Are Fish Pets Since You Can't Pet Them?

I have been wanting to get a pet and decided goldfish would be perfect. It is thought that goldfish create wonderful feng shui in a home. Feng shui is the ancient Chinese belief that the items in your home, and how they are placed, can create positive energy and good fortune. Circular aquariums are said to best and should be placed in the eastern portion of your house. The number of fish is also important such as eight for good luck (odd numbers are definitely bad), orange fish bring wealth (red fish represent fire which definitely does not mix with water) and one lone black fish in an aquarium will absorb all of the negative energy in the home (that poor guy has a huge job).

So today I went to the Goldfish Market in Mong Kok. Yes, there is actually a street in Kowloon that sells fish and a few other assorted pets. Both sides of Tung Choi Street are lined with stalls and shops selling every imaginable color and size of fish. I saw tank after tank of orange, black, white, blue and yellow swirls. Tiny little fish the size of my fingernail swam next to tanks with fish as large as my hand. Hundreds of plastic bags of fish, hung outside of stalls, shimmered in the light. 

And the fish are only a portion of the aquarium. Plants, both real and plastic, can be purchased to enhance the look of the tank along with colored gravel, rocks and aquarium decorations. There was everything from fake coral to bridges to sunken treasure to castles. My favorite decorations were the little pagodas and a tiny little table with two Chinese men drinking tea. 

Scattered throughout the street were stores with pets such as cats, dogs and guinea pigs. Why someone would purchase a cat is beyond me when there are wild cats roaming all over HK island. Dwarf rabbits, big rabbits and rabbits with floppy ears sat looking for homes. Turtles were in abundance. We even saw one over a foot long that was being hand fed lettuce. A cooler of minute frogs jiggled with life next to a box of tiny albino frogs. Both were very high on the creepy scale.

And of course in the middle of this all the street was being torn up and a jack hammer was pounding away. Oh, so Hong Kong! How would I ever make a choice? I walked up one side of the street and down the other hoping something would strike me. I’m not sure that’s entirely possible with fish. When there’s thousands to choose from can a few really scream “Here we are. Pick us.”? 

I finally decided on a bag of fish. I realize that’s sort of like going to the market and buying a bag of mixed salad greens. Very safe and predictable, yet rather boring unless you add some things to it. Then I bought a small plant and nothing else. The pot I had purchased weeks earlier is so beautiful that I believe that is enough. I’m going for less is more in the ways of the fish world. 

I brought my fish home on the MTR then in a taxi. I didn’t think bouncing them up the 402 steps to our apartment would make them too happy. The eight little buddies (with one black) seemed confused by their new home. Every time I check on them they swim to the bottom of the pot. But I have what I wanted - a pet or rather pets. Although I’m not really sure if fish count as pets since you can’t pet them. It’s sort of like the tree falling in the forest thing isn’t it?