The marine aquarium trade involves the capture of millions of coral reef fish annually. Collection methods, transport conditions, and home aquarium care raise significant welfare concerns.
The marine aquarium trade is a welfare problem hidden by the beauty of its product. Reef fish captured with cyanide, surviving stressful multi-stage transport, and arriving in home aquariums that cannot replicate the complexity, space, or social structure of coral reef environments are not thriving — they are enduring. The mortality statistics tell the story: for every fish in a home aquarium, multiple others likely died along the supply chain. Expanding captive breeding, banning cyanide collection, and raising aquarium husbandry standards are all part of the welfare solution.