Pet King

Someone who bought a cat or dog didn’t always necessarily buy a cat or dog house, but a fish buyer surely needed a fish tank. The only difference was where to buy one. After all, not many men had Welder Zhao’s hands and could make everything by themselves––not to mention make them nice and presentable.

Among the customers inside the aquarium, there were not only rookies, but also professionals who had been raising saltwater fish for years. Not only did they notice the small tanks for live rocks at the bottom of the aquarium stand, but they were also curious about the stand’s layout.

Just then, Snowy came over with Snowball. She hadn’t forgotten that her primary goal of the visit that day was to live broadcast the aquarium.

The shaved Snowball had taken a bath in the automatic dog washer. It was almost unrecognizable, as if a girl with long hair suddenly got a crew cut by an apprentice in the street.

Snowy circled the aquarium with her phone so that the audience could see what the aquarium was like. She heard Zhang Zian introducing aquarium stands to customers, so she walked over to listen.

The aquarium tanks that Zhang Zian had ordered included the tanks and the stands. The tanks were similar for the most part, while the main differences were in the stands. However, aquarium rookies usually didn’t know the function of the equipment in the stands and were too shy to ask; they were afraid of being ripped off by sneaky merchants. As a result, they just paid without getting to the bottom of things.

The stand layout and the aquarium equipment quality were the most important determinants of an aquarium tanks’ quality. If the layout was lousy, in which all equipment was stuffed into a stand, then it would make future maintenance and changes a headache––not to mention the noise isolation and shock absorption.

In Germany, Zhang Zian had observed Karl’s aquarium and his daughter’s pet shop. He had paid special attention to the scientifically reasonable layout inside the aquarium stand. After his return, he modified it with with his own self-design according to the realistic conditions of Chinese fish owners. Then, he had them custom-made by people from the construction material market.

After hearing “self-design,” the audience started to express their doubt.

“Come on, what kind of self-design could there possibly be? All I can see are a few planks added inside the stand,” someone mentioned.

“If this counts as self-design, I can do it too.”

The so-called self-design sounded impressive. In fact, it was no more than separating sections with planks inside the aquarium stand, while leaving pre-arranged holes and passage for the pipes. He also added wire organizers to make the wires look less messy.

Zhang Zian knew the live broadcast fans would surely have negative comments to add. He said, “Don’t look down upon these planks. I didn’t put them in random places. Instead, after careful consideration, I nailed them where they are supposed to be. For example, a desktop PC case is nothing more than a box with some holes and a few metal boards, yet, it’s sold for 200-300 yuan or more. Why not just stuff the motherboard, CPU, and graphic card in an empty box? Isn’t that cheaper?”

“Manager Weak Bird, don’t talk too fast! I’m telling you that my desktop PC doesn’t have a case!” someone said.

“No case? Is it a super expensive, all-in-one PC?” another netizen responded.

“No. I’m using a shoe box as a PC case. The ventilation is great, and it’s environmental friendly.”

“Don’t make your poverty sound so noble…”

“Holy crap! I can’t imagine that I can meet geeks from Tualatin bar.”

“Hail the pros at Tualatin bar!”

“It’s almost summer. Be careful in case a shoe box catches fire…”

“Haha! The standard PC case of Tualatin bar––a shoe box! I wanted to try it in the past. But I’m not good enough at DIY…”

“If you pay 3000 yuan for Tualatin bar membership, you’ll soon be able to manage an internet bar next to a university!”

“Unfortunately, I entered the wrong bar in the past. I ended up paying 98,000 yuan…”

As the online fans joked around, Zhang Zian continued to introduce his self-designed aquarium stand to the customers.

For example, if a regular aquarium stand was a shoe box, then his self-designed stand was a PC case. Although some geeks from the Tualatin bar loved the challenge of using a shoe box as a PC case, most normal people preferred using a normal PC case.

The internal structure of a good PC case should have been designed properly with predetermined spaces for the motherboard, the CPU, the hard drive, the fan, the high-definition graphic card, etc. The internal ventilation should also be taken into consideration, in case the PC turned into a furnace. The asthetics were the last thing to be considered––as in where the messy wires and cables should be hidden––so that the PC case became a piece of art and was pleasant to look at.

A good aquarium stand was similar to a good PC case, in which the layout should be properly designed, while it still preserved some space for future upgrade.

Zhang Zian’s self-designed stand was not a piece of art, yet it had all the functions it needed, and extra space was preserved. As soon as the door opened, a light-sensitive light was activated automatically, lighting up the internal space.

