Sad evening in Hanoi

Yesterday I arrived in Hanoi and after the first briefing with the team leader, I was full of anticipation to visit the famous Hang Dao street where many aquarium shops were located. I was full of anticipation as the last time I was here (4 years ago) I had found beautifully planted tanks and hoped to find the new plant species that had made it to the market since then, notably bucephalandra and pinatifida etc. Plus more aquascaping.

Unfortunately the opposite was true; my favourite shop that used to sell I don't know how many different types of moss, small foreground plants and lots of nice reddish light loving plants did not even have 1 planted tank anymore!

I asked the owner what happened and thanks to his son that could translate, he told me that 'he was not good enough in aquascaping'. I told him that I had loved his tanks and that he shouldn't give up and have at least one planted tank on display, but he refused. He said people would then ask him to reproduce the tank in their home and it would fail...

This is how he sells his plants now:

DSC03488 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC03489 by Biulu, on Flickr

At least he still had a decent selection of small fish which the other ones didn't have anymore either. It was all kois, arowanas, parrot cichlids and these famous flowerhorns.

DSC03441 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC03443 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC03454 by Biulu, on Flickr

This guy complete with 3 chins costs a whopping 250 USD
DSC03473 by Biulu, on Flickr

And here you can see the product of Asian fish farms: the body shapes of many of these gouramis and rainbow fish is not as we know them....

DSC03493 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC03472 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC03459 by Biulu, on Flickr

In this store used to have a great selection of fish and beautiful seiryu type stones; look at it now.... Many tanks empty....

DSC03486 by Biulu, on Flickr

This were the type of tanks that were popular 4 years ago: you can tell that this one has been there for a long time and wasn't sold. It had gathered a lot of dust and the owner that was back then busy setting up new tanks was now babysitting his grandchild.

DSC03460 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC03449 by Biulu, on Flickr

And here you can see that they do not even know anymore how to plant decently....

DSC03471 by Biulu, on Flickr

This shop had only 2 tanks with nutrient rich substrate and it was the only shop around.

DSC03450 by Biulu, on Flickr

It seems that there is only still money to be made with this type of 'painting' tanks. As you can see they are at the most 15 cm deep.

DSC03468 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC03462 by Biulu, on Flickr

I also came across this interesting filtration system; diy at its best....

DSC03492 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC03491 by Biulu, on Flickr

I cannot imagine that there is not anything better in Hanoi at the moment. I just hope that the business merely shifted to other areas and individual shops. I will try to find out the coming week and keep you informed.

That's a shame to go in anticipating something, but not have it as imagined. Nevertheless I'm always pleased to see photos from your trips. They are truly a gem. What was the most interesting thing you saw there?

I do hope you are right that business simply shifted from one area to another. Looking forward to more updates on your wonderful journey. Continued good luck.

Love your Photo's sorry to hear about the disappointment.