Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
SU URUNLERI DERGISI, cilt.35, sa.4, ss.447-454, 2018 (ESCI)
This study was conducted in order to determine the opinions and attitudes of aquarium fish (ornamental fish) of university students who are potential customers in the future in the aquarium sector. The study was conducted through questionnaires on face to face interviews with college students. The study group consists of 600 randomly selected undergraduates from a state university in the Mediterranean region in Turkey. According to the study results, 43.7% of the students stated that they did not buy any aquarium fish. 5.9% of the students stated that they are bought fish every three months, 12.4% annually and 77.1% more than one year. While buying an aquarium fish, it was seen that 67.0% of the students gave importance to visual characteristics of fish, 15.5% price and 14.0% resistant to environmental conditions and diseases. It was determined that the students mostly purchased goldfish (Carassius auratus) (63.4%) and live-bearer ornamental species such as guppy (Poecilia reticulata), platy (Xiphophorus maculatus), molly (Poecilia sphenops) and swordtail (Xiphophorus helleri) (14.9%). The increase in the household income of the students resulted in a significant increase in the aquarium buying status (P<0.05) but not in the buying frequency (P>0.05). In the question of where to buy the aquarium fish, a large majority (87.8%) of the students said they bought fish from aquarium shop, while the proportion (0.3%) of online shopping seems to be quite low. 63.4% of the students preferred to take goldfish and 14.9% preferred to take live-bearing aquarium fish. It was seen that 28.2% of the students answered yes to"Do you think that the aquarium sector is in a sufficient level and meets the needs of consumers?" question and 71.8% answered no. As a result, those who have not purchased an aquarium fish before are required to be introduced to the aquarium hobby. In addition, increasing the level of satisfaction of current customers is important for the future development of the aquarium industry.