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not just water
WITH FISH
SHIRLEY LE GUERN MEETS A LOCAL YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR WITH A FLEDGLING AQUASCAPING BUSINESS
F
ish tanks are making a comeback as people spend more time at home post-Covid. The problem is that they are finding out that this is not as easy as those You Tube videos make out, says Jordan Sum Yuen, the plucky young entrepreneur who founded The-Clean-Up-Crew. Jordan matriculated at Waterfall College in 2019. When Covid-19 lockdowns scuppered his plans to study further that year, he took a job at Exotic Pets in Hillcrest. He says a mentor had told him that he had a natural talent for entrepreneurship. When he began fielding queries from customers looking for someone to help
maintain their fish tanks, he jumped at the opportunity to fill that gap. Today his fledgling business not only takes the hard work out of maintenance by doing water changes, water testing and repairs to filtration equipment for tanks and ponds, but also advises people on the choice of products, plants and fish to keep their tanks looking shipshape. “How I explain it is that this is not a decoration. People need to realise that these are living things. A fish tank is not just water with fish. It is an eco-system and you need to replicate the natural environment and keep everything in balance. They are not self-sufficient. Many people like the
idea but not the hard work.” His most memorable clean-up was a 26 000-litre tank at a lodge. The majority of the tanks that he cares for are around 400 litres, and he was convinced that the calculations were wrong – until he arrived. His crew took a day to clean it with one member having to don baggies and a snorkel and climb into the tank. But what Jordan enjoys most is tank installations – either setting up a shop-
Getting the tank is easy. It’s what you do with it that counts bought tank or facilitating the design and manufacture of a bespoke tank for a specific home or office space. He keeps up to date with latest trends. Whereas, up until recently, marine fish were most popular, the latest fashion is aquascaping – which puts the focus on the plants rather than the fish. “Marine tanks become too expensive. It has also led to many exotic fish becoming endangered in nature because of overfishing to supply aquariums. Our oceans are under threat and it doesn’t
LEFT: Jordan Sum Yuen with the very first tank that his business helped set up in a Waterfall home.
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