Recently, a wave of "fish keeping" has swept through young people. On a video platform with a user base that is mostly young people, searching for "fish keeping" as a keyword will bring up a variety of related videos. In addition to fish keeping guides and ornamental fish sharing, some netizens have also recreated their favorite anime scenes in their fish tanks, with the highest number of views reaching more than 5 million. Many netizens are "virtually keeping fish".
Small fish are the most popular, with a variety of appealing colors.
On the morning of March 2nd, a reporter from Modern Express visited the Confucius Temple Flower, Tree, Fish and Insect Market in Nanjing. The aquarium section was located to the right of the entrance, with numerous aquarium shops of varying sizes lining both sides of the road. Despite it being a weekday, there were still many citizens shopping for fish. The reporter noticed that many of the shoppers were young people. "Most people buy them to keep as pets, but many young people also buy a few small fish to keep at work," said a shop owner who was scooping fish for a customer. He told the reporter that the shop mainly sells smaller fish such as angelfish and fairy angelfish, "They're colorful and look nice. The small fish aren't expensive, and they're usually sold in pairs."
At an aquarium shop near Xinjiekou in Nanjing, a reporter observed that the store mainly sold saltwater fish, including popular clownfish like Nemo and Siamese fighting fish. "Clownfish are relatively easy to keep among saltwater fish. They cost 65 yuan each. If kept as ornamental fish, they can live for 6-7 years, making them very popular with young people. Many parents also bring their children to buy them," the shop owner told the Modern Express reporter. The owner added that keeping saltwater fish requires a certain size aquarium, as some species are difficult to keep in smaller tanks. The reporter learned that the shop offers a pre-packaged set for beginners: an ecological aquarium, two clownfish, decorative ornaments, and essential supplies like sea salt, priced at 980 yuan. Home installation is also available.
Online sales are impressive; you can get a complete set of "fish-raising equipment" without leaving home.
Reporters noted that in the world of young people, fish-keeping setups are no longer limited to ordinary fish tanks and artificial rockery decorations. A search on a certain platform using "fish tank landscaping" as a keyword reveals, in addition to ordinary fish tank installations, numerous cartoon and anime-themed fish tank landscaping packages, such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Mushroom House, with monthly sales exceeding 6,000 units.
Nowadays, the channels for buying fish are no longer limited to offline stores. Searching for "fish" on the platform, the reporter randomly clicked on a link and found that the store had many fish combinations to choose from, priced between 10 and 80 yuan, with monthly sales exceeding 10,000 and more than 30,000 after-sales reviews in the comment section. Most netizens said, "The colors are very beautiful," and "They are so pretty, with big tails swaying back and forth, very cute!"... In the same store, you can also buy fish tanks, fish food, aquascaping sand, and other equipment. The store's customer service told the reporter that there are corresponding discounts if you buy the whole set.
More and more young people are joining the "fish farming army".
Deng Yang, a media professional born in the 1990s, told the Modern Express reporter that he only got into aquariums in 2022. "I noticed by chance that a colleague in the office was keeping fish. I thought the aquariums were beautiful. It was very therapeutic to be able to see a miniature underwater world on my desk during my busy work. After asking my colleague for some information, I immediately went to the aquarium market."
He said that his first fish was a clownfish named Nemo, and later he gradually bought other types of fish such as tomato clownfish, da Vinci clownfish, four-banded clownfish, and blue devil clownfish. He also bought starfish, corals, anemones, and other aquariums for aesthetic purposes, and soon he had his own "underwater world." "A marine aquarium requires mixing seawater and conditioning the water, which is actually quite troublesome. At the time, I was really into it, and I thought the fish were so beautiful." Xiao Deng said that when he was very tired from work, he could turn around and see a small underwater ecosystem, which made him feel that it was all worthwhile. "After all, you can't keep cats or dogs in the office, so fish are the only way to heal me."
Zhang Xiaoyue, who lives in Beijing, enjoys sharing her life on social media in her spare time. On one platform, an article she wrote about her DIY aquarium received many likes. "The first thing I do when I get home from get off work every day is check on my clownfish. At first, I was worried they wouldn't survive, but the more I kept them, the more I loved them—they're so cute!" Zhang Xiaoyue said. She ordered her clownfish online, with same-city delivery, and they arrived the same day. She also bought aquarium materials, substrate, colored pebbles, and decorative items to DIY, ultimately creating a miniature underwater world.
