Tetra or the Tetra Werke (Company) is a fish food manufacturing company founded by a young German scientist, Dr. Ulrich Baensch.

History and profile

In the 1950s, there were only about 50,000 fish keepers in Germany and the hobby was, at the time, considered as traditionally very time-consuming, rare, difficult and complicated because it required routine collection of live food from streams and river beds, until the invention of dried flake food ('' Tetramin'') for tropical fish by Dr. Ulrich Baensch. Baensch's ''Tetramin'' fish food consisted of four different type of flakes and vitamins. The brand name ''Tetramin'' was derived from the Greek word ''Tetra'' (meaning ''four'') and the third syllable of the word

vitamin A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an Nutrient#Essential nutrients, essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its ...

.
Tetra Werke Company History and Profile, Tetra - Partner for Fishkeeping and Ponds, Tetra Germany Website, Tetra GmbH Herrenteich 7849324, Melle, Germany, date retrieved: 28 May 2007
/ref> The Tetra group employs over 700 colleagues, has representatives in more than 90 countries worldwide and is the largest manufacturer of aquaristic and

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

products in the world. Apart from pet food, Tetra supplies fish keepers and pond owners with other products such as

water conditioner Water conditioners are formulations designed to be added to tap water before its use in an aquarium. If the tap water is chlorinated then a simple conditioner containing a dechlorinator may be used. These products contain sodium thiosulfate which ...

s, plant conditioners, technical equipment and

medicinal product A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and rel ...

s. It was once a part of Warner-Lambert and was later acquired by

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

. In December 2002,

sold the Tetra aquaristic and pond business to the "Triton Fund", a private independent European investment fund. Investors in the Triton Fund include European insurances and banks as well as significant American institutions. The Triton Fund paid $238.5 million US for the Tetra business. Three years later, on April 29, 2005, Tetra Holding GmbH was acquired by

Spectrum Brands Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. is an American diversified company. Headquartered in Middleton, Wisconsin, it was established in 2005 as the successor company to Rayovac Corporation. It is one of the Fortune 500 companies, and among the largest of ...

, a global consumer products company.

Tetra Company in the news

Criticisms

The Tetra Company was heavily criticized by the marine fishkeeping community after its appearance on

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

in which it claimed that one of its kits, a 10-gallon (37.3 liters) aquarium and filter, could support the fish from

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...

(a Regal Tang and Ocellaris Clownfish). Most hobbyists pointed out that the Tang alone needs a much larger aquarium (at least 4' in length) and that it would die in such conditions. However, a 10-gallon saltwater aquarium could successfully house an Ocellaris Clownfish (without the Tang).

References

Footnotes

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