In the last decade, the increasing demand of fish by
the aquarium trade has stimulated many studies on
ornamental larval fish development and nutrition to
improve production in captivity and thereby harnessing
the aquatic biodiversity1–4. In many developing
countries ornamental fish production through aquaculture
forms an important way of income generation,
but, even if the majority (> 90%) of freshwater
ornamental fish are captively bred, only 25 species of
marine fish are commercially produced4. However,
efforts are being made to breed and rear some of
the highly valued marine ornamental species using
sea and estuarine waters in India and other tropical
countries5–8.