Aquarium hobby: keeping freshwater fish in aquariums now in science
“He who has fish as a pet is not an aquarist. Aquarists are the ones who take care for their biology and ecology and create an ecosystem in which fish are a part of the organisms living in the aquarium” says the researcher Alberto Maceda Veiga, from the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio), and first author of the study published in the journal Fish and Fisheries -which breaks stereotypes about the world of freshwater fish farming, and highlights the important task of serious aquarists to study and preserve the aquatic biodiversity. Other authors of this study are Omar Domínguez (Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Mexico), Josep Escribano-Alacid (Association of the Scholars Group of Aquatic Ecosystems in Catalonia, AGREA) and John Lyons (University of Wisconsin, USA).
“He who has fish as a pet is not an aquarist. Aquarists are the ones who take care for their biology and ecology and create an ecosystem in which fish are a part of the organisms living in the aquarium” says the researcher Alberto Maceda Veiga, from the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio), and first author of the study published in the journal Fish and Fisheries -which breaks stereotypes about the world of freshwater fish farming, and highlights the important task of serious aquarists to study and preserve the aquatic biodiversity. Other authors of this study are Omar Domínguez (Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Mexico), Josep Escribano-Alacid (Association of the Scholars Group of Aquatic Ecosystems in Catalonia, AGREA) and John Lyons (University of Wisconsin, USA).
Traditionally, scientific literature and the world of conservationism regarded the aquarium hobby as something not favouring marine fauna preservation. Capturing animals from their natural environment to keep them in captivity and freeing pets when people no longer want them are basically the negative effects most linked with these practices.
This new study touches on these prejudices and highlights the positive role of aquarists who are responsible and are committed to the world of biological preservation. “Animal maintenance in captivity creates controversy. However, we should ask ourselves why we donʼt accept fish as pets if we do the same with dogs. The aquarium hobby is more than having fish as decoration because I think there is not a single animal that is an ornament. These ideas, apart from the knowledge on the task carried out by serious aquarists around the world, make us think aquarium hobby is not compatible with preservation” says Alberto Maceda, external collaborator of the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the UB and expert of the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC).
More than fish farming in aquariums
Which is the most scientific side of the aquarium hobby? According to the authors of the article, this practice contributes to spreading biological knowledge about unknown species; it promotes collaboration among scientists when locating and describing new species for the science; it enables technical assistance in wild fish maintenance in research centres, and promotes the funding of in situ and ex situ conservation programmes for threatened species.
“We donʼt have to forget about the scientific community working with animal models (Danio rerio or zebra fish, Oryzias latipes, etc.) which have their origins in the aquarium fish trade” says the IRBio researcher. “That is, scientists benefit from the industry that others are criticizing. It is also a source of business, of course, and it is hard to see further because the big image of the sector is linked to the problems of releasing unwanted pets and overfishing of wild populations”.
When exotic species get to the natural environment
When pets are released to the natural environment, they can create biological invasive phenomena that put the natural habitat at risk. One of the most extreme cases takes place in Mexico, where there is a case of Janitor fish (Pterygoplichthys) that escaped from a fish farm and are affecting the autochthonous fauna -with a loss of native biodiversity- and altering the nutrient cycles of the invaded rivers.
According to the main author of the article, most of freshwater fish that are traded in Catalonia come from captivity fish farming. Moreover, the lack of biosecurity measures in fish farms is not the main source of their arrival to the natural environment. However, there are specific cases that -sometimes with wrong information when buying- end up releasing the fish to the natural environment.
“In Catalonia, the apple snail (Pomacea maculata), which probably escaped from an aquarium fish farm centre, is a species that is threatening the paddies in the Ebro Delta like a plague. However, other fish have less important effects, such as the species Pseudorasbora parva, introduced by the same source and which could be the vector of a disease that affects native fish, although this has not been studied yet in Catalonia”, says Maceda.
The aquarium hobby: from the hobby to the science world
Considering the serious aquarists committed to natural heritage conservation in the regulation decision-taking would be one of the things that could improve the social and scientific understanding of this practice linked to leisure.
“This perception is linked to knowledge and no one knows better than the ones inside it. Criminalizing the aquarium hobby is like saying agriculture is not compatible with preservation. If the sector is unknown and we focus on industry, we will have a biased vision of reality. To make the role of aquarists more visible, it would be important to remind about their contribution to the successful development of captivity farming programs for threatened species, their technical support to scientists and staff of aquatic houses of research centers, as well as their assistance to the discovery of new species for the science” says Maceda.