Fishkeeping is a popular hobby concerned with keeping fish in the home aquarium or garden pond.
The origins of fishkeeping
Fish have been raised as food in pools and ponds for thousands of years. In Medieval Europe, carp pools were a standard feature of estates and monasteries, providing an alternative to meat on feast days when meat could not be eaten for religious reasons. Similarly, throughout Asia there is a long history of stocking rice paddies with freshwater fish suitable for eating, including various types of catfish and cyprinid. Particularly brightly coloured or tame specimens of fish in these pools have sometimes been valued as pets rather than food, and some of these have given rise to completely domesticated varieties, most notably the goldfish and the koi carp, which have their origins in China and Japan respectively.
Marine fish have been similarly valued for centuries, and many wealthy Romans kept lampreys and other fish in salt water pools. Cicero reports that the advocate Quintus Hortensius wept when a favoured specimen died, while Tertullian reports that Asinius Celer paid 8000 sesterces for a particularly fine mullet.[1]
Modern fishkeeping
Although some tropical fish were kept in gas-heated tanks in Victorian times, tropical fishkeeping only really became popular in the 1930s when devices like electric heaters and inexpensive glass aquaria became available. Air transportation has also made it possible for fish to be imported from many parts of the world rapidly and inexpensively. As a result, aquarists are routinely offered large numbers of freshwater fish collected from South America, South East Asia, and East Africa. However, the majority of freshwater fish sold to aquarists are commercially bred, primarily in South East Asia and Florida.
Marine fish are not easily bred in captivity, and only a few species, most notably seahorses and clownfish are farm-raised. Most are collected from coral reefs, in particular from South East Asia, the Red Sea, and the Caribbean.
The Fishkeeping Industry
Worldwide, the fishkeeping hobby is a multi-million dollar industry, and the United States is considered the largest market in the world, followed by Europe and Japan. In 1994, 56% of U.S. households had pets, and 10.6% owned ornamental freshwater or saltwater fish, with an average of 8.8 fish per household. In 1993, the retail value of the fish hobby in the United States was $910 million.
From 1989 to 1992, almost 79% of all U.S. ornamental fish imports arrived from Southeast Asia and Japan. Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Indonesia were the top five exporting nations. South America was the second largest exporting region, accounting for 14% of the total annual value. Colombia, Brazil, and Peru were the major suppliers. The remaining 7% of ornamental fish imports came from other regions of the world.
Approximately 201 million fish worth $44.7 million were imported into the United States in 1992. These fish comprised 1,539 different species; 730 freshwater species, and 809 saltwater species. The freshwater fish accounted for approximately 96% of the total volume and 80% of the total import value. Of the total of all trade, only 32 species had import values over $10,000. These top species were all of freshwater origin and accounted for 58% of the total imported value of the fish. The top imported species are the guppy, neon tetra, platy, betta, Chinese algae eater, and goldfish.
Several large companies are focused primarily or extensively on supplying the fishkeeping hobby, producing products such as fish food, medicine, and aquarium hardware. Among the largest of these are Eheim, Tetra, Sera, all based in Germany; Hikari, a Japanese company; Fluval, part of the Canadian Rolf C. Hagen group; Interpet, a British company that also owns the Red Sea brand; and the American company Aquarian, owned by Mars, Incorporated but usually trading under the Waltham petfoods brand.
Fish breeding
Conservation and science
Studies by the United Nations have shown that while more than 90% of the freshwater aquarium fish traded are captive bred, virtually all marine aquarium fish and invertebrates are caught from the wild. The few marine species bred in captivity supplement but rarely replace the trade in wild-caught specimens. [2] [3] Fish and invertebrates that are collected from the wild can provide a valuable source of income for people in regions where other high-value exports are lacking [4]. However, catching fish in the wild can potentially reduce their population sizes, placing them in danger of extinction in the areas where the fish are collected, as has been observed with the dragonet Synchiropus splendidus. [5]
In theory, wild fish should be a good example of a renewable resource that places value on maintaining the integrity and diversity of the natural habitat: more and better fish can be exported from clean, pristine aquatic habitat than one that has been polluted or otherwise degraded. However, this has not been the case with industries such as fur trapping, logging, or fishing where a similar situation existed. Historically, wild resources have tended to be overexploited rather than managed (see Tragedy of the Commons). Moreover, in places where collecting for aquaria is very intensive, there is good evidence that collecting can result in a decline in fish populations. A particular notorious example is to be found on the Philippines, where overfishing and the widespread use of cyanide to stun the fish has caused a drastic decline in the diversity of the coral reef fish considered most desirable by aquarists [6].
