Hundreds of millions of fish are kept as pets globally. Meeting their physical, social, and cognitive needs is challenging and often not achieved in typical home aquarium settings.
Most aquarium fish suffer from inadequate tank size, inappropriate tankmates, incorrect water chemistry, and lack of social complexity. Wild-caught tropical fish experience enormous transport stress from the reef to the retail store — often involving cyanide poisoning at capture (to stun fish without breaking coral), decompression injury, and weeks of confinement before sale. Common species like clownfish can be captive-bred, but blue tangs, marine angelfish, and many others cannot, meaning every specimen comes from a wild reef. Many aquarium fish die within months of purchase from preventable causes.