The collection of wild reef fish for the ornamental trade causes significant welfare losses through cyanide poisoning, physical collection trauma, and mortality during transport.
The ornamental marine fish trade involves enormous welfare losses that are largely invisible to consumers. The fish in a marine aquarium have survived a collection, holding, and transport chain in which the majority of individuals collected do not survive. Cyanide poisoning causes internal damage that often kills fish weeks after collection. Tank-bred marine fish avoid these welfare costs entirely, and expanding tank-bred supply represents one of the most effective welfare improvements available to the ornamental fish trade.