Tropical Aquarium Fish

Information about Tropical Fish:

Freshwater tropical fish inhabit the lakes, streams and rivers of the rainforests. Because of their bright colorations and relative ease with which they can be cared for, these fish are often kept by people in aquariums. This makes for a very large industry, and millions of fish are brought from the tropics each year to meet this demands. There is a great variety of size and shape from the fragile looking angelfish to the dangerous and sometimes very large piranhas (which have a reputation as being man-eaters, but are mostly harmless to humans and livestock.)

Many of the popular species come from areas all over the world, such as Indonesia, Brazil and India. Many of them are imported, but many more are bred in countries that they’re not native to. Which can be a problem if a species is introduced into an ecosystem that can’t handle it – although this usually isn’t a problem in more moderate climates as any fish from the tropics usually cannot survive the cold winters. Historical accounts dating back some 4500 years ago point to the Sumerians as being the first humans to have artificial fish ponds.