Short answer
Yes. NParks allows individual travellers — including Singaporeans returning from a trip — to bring in up to 30 common ornamental fish per person, carried as hand luggage.
Full conditions are on the official NParks page: Importing ornamental fish
What to actually check before you travel
This is Singapore’s import rule only. It doesn’t cover whether the country you’re leaving allows you to take fish out.
JB (Johor Bahru), Thailand, and Vietnam each have their own export rules — check locally before you buy.
The allowance doesn’t guarantee your airline will let you check the fish in.
NParks permitting it and an airline accepting a bag of live fish at the counter are two separate things.
Confirm with your airline in advance, and have a backup plan if they say no at the gate.
Species matters.
The 30-fish allowance is for common ornamental species — check the NParks page for what’s excluded before assuming a specific type (e.g. wild-caught Bettas, Discus) is covered.
Feedback so far: group members have reported No hobbyists in the group have reported issues hand-carrying fish back from Thailand so far. This is anecdotal, not an official guarantee — treat it as “hasn’t been a problem yet,” not “won’t ever be a problem.”
Generally, we have not heard of any hobbyists complaining about being stopped from taking live fishes out of Johor Bahru.
China do have strict rules dis-allowing live fishes to be checked-in for flights.
Any further questions? Ask at https://t.me/singaporefish