Freshwater Ornamental Fish

The ornamental fish trade has grown up significantly over the past few decades.90% of the ornamental fish trade is from freshwater species which are farm-bred and the marine species are predominantly wild-caught. More than 1450 species of marine fish are traded globally. Among them Indonesia and Philippine are the pioneers (Wood, 2001). The most import fish species in the freshwater ornamental trade are Guppy (Poeciliidae), Platy (Poeciliidae), Molly (Poeciliidae), Tetra (Characidae), Zebra fish (Cyprinidae), Barb (Cyprinidae), Goldfish (Cyprinidae), Angels (Cichlid), Guramis (Anabantidae, Helostomatidae).

Sri Lankan freshwater ornamental fish have good demand in global market due to the presence of attractive body colors, patterns and fair prices in the market. On average, freshwater ornamental fish contribute 90% of the value of the total output and marine ornamental fish contribute 10% (Perera, 2016). Majority (90%) of the ornamental fish trade is from farm-bred (mostly exotic) freshwater species and 10% are collected from wild (endemic).