Selling and breeding aquarium fish
Your pair of bristlenose have filled a tank with fry, the local shop will take them, and a club member wants six. Do you need a licence? In New South Wales, almost certainly not. In the Northern Territory, yes, and selling without one is explicitly illegal. In Tasmania you need a fish farm licence to breed and sell at all. The hobby-to-business line is drawn in a completely different place in every jurisdiction, and in two of them the same number means opposite things. This guide explains where the line sits in each state, what legally counts as "selling", and the realistic options if you simply have too many fry.
Published 16 October 2026 · Last updated 16 October 2026 · 12 min read
Where the line sits
Nearly every jurisdiction regulates this under aquaculture law, which is the same framework that governs commercial fish farms. That framing explains most of the confusion. Aquaculture law is written for barramundi ponds and oyster leases, and hobbyists breeding rainbowfish in a spare room are an afterthought in it. Some states have written an explicit carve-out for small operations, some have created a purpose-built hobbyist licence, and some have done neither.
Three broad patterns exist across the eight jurisdictions:
- A volume threshold. Below a stated tank volume you are outside the licensing system entirely. New South Wales works this way.
- A hobbyist licence class. You need a licence, but there is a cheap, simple one meant for people like you. The Northern Territory and Victoria both have one.
- No distinction. Breeding for sale is aquaculture, full stop, and you apply through the same process as a commercial operation. Tasmania works this way.
What counts as selling
Before worrying about licences, it is worth knowing that "sell" is a term of art here and it is wider than money changing hands.
New South Wales defines selling to include bartering, exchanging and offering fish for sale. The ACT is the same: selling includes barter, exchange and offering to sell. On those definitions, trading a bag of fry for some plants at a club meeting is a sale, and so is listing fish online even if nobody buys them.
This matters more than it sounds, because it means the question is not "am I running a business?" but "am I disposing of fish to other people in exchange for anything at all?" Giving fish away for genuinely nothing is a different act, and it is the route most hobbyists should take. Note too that the ACT requires a seller of a non-exempt animal to include their licence number in the advertisement and to sell only to a buyer who holds an appropriate licence, which effectively rules out casual listings there.
State by state
What follows is orientation, not a legal answer. We have verified each position against the responsible agency's own page, and those pages are linked in each card, but licence classes, thresholds and fees all change.
New South Wales
The most hobbyist-friendly position in the country, and stated plainly. NSW's freshwater aquaculture guidance says that if you grow aquarium species for sale in tanks with a volume less than 10,000 litres, you do not need a permit. Above that volume, cultivating ornamental fish falls under a hatchery permit.
Commercial fish farming is also defined to exclude keeping fish in a pet shop or aquarium, and keeping a collection for non-commercial purposes. Remember that NSW defines selling to include barter and exchange, and that the state's prohibited and notifiable species cannot be sold or kept regardless.
Where to check: NSW land-based aquaculture permits, and the department's freshwater aquaculture fact sheet.
Northern Territory
The NT is unusually direct about hobbyists, and the answer is yes. Its guidance states that if you maintain an aquarium for a hobby and sell your plants, invertebrates or fish, you must have an aquaculture licence, and that it is illegal to sell aquatic life, including plants, invertebrates and fish, without one issued by NT Fisheries.
There are two licence types. The ornamental aquaculture licence is described as suitable for small-scale aquarium hobbyists who want to breed and sell their fish, aquatic plants and invertebrates, and the facility must hold less than 10,000 litres of water. Larger operations need a commercial aquaculture licence. An aquarium trader licence is a different thing again, covering selling and trading without collecting.
Where to check: apply for an ornamental aquaculture licence.
Victoria
Under the Fisheries Act 1995, anyone conducting an aquaculture activity must hold an aquaculture licence, and Victoria has a licence class aimed at exactly this: the Aquaculture (Private Land, Ornamentals) Licence, one of twelve inland classes. Licence holders must keep accurate records of stock on hand, sold or consigned, along with transport details.
We could not find a published volume threshold or hobbyist exemption below which no licence is needed in Victoria, which is not the same as there being none. Ask the authority how it treats small private sales before relying on either answer.
Noxious species are a hard limit: aquaculture of them needs both a licence and a noxious aquatic species permit, and Victoria states it will not permit aquaculture of noxious species for sale into the ornamental trade at all.
Where to check: VFA aquaculture licensing.
Queensland
Queensland turns on a planning test rather than a tank volume. An aquaculture authority under the Fisheries Act 1994 is generally required to cultivate live fisheries resources for sale, unless a regulation exempts the activity or the development meets the accepted development requirements. For land-based freshwater operations, no aquaculture authority is needed if the development meets those accepted development requirements; if it does not, you need both a development approval and an authority.
