Pet Fish Aquaculture

Over the past few decades the world fish production has shown steep increase and currently it accounts more than 200 million tonnes per annum. It comprises of capture and culture species. Contribution to the fish production through aquaculture is steadily increasing from the later part of the twentieth century. Shrimps and major carps being the major groups farmed from marine and freshwater respectively and contribute substantially towards the demand of national and international market. Fish is the preferred food for the majority of people from all over the world and also valued as pet in the aquaria. Ever increasing demand for the fish necessitated establishment of their captive breeding and farming technology. Due to their biological importance

The ancient Romans in the second century maintained elaborate ornamental marine fish ponds, and many of them became quite attached to their pet fish (Higginbotham, 1997; Brunner, 2003). The Chinese developed the practice of breeding and keeping goldfish as early as AD 619–907, and by the year AD 960, there are reports that indicate that goldfish were kept as household pets in ponds (Hervey and Hems, 1948). Since 1276, goldfish were being maintained indoors in fancy bowls, and by 1548, fancy goldfish keeping was a popular hobby throughout China (Balon, 2004). Goldfish keeping in Europe began in the early 1600s, and had spread to Great Britain by 1691. By the 1700s, goldfish keeping was a popular hobby throughout Europe and Britain (Brunner, 2003). Goldfish keeping did not reach the United States until the mid-1850s. Hugo Muller started the first commercial goldfish hatchery in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio (Brunner, 2003; Klee, 2003). Aquarium keeping and maintaining fish in ‘balanced’ glass aquaria had its origin in Victorian England in the mid-1800s. This pastime was initially popularized by the publication of two popular books in Britain: The Aquarium: Unveiling the Wonders of the Deep Sea, by Phillip Henry Gosse, in 1854, and the publication of Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste, by Shirley Hibbert, in 1856. These

The hobby and industry continued to expand throughout the twentieth century with increasing imports of wild exotic fishes, tank breeding and farm production of many species, and improved techniques for shipping fish over long distances (Brunner, 2003; Klee, 2003). Exports of Amazonian fish began in the 1930s and expanded greatly in the 1950s. Exports of freshwater fish from South Asia were recorded in the 1920s and 1930s (Roberts, 2010). Small numbers of marine fish began to be exported out of Sri Lanka in the 1930s (Wijesekara and Yakupitiyage, 2000; UNEP-WCMC, 2007). This early trade was primarily based upon wild caught fishes; however, captive-bred specimens from ornamental fish farms began to play an increasing role in the freshwater aspects of this industry. Currently, the majority of the ornamental freshwater fish are captive bred, primarily in Asia and Florida, while the majority of marine species are still wild caught (Andrews, 1990; Oliver, 2001; Wood, 2001; Wabnitz et al., 2003; UNEP-WCMC, 2007). The increased availability of cheaper international air transport, the development of the plastic shipping bag, and the improvement in aquarium equipment in the recent years are some of the important factors that