Maintaining your own tank of tropical fish is a delightful pastime. It can be so soothing to see those graceful finned creatures swimming back and forth. Some of us discover that we much prefer to wind down at the end of the day by watching them rather than surfing the net or sitting in front of the TV set. An aquarium can also be seen as a living decoration in a room, an amazing moving display of shapes and colors.

Nevertheless, people have heard of the biological and ecological harm perpetrated by certain greedy and uncaring members of the commercial aquarium industry and don't want to encourage their practices (such as using cyanide in trapping fish, killing large numbers of them in the process, and damaging marvelous coral reefs).

For this reason, you want to take pleasure from this soothing and delightful pastime in ways which do not cause damage to nature's delicate ecological balance. How do you ensure that your home tank is ecologically friendly? We have some suggestions so that you can populate a lovely aquarium and still not hurt either the environment or the amazing creatures which swim in it.

1) Select for your tank only those fish which were farm raised and not caught in open waters. This means you can ensure that you have pets whose capture did not involve harm being done to their original habitats. The Internet offers a great many sources for locating these sorts of fishes for your home aquarium.

2) If the aquarium you own is a saltwater aquarium, contact your local aquarium hobbyists club. You can gain a lot of information from them about breeding tropical fish and plants in captivity. You can also find out information about sources for captive-bred fish.

3) Have you thought about getting a freshwater aquarium as opposed to a marine aquarium? Over 90% of freshwater fish that are kept in an aquarium are bred in captivity, and the aquarium itself is much easier to tend to. The fish that are sold for freshwater aquariums can be every bit as beautiful as their saltwater counterparts.

4) Before you decide to buy fish, you should know where they came from. Any pet store should be able to give you this information. If not, try to look into a specialty aquarium store or a store that is more environmentally friendly.

For a highly rewarding hobby, many people decide to buy an aquarium and keep fish. If cared for correctly, your fish will give you hours of pure delight and contentment. Another plus is that watching fish is good for both relaxation and reducing stress. Your stress level can be lowered even further by choosing to populate your tank with environmentally friendly fish.

In the creation of an eco-friendly, or "green" aquarium, you can have the peace of mind of knowing that your hobby will not have caused any harm to endangered fish or coral reefs; enjoying them is the whole point of this hobby. Best of luck and have fun with your aquarium!