The ornamental fish trade involves billions of wild-caught and farmed fish annually, with significant welfare problems during capture, transport, and retail sale.
Ornamental fish welfare spans from capture through retail to the home aquarium. Cyanide capture stuns fish for easy collection but causes organ damage and elevated mortality in the days and weeks following capture. Transport in small plastic bags with limited oxygen causes stress and mortality. Retail conditions with high density and inadequate filtration cause disease and deterioration. Home aquarium conditions frequently fail to meet species needs because buyers receive inadequate information about water chemistry, temperature, and space requirements. The welfare case for captive-bred ornamental fish - increasingly available for popular species - avoids wild capture welfare harms while maintaining availability.