7 ways that having pet fish can improve your health.

The act of watching fish swimming around can reduce your cortisol levels. Cortisol is the stress hormone that also causes belly fat.

The flickering of the light on an aquarium can cause the brain to think it is seeing a campfire and trigger melatonin, which helps you sleep.

There are anti-aging properties in fish collagen.

Oysters are considered brain food but there are many other types of fish that have similar benefits. This is an example of the combining of fishkeeping pets and aquaculture. No rules say you can't be friends with your food.

Creativity is often thought to be related to dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine triggers novelty seeking behavior so we want new experiences and rewards for those experiences. Fish are novel experiences and rewards when you feed them so they help with focus and creativity since dopamine is released when feeding them.

I've never had a pet whale or dolphin (not fish) but I've heard stories about how they form bonds with humans like no other creature can do (with dolphins, for instance, they will actually go into mourning if their human friend dies). But I have had goldfish and here's what happened: Within 24 hours of buying my first goldfish, he was swimming around his bowl trying to figure out where "home" was (his name was Home). Within 48 hours he was following me around the kitchen countertop as I was making dinner. Within 72 hours he would swim up to me when I walked into the room, headbutt my hand, then swim back down to his bowl until I fed him again (which I did every 4 hours). Within 96 hours he would start swimming up whenever he saw me come into view in order to get fed sooner (since it took time for me to walk across the room). He lived 3 years before dying from old age. It's hard not having a pet now because it's such a fun experience bonding with them so quickly. Note that any creature would probably have this same experience if kept properly in an aquarium environment but certain creatures will bond faster than others depending on their natural environment (for instance, tropical fish versus cold water fish).

again, not sure but perhaps a future post; Hermit Crabs, snails, maybe crayfish? smaller fish like guppies or tetras or mollys maybe turtles, lizards, frogs perhaps even larger fish like koi or giant catfish or carp Again, not sure yet but maybe a future article could be written on this subject since there seems to be so much interest in aquariums right now!