Sustainable Aquatics

What Sustainable Aquatics does

Sustainable Aquatics is a privately-held ornamental aquaculture operation headquartered at 110 West Old Andrew Johnson Highway, Jefferson City, Tennessee, founded in 2003 by co-founders Matthew and John. The company operates a single-hatchery business model focused on breeding captive-bred marine fish (clownfish, reef fishes, tangs, wrasses, gobies), freshwater fish, axolotls, corals, and invertebrates, plus a parallel sustainable-sourcing arm branded "Sustainable Islands" (SI) that procures small juvenile marine fish at settlement stage from the wild and acclimates them to captivity. According to company materials, the hatchery produces "tens of thousands" of fish monthly and distributes them through a global network of aquarium retailers alongside direct sales via the company's retail store, The Coral Reef in Jefferson City, TN, and the coralreeftn.com e-commerce site. Customer segments are split between marine aquarium hobbyists, freshwater aquarium hobbyists, axolotl enthusiasts, and B2B aquarium retailers/wholesalers.

Core technical capabilities center on proprietary hatchery and feed technology rather than software. The company's feed portfolio is built around a cold-processed Hatchery Diet (52% crude protein, 16% crude fat, 3:1 protein-to-fat ratio) intended to preserve essential fatty acids and antioxidants that conventional high-temperature processing destroys, alongside specialty feeds (SA Freshwater Formula, SA Axolotl Diet, SA NipNori Tang Food, SA Podnip Copepod Food) and a deep live-feed catalog spanning four phytoplankton strains, four copepod species, 15 rotifer cyst strains developed with Dr. Terry Snell of Georgia Tech, decapsulated brine shrimp, marine amphipods, and polychaetes cultured in aseptic cleanroom conditions. The Sustainable Islands project adds a sustainable wild-collection methodology that procures fish at the post-larval settlement stage, leaving broodstock in the ocean while raising juveniles to retail size on prepared diets, which the company positions as a differentiating supply chain for species like tangs. Other technical differentiators include a proprietary decapsulated brine shrimp process that increases hatch rate and sterilizes cysts, and Amplifeed Top Coat, a micronutrient supplement for milled feeds and broodstock diets.

The revenue model is straightforward product sales across four streams: ornamental fish (SA-brand captive-bred and SI-brand sustainable wild-sourced), aquarium feed products (prepared feeds, live feeds, specialty diets), direct retail through The Coral Reef store and coralreeftn.com, and ancillary SI fish and invertebrate sales. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. Distribution combines wholesale-to-retailer (national and global aquarium stores), direct-to-consumer via the company's own retail and e-commerce channels, and the dedicated SA Feeds subsidiary for hobbyist and small-hatchery customers. The company has not raised disclosed outside funding, has no M&A history, and operates with 101-250 employees.

Name

Sustainable Aquatics

Legal name

Sustainable Aquatics

Website

https://sustainableaquatics.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Sustainable Aquatics is a privately-held ornamental aquaculture hatchery in Jefferson City, Tennessee that breeds and distributes captive-bred marine and freshwater fish, invertebrates, corals, axolotls, and a proprietary line of live and prepared fish feeds to aquarium retailers and hobbyists worldwide via its own retail store, e-commerce site, and global wholesale network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Ornamental Fish Aquaculture

NAICS

Finfish Farming and Fish Hatcheries (112511), Aquaculture (1125)

SIC

Agricultural Prod-Livestock & Animal Specialties (200)

akta.pro primary industry

Ornamental & Aquarium Fish Farming (AFAEAAAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Ornamental & Aquarium Fish Feed (AFADADAH), Aquarium & Fish Supplies Retail (CRALAHAI), Live Animals & Aquatics Wholesale Distribution (CRAOAKAJ)

Keywords

• Ornamental fish hatchery
• Aquarium livestock supply
• Aquaculture feeds
• Marine fish breeding
• Captive-bred aquarium fish

