Goldfish Market Hong Kong – Locals Believe These Beautiful Goldfishes Will Bring You Wealth and Luck

One popular street market in Hong Kong is the Goldfish Market in Mong Kok, where we saw many shops selling pretty ornamental fish. Many locals believe that the colourful fishes are auspicious and represent wealth and luck, which is why you can always see many people shopping for fish here. Also read: 15 Best Night Markets in Hong Kong You Must Visit

Goldfish Market

Aquarium accessories shop

The Goldfish Market is a bustling street lined with shops selling a large variety of colourful fish such as goldfish, butterflyfish, etc. Many of the fish are displayed in tanks and little water bags.

Besides fish, we also saw many pet shops selling cute puppies and kittens. There are also more exotic pets here, such as (in ascending order of exoticness) turtles, spiders, lizards and snakes.

Due to Hong Kongers’ interest in aquascaping, there are also many shops specialising in beautiful aquatic plants and seaweeds.

For tourists, even though you can’t bring back a live fish, there are many aquarium accessories for sale such as decorations, filters, thermometers, etc.

Goldfish and Feng Shui

There is a reason why the goldfish is so popular in Hong Kong: Feng Shui.

Many locals believe that goldfish represents wealth. Consequently, the bags of goldfish in the shops represent “bags of gold” which you can bring home.

Goldfish aquariums are also considered very auspicious Feng Shui cures that can bring wealth and luck to one’s home, because they represent harmony of the five Chinese elements:

• Fire: represented by the goldfish
• Earth: represented by decorative rocks
• Water: represented by flowing water
• Wood: represented by decorative plants
• Metal: represented by the aquarium structure

History of Goldfish Market

The history of Goldfish Market can be traced back to the 1960s, when fish breeders from the New Territories district started selling their fish on Boundary Street. Fish shop owners from all over Hong Kong would come here to buy ornamental fish.

This wholesale ornamental fish market is still around today and operates daily from 4am to sunrise outside Mong Kok Stadium!

Eventually, some of the fish breeders decided to set up shop nearby at Tung Choi Street. By the 1970s, there were many more goldfish shops along the street and it became known as the “Goldfish Market”.

By the 1980s, business was booming at the Goldfish market because locals started to develop an interest in fish rearing that went beyond Feng Shui.

This was because many Hong Kongers felt that having a colourful fish tank or aquarium was a good way to decorate their small living spaces in high rise apartments, since there wasn’t enough space to keep conventional pets such as cats or dogs.

Between the late 1980s and early 1990s, Hong Kong was one of the top global exporters of goldfish and other ornamental fish, with many of the suppliers based at Goldfish Market.

Many of the shopkeepers here are serious aquarists themselves and some of them have even won  international and regional aquarist competitions before. For example, David Chow, the owner of Aqua Art, won the International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest in 2007.

When Taking a Picture

Make sure you are discreet or ask for permission when taking pictures of the fish displays. Try not to block other customers too.

We could tell that the shop owners were not very pleased when they saw us taking pictures. There are even stories of nasty shop owners yelling at tourists for using their cameras.

Best Time to Visit Goldfish Market

Most of the shops in Goldfish Market open daily from around 11am to 9pm. The best time to visit would be after sunset from around 6pm to 8pm. This is because the fish tanks look most impressive and colourful after dark.

However, if you wish to avoid the crowd, you can visit around 1pm to 3pm when all the shops are open but not so busy yet.

Directions to Goldfish Market

Go out from Mong Kok station Exit B3, walk along Mong Kok Road and turn left into Tung Choi Street (you will see the entrance of a large pedestrian bridge).

There will be some pet shops at the start of the street. Walk down slightly further and you will see the colourful goldfish shops.

Conclusion

It was quite fun to check out the goldfish market, and it will be especially interesting for ornamental fish enthusiasts. However, most tourists will combine a tour here with trips to the nearby Sham Shui Po Market, Flower Market, Ladies Market, Fa Yuen Street Market, and Temple Street Night Market.

Goldfish Market
Address: Tung Choi Street, Mong Kok, Hong Kong
Directions: 5-minute walk from Mong Kok station Exit B3
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 9pm