The ornamental fish trade collects millions of fish from coral reefs each year using methods that cause significant mortality and welfare harm. Understanding the issues supports more responsible aquarium keeping.
The ornamental fish trade causes enormous welfare harm through a chain of events - capture stress, cyanide poisoning, holding in crowded conditions, air transport over thousands of miles, and further stress in retail environments. Fish that survive this process often enter home aquariums with compromised health and shortened lifespans. The individual welfare cost is multiplied by the extraordinary mortality rates across the supply chain. For every fish that reaches a consumer's tank, several others may have died. The existence of captive-bred alternatives for many popular species means that wild capture is increasingly avoidable, but consumer demand for novelty and price sensitivity drive continued wild capture of species that could be bred in captivity.