Neons though), normal RCS were like $3/10, but CRS were the same or more expensive than what we can get on the SnS here. I was surprised I didn't see a lot more "nano" fish. Out of all the stores I visited, I didn't see any boraras brigittae, uropthalmoides, or merah.

If I go back again, I'll try to snap some pictures of the rocks and other stuff. I tried in 1 shop but wasn't allowed and it made me reluctant to ask other store owners.

Psidriven, do you have the address of the stores in the suburbs? Do they hvae a greater selection of stuff and how is the pricing?

[jjlin78]

my dads going to taiwan this week and i'm thinking of asking him to pick up some stuff if he has time. any ideas or recommendations? like smuggling shrimp (i didn't really just say or mean that).

[volatile]

Not worth the hassle and risk of smuggling shrimp, especially when the selection here is better.

Getting rocks would probably be your best bet. Just show him pictures of the types of rocks you want. Also, you can get some cool smaller tank accessories like clip-on lights, CO2 indicators, and HOB filters. I got this Nisso Flat Filter S for $450 Taiwan dollars. I think it looks sleeker than the HOBs we can get in the USA.

[ks70707]

Hi guys,

don't mean to revive an old thread, but I was visiting Taipei and was looking up aquarium stores and was able to make it to the area psidriven and volatile posted about. it was like a dream come true, just stores all the way down the street. in appreciation i thought i could post some pictures i took of the fish there (not all though since there are 64 total). I kinda just wandered in and out taking pictures so sorry in advance, i don't remember which picture was from which store.

[edit] well i tried to embed the images, but i failed quite hard, so ill just leave these imageshack links :/ sry guys!


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[volatile]

Does one of the stores still have a 3-4 foot long shark swimming around in the window display tank?

[Drummerboy7816]

Originally Posted by volatile

Does one of the stores still have a 3-4 foot long shark swimming around in the window display tank?

Yes they do! Just went there today. Bought some nice Dragon stones for $1.30 a pound and a medium Malaysian DW for $4! Also got some trimming tools for cheap. This street is amazing.. Like others have said, about 10 aquarium stores right next to each other and across the street. My favorite was "water world" and the shark tank place (only one with piles and piles of 15 - 20 various stones and tons of driftwood).

[zenche]

i'm here for CNY right now. will have to go next week when the stores reopen! pity i won't be able to get anything though...just going to appreciate.

moving from CHI to Shanghai in 1.5 months...gonna have to sell off my stuff >< not sure if Shanghai has a good fish/plant scene at all...doubt it'll be anything like taipei from the sounds of this thread.

edit - oh snap. found an awesome looking store in Shanghai - http://www.aquapress-bleher.com/inde...d=499&Itemid=1 - looking forward to going there :p