Devices were placed in grids of various sizes in order, including the filtration system, the protein separator, the calcium reactor, the CO2 cylinder, the denitrator, etc. Turbid salt water was pumped from the aquarium into a small tank with live rocks and good bacteria, then into the devices listed above. The water, already clear at the exit, was pumped into the aquarium again, forming a high-efficiency circuit.

The saltwater circulated in transparent PVC tubes. It seemed to possess some magic, making it fascinating to watch.

The online fans stopped reminiscing about the good old Tualatin bar and began to talk about how if the aquarium stand had a few RGB fans installed, it could disguise as a high-end CPI water cooler.

Welder Zhao was so tempted. He put his hands inside of it to feel it everywhere, then took a few pictures with his phone––he planned to make a similar stand by himself at home. Yet, most people lacked Welder Zhao’s skillful hands. They would rather buy one that was ready to use.

One of the middle-aged male customers said, “Store Manager, I’d like to order one. Please let me know the price of a tank with a stand.”

Zhang Zian asked him, “The price depends on the tank size. How big do you want it? The smallest one with the stand is 100 centimeters. I also have 120, 150 and 180 centimeters. If you want a longer one, I can have it made, too.”

As long as he could afford it, he could order a tank as long as the Great Wall. Rich people had the freedom to do whatever they wanted.

The middle-aged customer frowned and said, “The shortest is 100 centimeters? It seems too big. I want to place it in a corner of my living room, but I’m not sure if a big aquarium tank would look good or not there…”

“Is this the first time you own an aquarium?” Zhang Zian asked in conjecture.

“Strictly speaking, no. I’ve owned aquariums tanks in the past, but they were all small tanks around 40-50 centimeters. The fish kept dying, so I gave up after all fish had died,” the middle-aged customer explained. “Then I got bored and purchased more fish. This repeated a few times… I moved into a new place recently. My room is bigger, so I’m thinking about buying a bigger tank and getting serious about it… but 80 centimeters seems too big to me.”

In fact, what happened to the middle-aged customer was quite common. Many people had tried to own an aquarium on a whim––either fresh water fish or saltwater fish, or turtles and loaches. First-time aquarium owners always wanted to try it first, and ended up buying small or mini tanks. Their rationale was that small tanks were cheap. Even if all the fish ended up dying, or if they got sick of the tank, then they would not lose too much money and wouldn’t feel bad about it.

However, their thinking was incorrect. Rookie owners should buy a tank as big as they could afford. Settling it once was the best approach. Just like a television, aquarium tanks all seemed big in the beginning, then actually became smaller and smaller. After a while, the owner would start coveting bigger tanks and would want to change. If they changed, they ended up wasting the smaller tank. If they didn’t change, they would continue to covet the bigger tank.

After Zhang Zian explained, the middle-aged customer nodded ceaselessly and said, “Manager, you are absolutely right! You just described my mind precisely! I’ve been wanting to change to a bigger tank for a long time, but I always tell myself that my house is too small for it. I finally made up my mind to get a bigger tank after I moved into a new house, but even so, I felt that it was a shame to waste the small tank I bought earlier…”

Zhang Zian laughed. “Your case is nothing. I heard of someone that bought a 30 centimeter tank at first. After a while, he felt it was too small and changed for a 50 centimeter one, then a 60 centimeter one. In the end, he got a one meter tank and finally felt satisfied… As for the previous tanks, they could only serve as shoe boxes…”

“Luckily, I made a 1.5-meter tank myself from the start,” Welder Zhao said, smiling, unconscientiously bragging about his free aquarium tank.

Zhang Zian agreed with him. “Mr. Zhao is very visionary. In fact, for an aquarium rookie, big tanks are much easier. The bigger the tank, the less likely it is that the fish will die, as bigger tanks can provide a better ecosystem for the fish. If your fish always died in the past, you should ask yourself if you put too many fish in a small tank.”

“Yes, it’s indeed like this. I always felt that the tank was too empty with only two or three fish, so I bought more fish after a while. Watching colorful fishing swimming inside was so satisfying… but the fish always died after a short while,” the middle-aged customer said with a sigh. “I had no idea about this. Maybe it’s just as you said… I put too many fish in a small tank.”

Welder Zhao gloated. “I’m a first-time rookie too, but because of my big DIY tank, none of my fish have ever died!”

“Right, none of your fish died, but you have a fish missing every couple of days… They are neither alive nor dead,” Electrician Wu vented calmly.

The middle-aged customer was shocked and didn’t understand why some fish disappeared once every few days. Was the tank too big and the fish got lost while swimming? Or was there some paranormal activity?

Welder Zhao stared at Electrician Wu fiercely, not allowing him to continue.

“All right. Manager, you are right. To avoid covetting for a bigger tank in the future, I’ll get a 1-meter aquarium tank!” The middle-aged customer finally made up his mind.