The Disney film has boosted sales of orange and white clown fish by 60 per cent, but animal welfare groups have accused unscrupulous pet shops of cashing in by selling the exotic fish cheaply without the expensive equipment to care for them properly.
The RSPCA called on people not to buy clown fish yesterday and condemned “hypocritical and irresponsible” pet shops, which are selling them for £7 each.
With Nemo-mania intensifying over the half-term holiday, dealers admitted that some shops were offering the fish in tiny “coffins” and predicted that many Nemo fans would kill their new pets. The Tropical Marine Centre, the biggest breeders of clown fish in Europe, reported a 60 per cent increase in demand for its tank-reared species compared with the same time last year. Clown fish must be kept in salt water in a large tank regulated by a complex filtration and heating system.
Breeders say a reasonable set of equipment costs £200; the RSPCA says proper facilities cost £500. Laila Sadler, the RSPCA’s marine wildlife officer, said: “It is tragic. Setting up a marine aquarium is very very difficult. Clown fish are only for dedicated hobbyists who have a lot of experience. Pet shops are selling a Nemo kit for about £100, including a tiny tank which is much too small for the fish.
“This is highly irresponsible and will give the whole industry a bad name. They are also ripping off the consumer because the fish will soon die if they are kept in such conditions.” Jerry Lewis, of Reefpark, an internet fish site, said some shops were selling clown fish in small tanks which amounted to coffins. “Many fish bought on the wave of Finding Nemo are likely to suffer and may well die,” he said.
Andrew Whiston, of the fish retailer Ultimate Aquatics, said: “Shops are doing naughty things and the industry will suffer as a whole.”
There are also concerns that children will copy a scene from the film where Nemo is liberated by being washed down the drain. In America, there have been many copycat incidents as children flush their pet fish down the lavatory into oblivion.