Originally Posted by ddoubleez

An estimated 95 percent of saltwater fish sold in pet shops came from the wild, mostly from the waters around Indonesia, the Philippines, Fiji, and other Pacific islands. More than 20 million fish, 12 million corals, and 10 million other types of marine life—like anemones, shrimps, and mollusks—are captured every year to support a $300 million worldwide “hobby.”

Collectors douse the coral reefs with cyanide, which is ingested by the fish who live there, and as reported in Scientific American, “[t]he resulting asphyxiation stuns some fish and sends others into spasms, making them easy to grab by hand or net.” Half the affected fish die on the reef, and 40 percent of those who survive the initial poisoning die before they reach an aquarium. Cyanide also kills the coral reefs themselves, and marine biologists rank it as one of the biggest dangers in Southeast Asian waters.


Fish have cognitive abilities that equal and sometimes surpass those of non-human primates. They can recognize individuals, use tools, and maintain complex social relationships. Biologists wrote in Fish and Fisheries that fish are “steeped in social intelligence, pursuing Machiavellian strategies of manipulation, punishment and reconciliation, exhibiting stable cultural traditions, and co-operating to inspect predators and catch food.”

Fish communicate with one another through a range of low-frequency sounds—from buzzes and clicks to yelps and sobs. These sounds, which are audible to humans only with the use of special instruments, communicate emotional states such as alarm or delight and help with courtship. The pumps and filters necessary in many home aquariums can interfere with this communication. “[A]t the least, we’re disrupting their communication; at worst, we’re driving them bonkers,” says ichthyologist Phillip Lobel.