How I Survived After Losing My Job 🐟️ China’s Mega Pet & Plant Market

bike here to pick up stock carrying back huge bags of fish sorting and packing them in my tiny apartment then contacting couriers to ship them to buyers all over the country and that's exactly why there's a big fish tank in my apartment those days were tough my small apartment was filled with foam boxes and oxygen bags barely any room to walk but that little business kept me going through those months with no income In the end, I gave it up because the space was too tight and the profit margins too thin but that experience gave me a completely different

connection to this market fish are sold by the whole bag and the price is about half sometimes even just one third of what you'd pay at retail shops if you have a big tank at home and need to stock up on a lot of fish buying from the wholesale zone is a really good deal Hey, dude hey It’s been a long time since you placed an order with me I don’t sell fish anymore So what are you selling now? I’m not selling anything Are you live streaming? No, I’m just making videos speaking of transport that second hand e bike cost me about 60 US dollar beat up

and ugly but it got me to the market and back every day rain or shine problem was no license plate a cop towed it away the fine was more than the bike itself so we let it go now we walk everywhere when money's better we'll definitely get a new one apart from the wholesale section all the other shops are open every day usually from 10 a m to 6 p m the pace here is noticeably slower every shop has tanks of all sizes out front filled with colorful little fish swimming around you can see species from all over the world the turtle section is also a lively

spot I don't actually know much about turtles but I've truly Learned a lot here some are no bigger than a coin while others have shells larger than a basin they crawl around slowly or just lie looking incredibly laid back the whole market is divided into two main sections the sheds and the indoor halls the indoor halls have air conditioning it's cool and comfortable as soon as you step in but the sheds aren't so lucky they rely on a few big industrial fans blowing at full speed on a hot day like this you can see all the little animals being hit by those

fans some of them just flop to the bottom of their tanks and fall asleep barely moving How much is this little rabbit? 90 yuan This white one is 200 yuan and this black one is 100 yuan what really stops you in your tracks are the reef tanks bathed in blue light corals sway gently with the water flow clownfish dart in and out of anemones the whole scene looks like a little universe that doesn't belong to this world Mei and I always stop and stare for a long time every time we pass by we just can't tear ourselves away but I've also heard that keeping a

reef tank is a money pit equipment live rock corals fish maintenance none of it comes cheap not like when I kept freshwater fish I could start with a glass tank for about 40 US dollar and just go from there so I guess the beauty of reef tanks is reserved for those who are truly prepared this is the planted aquarium section there's the dedicated aquascaping service shop they have massive tanks they are some taller than a person and the arrangements inside are stunningly intricate little bridges overflowing water layered mountain rocks dead wood appearing

to come back to life any theme you can think of it seems the vendors can make it happen for you of course these services don't come cheap but you have to admit good aquascaping really is an art the placement of plants rocks and wood the selection of fish the play of light and shadow every detail is carefully designed I never used to know that ordnall looking rocks Deadwood and aquatic weeds could sell for so much but that's just how this world works everything is sold and everything is bought but for my own tank the rocks were picked from a gravel pile

next to a construction site the mud was dug from the riverbank and the plants were wild collected my rule is simple if I can do it myself I'm not paying for it walk a bit further slash and you'll hear the birds long before you see them that's the bird zone the biggest crowd pleaser there are the parrots from tiny boujouries to massive macaws their feathers are incredibly vibrant to red blue yellow green like a moving painting there are also all kinds of pigeons and finches Wow, these birds have so many colors red, purple, green the plant and flower

section it's truly overwhelming row after row of potted plants fresh flowers and greenery of all kinds if you can think of it they probably have it my favorites are the succulents every single part is so delicate thick plump leaves some shaped like lotus flowers some like little pebbles some like clusters of grapes the colors are incredibly varied to pink purple gray green and even gradient tones they sit perfectly on a windowsill don't need much attention to thrive ideal for people who are usually busy every time I stroll through here I see things I've

never seen before honestly before I discovered this market I had no idea that such a vast variety of plants and little creatures existed in this world every visit brings new discoveries everything is fresh everything deserves a second look around 6 in the evening many vendors start closing up one by one just pull down the fabric cover block off the stall and that's a day's work done after strolling for most of the afternoon Mei suddenly said let's take something home too our tank needs some new members so we stopped at a shop and started picking Mei said

she wanted guppies their tails are so beautiful flowing like skirts when they swim the owner said six for about $1.5 (¥10) and we could mix and match we picked three different breeds two of each the colors came together as a perfect set How can it be orange We see it as red from the inside It's caused by the lighting and the orange color looks good too the sky was getting dark we walked back slowly along the same road carrying our bag of fish even though we'd been walking all afternoon our legs were sore and our clothes were soaked with sweat there was

a deep sense of satisfaction in our hearts the sunset hadn't completely faded streaks of orange and purple blending beautifully across the sky Mei said today was such a good day I couldn't agree more back home I immediately rushed to place the fish bag next to our tank the original residents seemed to sense something they all swam over to the bag curiously checking out their new companions through the plastic they adapted much faster than I expected flicked their tails and swam off joyfully by the way we spent three days filming this over two hours of

footage the market is just too big to fit into one episode so Mei had an idea let's split it into two today's episode is a quick tour just to get our bearings next time we'll slow down and take a closer look at every fish every bird every plant if you're looking forward to it hit subscribe see you in the next one