Aquarium News And Trends

There’s a great deal of controversy surrounding exotic pets like sugar gliders, slow loris, and big cats. Animal rights supporters claim that wild animals belong in the wild and keeping them as pets is cruel. There is a difference, however, in keeping a wild animal as a pet and protecting endangered species by breeding them in captivity. Conservation breeding programs have saved a number of endangered species from extinction including the Arabian oryx, Przewalski’s horse, and the California condor.
 

While the practice of keeping wild animals as pets is often more harmful than helpful, it isn’t always the case within the aquarium industry. In fact, the aquarium hobby has helped bring 30 species of wild fish back from the brink of extinction.

Is the Aquarium Hobby Helpful or Hurtful?

The truth is there isn’t a simple yes or no answer to this question. When it comes to the preservation of natural populations, there are certainly instances in which the pet trade has been part of the problem.

For example, when the movie Finding Nemo was released in 2003, it led to a sudden spike in the popularity of clownfish. Increased demand for clownfish in the pet trade led to an increase in wild capture, causing clownfish to all but vanish from many areas. Some areas still use cyanide to capture fish for the aquarium trade as well which can be damaging to coral reefs.
 

Another problem with the aquarium trade is...

In March 2020, the COVID-19 crisis became real in the United States. Having seen the devastating consequences of the disease in China and Italy, American lawmakers took steps to protect the public by closing non-essential businesses and encouraging social distancing. In a time when millions of Americans are working from home and anxiety levels are running on high, any method of stress relief is a help.

It’s no secret that owning a pet has measurable benefits for your health, but these benefits are typically associated with traditional pets like dogs and cats. There’s a reason, however, that doctor’s offices and health clinics all over the world have fish tanks in them. Your home aquarium could be just as beneficial for your health as the family dog. Here’s what you need to know.
 

The Top 6 Health Benefits of Home Aquariums

Though cats and dogs are seen as the typical pets, the 2019 National Pet Owners Survey shows that aquarium fish are kept as household pets in over 13 million American homes. This makes them the third most popular type of pet, after dogs and cats, of course. Keeping a home aquarium is a big responsibility, but it does have its benefits.

Here are the top 6 benefits associated with keeping a home aquarium:

1. Reduced levels of stress.

It’s difficult to feel stressed when looking at a thriving home aquarium. There’s just something peaceful about it that calms you and those around...

When you stroll through the aisles at your local fish store, marveling at all the colorful fish, do you ever wonder where they came from? Freshwater fish are bred in huge numbers, sometimes selectively to bring out certain traits (think about all of the different tail types in betta fish. When it comes to tropical marine fish, however, the water is murky.

A staggering number of tropical fish are imported in the United States each year and over 1 million American households have saltwater aquariums. What many hobbyists fail to realize, however, is that they are supporting a trade that takes saltwater fish right out of the ocean to put them in tanks.

In this article, we’ll explore the saltwater aquarium industry in depth to learn how tropical fish get from the ocean to your aquarium. We’ll also discuss the debate between aquacultured and wild-caught aquarium fish while taking a closer look at some of the species that have been successfully captive-bred.

How Do Tropical Fish Get from the Ocean to the Aquarium?

According to a 2014 survey conducted by the American Pet Products Association, more than 1 million American households have a saltwater aquarium. More than 10 million tropical fish are imported in the United States alone each year, more than any other country. Though a small number of saltwater species have been captive-bred, the majority of the estimated 2,000 unique species involved in the ornamental fish trade are captured from coral reef...