On the other hand, breeding programs by aquarists have helped to preserve species that have become rare or extinct in the wild, most notably among the Lake Victoria cichlids. Some species of aquarium fish have also become important as laboratory animals, with cichlids and poecilids being especially important for studies on learning, mating, and social behaviour. Aquarists also observe a large number of fishes not otherwise studied, and thereby provide valuable data on the ecology and behaviour of many species.
Controversy
Modifying fish to make them more attractive as pets is an increasingly divisive issue. Historically, artificially dyeing fish was fairly common, with glassfish for example being injected with fluorescent dyes. The major British fishkeeping magazine, Practical Fishkeeping, has been effective in its campaign to remove these fish from the market by educating retailers and aquarists to the cruelty and health risks involved [7].
In 2006, Practical Fishkeeping published an article exposing the techniques for performing cosmetic surgery on aquarium fish, without anaesthetia, as described by Singaporean fishkeeping magazine Fish Love Magazine. The tail is cut off and dye is injected into the body to make the fish more valuable [8]. The piece also included the first documented evidence to demonstrate that parrot cichlids are dyed through injections of coloured dye. Practical Fishkeeping also reported in 2006 that suppliers in Hong Kong were offering a service in which fish could be tattooed with company logos or messages using a dye laser [9]. Such fishes have been sold in the UK under the name of Kaleidoscope gourami and Striped parrot cichlid.
Hybrid fish such as flowerhorn cichlids and parrot cichlids are highly controversial. Parrot cichlids in particular have a very unnatural shape that prevents them from swimming properly and makes it difficult for them to engage in their normal feeding and social behaviours. The biggest concern with hybrids is that they may be bred back with true species, making it difficult for hobbyists to identify and breed particular species. This is especially important where hobbyists are conserving species that are rare or extinct in the wild [10]. Even within a single species, extreme mutations have been selected for by some breeders; some of the fancy goldfish varieties in particular have been criticised for having features that prevent the fish from swimming, seeing, or feeding properly. Genetically modified fish like the glofish are likely to become increasingly available as well, particularly in the United States [11], [12].
Invasive Species
Serious problems can occur when fish originally kept in ponds or aquaria are released into the wild. While tropical species of fish will not live for long in temperate zone climates, fish released into places with similar climatic conditions to those that they originally came from can survive and potentially form viable populations. Species that have established themselves in places that they are not native to are called exotic species. Examples of exotic fish that have become established outside their normal range are the Asian snakeheads in Hawaii, African walking catfish in Florida, and goldfish in Australia. Some of these exotic species can become extremely disruptive preying on, or competing with, the native fish (see invasive species).
Further reading
- Aquarium Atlas, vol. 1, by Hans A. Baensch and Rudiger Riehl ISBN 1890087122
- Brackish Water Fishes, by Frank Schäfer ISBN 393602782X
- The Conscientious Marine Aquarist, by Robert Fenner (2001) ISBN 1-890087-02-5
- Template:Cite journal
See also
External links
General Information
- Death by Dyeing - Information about dyed fish
- Ornamental Fish Association - Trade organisation for the ornamental fish industry
- Wet Web Media - Large web site covering different aspects of fishkeeping.
Specific Fishkeeping Disciplines
- Australia & New Guinea Fishes Association - Aquarium fish from Australia and New Guinea
- Brackish Water Aquarium FAQ - Brackish water fish and aquaria
- Planet Catfish - Catfish in aquaria
- ScotCat - Catfish in aquaria
- Loaches Online - Loaches in aquaria
- Richard's Mudskipper & Goby Web Site - Mudskippers and gobies in aquaria
- Polypterus.info - Polypterus in aquaria
- Pufferpedia Pufferfish in aquaria
de:Aquaristik es:Acuariofilia fr:Aquariophilie gl:Acuariofilia it:Acquariofilia oc:Aqüariofilia pl:Akwarystyka pt:Aquarismo
