The welfare of aquarium fish is a topic that is rarely
discussed in books, magazines, fish shops or veterinary
clinics, yet it is a topic that urgently needs to be
addressed. With the increased availability of quality aquarium
products and fish, the hobby of keeping aquariums has grown
astronomically in the last fifty years. It has become a very
serious hobby and even a livelihood for many people. Many
dedicated aquarists maintain clean, healthy, environmentally
correct tanks and give the utmost care to their fish. These
hobbyists take great pains to provide proper water conditions,
nutrition, housing, and natural environments for their fish.
They treat sick fish and do not accept a fish dying as a
normal aquarium occurrence. These dedicated aquarists are to
be commended, but unfortunately, for every one of them, there
are many that do not provide adequate care for their fish.
A dedicated and caring aquarium owner does not have to have
a thousand-dollar tank filled with exotic species. Even the
simplest, properly maintained tanks can house healthy,
well-cared-for fish. While there are cases of fish neglect and
poor care with an experienced aquarist, the majority of the
problems arise in the beginner's tank.
Fish are pets, too
To put the fish welfare problem into perspective, let us
compare it to a pet owner that purchases a puppy or kitten. If
the new puppy owner took the puppy home and confined her to a
small cage, sporadically fed her vegetables, failed to treat
her when she became sick so eventually the puppy died, and the
owner went back and got another puppy and did the same thing
all over again, what would we think? Of course there would be
a huge public outcry. It would be very obvious that the
welfare of these animals had been violated every step along
the way. Yet the same thing happens every day in the tropical
fish industry, only instead of a puppy, the victim is a
fish.
In another situation, let us
ponder what the public would say if wild canines were being
captured out of the wild. Let us take wolves, for example.
These animals would be captured from the wild, caged, and
transported to a retail market for sale as caged pets. During
the transport, the stress and handling of the animals would
result in a 50% death loss. Of the wolves that survived,
another half of these would die soon after placement in their
new homes from disease and improper nutrition. Few of these
wolves would breed or live a normal life expectancy. We could
argue that the ones that did survive would be free of the
dangers of predation in the wild, and furthermore, the
industry responsible for providing these animals provided much
needed income for the indigenous people that gathered them. Of
course we would not agree with this. We would not think that
this was a humane or justifiable action, nor would we feel
that the welfare or ecological community of the wolves was
even remotely considered. Yet in the harvesting of some wild
tropical and marine fish, this is exactly what happens.
Fish are not dogs, nor are they wolves, birds, or turtles,
yet the welfare of animals, particularly domestic or captive
animals kept as pets, should not discriminate across species
lines. In fact, when we take an animal into our care, we are
even more obligated to look out for the welfare of that
animal, and fish are no exception. Some people that speak
against animal welfare argue that it is anthropomorphic to
compare our feelings with that of animals, but the argument
for improved welfare of fish is not comparing them to humans,
it is comparing them to the way we treat other pets.
Why is fish welfare
neglected?
Despite the lack of concern over the welfare of fish, I do
not feel that it is done out of cruelty, but merely out of
ignorance. Fish and aquariums are very complicated. While it
is easy to fill a tank full of water and put some fish in it,
any experienced aquarist will tell you that the proper
maintenance and care of an aquarium is extremely challenging
and complicated. People that provide proper care for their
fish have educated themselves and work very hard to understand
the specific biological needs of their fish, and then meet
those needs. An experienced aquarist does not tolerate sick or
dying fish. If a fish dies, something is drastically wrong.
The answer is not to just go out and purchase another fish,
but to find the exact cause of the death or illness and
correct it.
Many fish owners do not realize what is involved in setting
up a tank. They do not know the pH level, water hardness,
temperature, substrate preference, or nutritional needs their
fish require. Without understanding these basics and how all
of these affect the health of the fish, they cannot even begin
to have a healthy tank. That is not the fault of the fish, but
the owner.
I still hear the argument that
fish do not feel pain like animals do. Despite the repeated
scientific studies that have shown otherwise, this outdated
argument still shows up as an excuse for ignoring the fish's
welfare. Interestingly enough, the same argument that animals
do not feel pain was taught for years in veterinary schools
and used as an argument against providing pain relief during
procedures on cats and dogs. While we may find this hard to
believe, it was not that long ago, and the same argument is
still being used about fish today. Despite exhaustive evidence
showing pain and stress responses in fish and no studies to
refute this, some people continue to cling to this
argument.
The welfare of aquarium fish is often neglected for a
multitude of unique reasons:
- We generally do not touch or feel the fish.
- Fish do not respond to people except during feeding or
out of fear.
- We cannot hear or communicate with fish.
- Fish cannot cry out in pain, bark to draw attention to
their needs, or purr to show affection.
- In a sense, fish are very easy to ignore if we choose.
- In addition, they are cold-blooded and are 'different'
than mammals.
All of these things make it easy for us to rationalize that
their needs do not require the same consideration that other
more vocal, easy to touch, warm-blooded species do. When you
combine this with the fact that we have been taught that it is
okay to ignore the welfare of fish and that the solution to a
dead fish is to 'just buy a new one, it is easy to see why we
have the problem that we do.
What can be done?
None of this, however, absolves us from our responsibility
as a fish or pet owner. It is the responsibility of every fish
owner to provide the best possible care for his or her fish.
Collectively, as a group of aquarium owners, it is also our
duty to educate beginning aquarists, so that they have the
knowledge and tools to provide the best in fish care and
promotion of fish welfare. If private aquarium and fish store
owners took a hard stance against companies that sell and
display unhealthy and poorly-cared-for fish, they would soon
go out of business. At the same time, if the same people
insisted on humane captive-rearing methods and lowered
mortality in production, these trades would drastically
improve, or cease to exist. The welfare of fish affects every
single aquarium owner and is something that drastically needs
improvement. It is an issue that we should all be concerned
with and work hard to improve.
