Last weekend, I went shopping at el Mercado de Peces Mixiuhca, a market that specializes in fish and aquarium supplies. The market is in a warehouse close to the Mixiuhca metro station and is full of small vendors, each selling an assortment of fish, other animals, and supplies, which often overflow from the stalls into the narrow aisles. Many vendors serve both wholesale and retail buyers and often hang larger bags full of fish from the doorway of their stall to sell quickly to other local Mexico City fish merchants. In particular, live food, such as small fishes, shrimp, or worms, are crammed into small bags, several dozen of which are then wrapped together as part of a large case, much like rolls of toilet paper at a Costco. My first view of the market was a man carrying two cases, one under each arm, of seemingly orange liquid to his car. The orange liquid was water, full of minute shrimp.
The streets surrounding the market are full of larger, independent shops, many of which sell aquariums that are too big for the cramped stalls of the market. Still, each of these vendors often moves much of their wares onto the street, in eye-catching displays of stacked tanks, tubs of colored gravels, hanging collections of cages, and mounds of rocks, corals, and other ornaments.
Aquariums kits for sale outside the Mercado de Peces Mixiuhca
Inside the market, I purchased a few of the supplies that I had come for, a small filter, gravel, and some plastic tubing, and others like aquatic plants that I had not intended on buying, but couldn’t avoid given how inexpensive they were. Perhaps the most interesting, and out-of-place, vendors were the several food stalls in the center of the crowded market, serving comida right next to the fishes, turtles, rabbits, lizards, and bags of fry. Out on Ha Long Bay, in Vietnam, my kayaking guide once pointed to several men fishing off a floating house, of which there are many in the delta, and remarked: “Good fish for food. Good food for fish.” Such sentiment seems appropriate here, too.
-
-
Many vendors hang bags of fish from their stalls…
-
-
…some sell decorations…
-
-
…and others supplies, like these small bait fish.
-
-
Other animals are also for sale, like this army of lizards…
-
-
…or this tank full of small turtles…
-
-
…and, of course, the guy in the back will sell you breakfast, too.
México, D.F.
Filed under: Keeping Busy en el D.F., Mike's Notes on Mexico: Places and Peoples | Tagged: Aquarium Supplies, Ha Long Bay, In Pictures, Mercado de Peces, mexican markets, Mexico City, Mixiuhca | Leave a comment »
Mike's Notes | Nueve Meses en México, D.F. 