At any given time, there are 30-40 different kinds of goldfish plus angelfish, African cichlids, show guppies, koi, sharks, and an excellent selection of orandas. Pond lilies, palm trees, accessories, books and supplies also are available. When that occurs he brings in fish from as close as Tampa or as far away as Africa, Southwest Asia, Indonesia, South America, plus China, Japan and other locations in the Far East. Tropical fish keeping is one of the most popular hobbies in the United States. According to industry sources, some 12.2 million households in the U.S. maintain tropical fish as a hobby and 90 percent of the supply comes from Florida.
Most people don t realize it, but tropical fish are one of Florida s leading agricultural exports.
Many years ago Miami-Dade County was a major producer of tropical fish. Neighborhood Fish Farm has and will continue to be a small retail operation. We have served some of our customers for two or three generations and get our business, in large part, because tropical fish lovers often refer us to people who are serious about their hobby, he said. Most of our customers live in South Florida, but many are in other parts of the U.S., Haiti, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. We ship the fish by air freight, he said.