Where Do Your Aquarium Fish Come From?

Learn about where Aquarium Fish come from, and if it's sustainable.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY FISHING FOR CARDINALS FILM:

Learn more about Project Piaba:

Follow my friend Chelsea Greene's incredible film, One Forest:

The Rio Negro in Brazil, one of largest tributaries in the world.

It pumps a million cubic feet of water into the Amazon River every second. During each wet season, the water rise, flooding the forest floor. In these flooded forests, live million upon millions of tiny tropical fish. Many of which are common in home aquariums around the world. Chief amongst them is the Cardinal Tetra, a tiny iridescent fish whose population explodes during the wet season.

Today, we’re following Maracéli and her daughter Josellem, a pair of piabaros, or local fishers, as they collect Cardinal Tetras for the aquarium trade. In this flooded forest, there are likely millions of Cardinals—but that doesn’t mean catching them is easy.

These waterways may look inviting, but the river is filled with branches, roots and stumps that would snag a large cast or seine net. Here, the only way to catch small fish is by hand.

That’s where Maracéli’s hapishay comes into play. This long net can be operated with just one hand, leaving her second hand free so she can use a paddle to herd the fish.

With each dip, Maracéli captures a few dozen fish which she collects with a bowl.

Tossing the fish in a waiting basket may seem unsympathetic. But this technique minimizes the average time fish are exposed to air, dramatically increasing their long-term survival.

These fish will end up in home aquariums.

But many more fish will continue their lives in the waters below. Years of studying these collection sites haven’t shown a measurable impact on the ecosystem—so it appears that hand-catching fish is sustainable in these waterways.

This is Darequah, a small fishing village on the rio negro. They don’t depend on logging, mining or farming, all of which can threaten the rainforest. They rely on fishing. The cardinals that piaberos like Maracéli catch are stored here, in holding pens. These fish will be sold for a few pennies a piece, so Darequah tries to collect as many as they can before they are transferred to a motorboat and sold to exporters in the capital city of Manaus.

This is the story of the people who live and work on the rio negro. It’s the story of a vast and beautiful rainforest under threat from the outside world. And it’s the story of a tiny fish that’s surprisingly important.

[TheTravellingDuck]

How are you not a full time nature documentary narrator? Your voice is so soothing and mesmerising.

[DylanRenke]

It's also worth mentioning that after the wet season, many fish would die if they weren't collected. It's a wonderfully sustainable system.

[mikefarina]

This should be an entire series. The idea is amazing, and could help everyone understand their aquariums better

[alexp]

This video is proof that there’s no such thing as unskilled labor

[lukasseoane-scheitermaier]

Did a large part of my senior thesis on Project Piaba and talked about the industry around the harvesting in this region wish this was done when I did the project, keep up the good work!

[manjovlog]

I am from Indonesia, I have been from this place, MANAUS is beautiful place and beautiful pink dolphins.

[averyvanderlouw]

There’s so many places on earth that just seem so alien

[FOIL]

this is really helpful for people like me who's planning to build an Amazon Rainforest tank that would closely resemble the natural habitat of the fish. thanks Alex! :)

[IMaqua]

It shows people with barf gravel and artificial plants what the nature really looks like. If we keep fish as prisoners we need to do whatever is possible to imitate natural habitat.

Edit: My betta fish is thankful for top comment and all the likes.

[frankvee]

I've been watching your channel for a while now, and love what you're doing with it, diving into the background of the fishkeeping hobby is an interesting topic. I really like the topic and thoroughly enjoy the production value you put into your videos. Thank you for all you do.

[MacPNW]

Amazing to see the places these fish come from and the stories of the people who make it possible for us to keep them. Looking forward to this.

[app]

Thank you for helping the people of Brasil and south america, and also for talking about conservation, there is a lot of videos of fishkeeping and no one seems to care about draining these resourses

[alexandreeciabrasil]

We captured ornamental fish in Brazil, congratulations on the video

[hansmueller]

Such a cool video! I think there should be much more videos about the places where our beloved plants and animals come from, for us to be better able in replicating their habitats as well as making better decisions as consumers.
Very much looking forward to the full video / movie!

[tomahawk]

Love & Thank You for many Tank Raised Endangered Fish Species are thriving in many Aquarists' Home Sweet Home! Thank You So Much too for Preserving the many Beautiful & Delicate Freshwater Flora & Fauna through the Aquarium Trades! Stay Safe & Stay Humble! 🕯🌷🌿🌏

[TallmanVictorE]

Can’t wait Alex for the full film ... great to see you bringing attention to PIABA and the lives of these fishers in it’s full context.

[forgetmilk]

This was beautiful. I hope you never stop making videos, I enjoy them so much!

[toddratson]

I am REALLY looking forward to this project Alex. I don't speak Portuguese but I will be following along!

[jericholagrana]

i thought i was watching a national geographic docu. your voice is so clean like sa crystal clear lake in the philippines

[zafishguy]

Honestly either someone collects them or someone farms them. Then we don't pay the collectors what they deserve in most cases but this is changing so fingers crossed things are improving.