Whether a few tanks in a garage meets those requirements is the question to put to Fisheries Queensland, because it is the whole answer in this state and it is not something we can resolve from the published guidance.
Where to check: approvals for aquaculture operations.
Western Australia
WA's position separates keeping from selling. An aquaculture licence is required of anyone who keeps, breeds, hatches, cultures and sells fish, but the listed exceptions include keeping fish, other than marron, for display or ornamental hobby purposes, keeping ornamental fish in retail establishments, and keeping fish in public aquaria. Non-commercial keeping on private land sits outside the system too.
So the hobby itself is clearly exempt. Where breeding for sale crosses into the licensed category is the question to confirm, and culture of non-native species additionally requires translocation approval, which is the same system covered in our moving an aquarium guide.
Where to check: WA aquaculture licences, leases or exemptions.
South Australia
South Australia requires a land-based aquaculture licence to farm aquatic organisms for trade, business or research on a parcel of land, with the landowner's permission also needed. Licences are graded in categories from A, the least regulated, through to D, based on factors including farming intensity, wastewater discharge, whether the species is native, and disease risk. New applications go through a public consultation period, and application fees apply.
We could not find ornamental-specific or hobbyist-specific guidance from PIRSA, so this looks like a process built for commercial operators. Confirm with them what a small home operation requires. Keeping, breeding, moving, selling or releasing noxious and exotic species is illegal in South Australia regardless.
Where to check: applying for a land-based aquaculture licence.
Tasmania
Tasmania makes no hobbyist distinction, and says so in one sentence: if you wish to breed and sell freshwater aquarium fish, you will need a fish farm licence. Those licences come in three categories by standing biomass, with the smallest category priced far below the commercial ones.
Two further conditions apply. The species you intend to breed must be on the Inland Fisheries Service permissible imports list. And importing freshwater aquarium fish into Tasmania is restricted to Tasmanian Registered Fish Dealers, with imports by anyone else considered only on compassionate grounds, such as relocating a home aquarium when you move to the state. Fish dealer registration requires demonstrating an intention to form a business with biosecurity and disease management.
Where to check: the Inland Fisheries Service freshwater aquarium fish page.
Australian Capital Territory
The ACT approaches it as animal licensing rather than aquaculture. To keep or sell an animal in the ACT you must hold a licence unless the species is on the territory's Exempt List, so the first question is whether your species is exempt. Selling includes barter, exchange and offering to sell, and a seller of a non-exempt animal must include their licence number in the advertisement and sell only to a buyer holding an appropriate licence.
Separately, the Fisheries Act 2000 defines aquaculture as farming fish for trade, business or research but excludes keeping fish in a pet shop for sale or in an aquarium, and a regulation may prescribe a capacity threshold above which an aquaculture licence is required. Importing live fish into the ACT or exporting them out needs a licence, and licensees must record the buyer's name and address, the transfer date and the species.
Where to check: keeping or selling animals in the ACT.
What else applies
A licence, or an exemption from needing one, is only the first layer. Four other things apply regardless.
| Also applies | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Noxious and prohibited species | No licence authorises trading a prohibited species, and several states make breeding or selling one an offence carrying heavy penalties. See our fish laws guide for each jurisdiction's list. |
| Sending fish interstate | A fish you may legally sell at home may not be legal to send to the buyer's state. Western Australia requires translocation authority and Tasmania restricts imports to registered dealers. |
| Council and planning rules | Running a business from home can trigger planning requirements, and aquaculture licence applications in several states ask about development approval and trade waste before they ask about fish. |
| Animal welfare rules | Fish offered for sale are covered by animal welfare standards in addition to general rules. The ACT, for instance, requires commercial sellers to hold written procedures for each species they sell. |
If you just have too many fry
Most people reading this do not want to start a business. They want the fry gone, to a good home, without breaking anything. There are three straightforward routes, and none of them requires a licence anywhere.
- Give them to your local shop. Many aquarium retailers will take healthy, locally bred stock, sometimes as store credit. The shop is already licensed to sell where it trades, which moves the compliance question off you entirely. Ring first and ask what they want and at what size.
- Give them away through a club. Aquarium societies rehome constantly, and locally bred fish are welcome. If you take anything in return, including plants or other fish, remember that several states count barter as a sale.
- Grow fewer. The honest option nobody mentions: you are not obliged to raise every spawn. Leaving eggs or fry in a community tank, rather than stripping them to a grow-out tank, keeps numbers at a level the tank and your shop can absorb.
From here: check your species against the restrictions in our guide to Australian fish laws, and if you are looking for species worth breeding that suit local water, our native Australian fish and best fish for Australian tap water guides are the place to start.
Related reading: aquarium fish laws in Australia, state by state, collecting native fish from the wild, and moving an aquarium, or browse the species directory.