Headquarters

HQ city

Jefferson City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Ornamental Fish Sales: Sustainable Aquatics breeds and sells ornamental marine and freshwater fish including clownfish, reef fishes, tangs, wrasses, gobies, and other species to retailers and directly to hobbyists. The Tennessee hatchery provides tens of thousands of colorful healthy fish monthly to retailers around the country and globe.
2. Aquarium Feed Products: Sale of prepared feeds including SA Hatchery Diet, SA Freshwater Formula, SA Axolotl Diet, SA NipNori Tang Food, live feeds (rotifers, copepods, brine shrimp, phytoplankton), and related nutrition products through retailers and direct channels.
3. Direct Retail Sales: The company operates The Coral Reef retail store in Jefferson City, TN and an e-commerce website at coralreeftn.com for direct sales of fish, invertebrates, and feeds to hobbyists.
4. Sustainable Islands (SI) Fish: SI project procures small juvenile tangs at settlement stage from the ocean, acclimates, socializes, and raises them in aquarium conditions, learning to eat easily-obtained diets to assure high survival rates for retail and hobbyist care.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Sustainable Aquatics is an ornamental marine and freshwater fish hatchery in Jefferson City, Tennessee, operating since 2003. The company breeds and sells captive-bred ornamental fish (clownfish, reef fishes, tangs, wrasses, gobies, freshwater species, axolotls), corals, invertebrates, and a proprietary line of aquaculture feeds (live phytoplankton/zooplankton and prepared cold-processed diets) to aquarium retailers worldwide and directly to hobbyists.

Product overview

Sustainable Aquatics is an ornamental marine and freshwater fish hatchery based in Jefferson City, Tennessee, operating since 2003. The company operates as a single-brand aquaculture operation with two product lines: the core SA (Sustainable Aquatics) brand featuring captive-bred marine fish, freshwater fish, invertebrates, corals, axolotls, and a comprehensive feeds program; and the SI (Sustainable Islands) brand offering wild-caught marine fish and invertebrates sourced through sustainable collection methods. The feeds program includes live feeds (phytoplankton in multiple species including Nannochloropsis, Isochrysis, Rhodomonas, and Tetraselmis; zooplankton including rotifers and multiple copepod species; live baby brine shrimp; marine amphipods; and marine polychaetes), prepared feeds (Hatchery Diet and Freshwater Formula), specialty feeds (Axolotl Diet, NipNori, Podnip Copepod Food), and aquaculture supplements (Amplifeed Replete and Amplifeed Top Coat). The fish portfolio spans over 100 species including clownfish, reef fishes, tangs, wrasses, gobies, cardinals, damselfish, and triggerfish.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SA Hatchery: The company's fish hatchery operations producing aquarium fish and invertebrates
• Sustainable Islands
• SA Feeds
• SI Fish

Products and services

• SA Clownfish Captive-bred clownfish varieties offered under the SA brand, including Natural and Wild Type color morphs and designer strains, raised at the Tennessee hatchery and conditioned to accept prepared foods.
• SA Reef Fishes Captive-bred marine reef fish including dottybacks, gobies, blennies, and other reef-safe species bred at the Tennessee hatchery.
• SA Corals

Quantifiable outcome

• Cold-processed Hatchery Diet achieves protein to fat ratio of 3:1
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Hikari: Japan-based incumbent fish feed manufacturer selling prepared diets across ornamental, koi, and aquaculture categories globally. Comparable to SA's feed division (Hatchery Diet, Freshwater Formula) as a competing premium-feed brand in the same hobbyist channel.
• New Life Spectrum: US-based premium fish feed brand selling through aquarium retailers with formulations emphasizing whole-meal ingredients. Comparable to SA's prepared-feed line as a competing premium prepared-diet brand targeting the same hobbyist and breeder segments.
• That Fish Place / LiveAquaria: A major US aquarium retailer and wholesaler selling captive-bred and wild-caught fish, invertebrates, and dry goods to hobbyists and retailers. Comparable to SA on the retail/e-commerce and B2B distribution side, though it is a broader hobby retailer rather than a captive-bred specialist.

Emerging players

• Two Little Fishies: US-based specialty aquarium brand focused on supplements, foods, and reef-keeping products. Comparable to SA's feed and supplement lines (Amplifeed Replete, Podnip Copepod Food) as a competing specialty nutrition product line in the marine hobbyist channel.
• Brightwell Aquatics: US-based specialty manufacturer of aquarium supplements, water treatments, and feeding products targeting reef hobbyists. Comparable to SA Feeds and the SA NipNori/Podnip lines as a specialty nutrition brand sold through the same aquarium retailer channel.
• Reef Nutrition: US-based specialist in live phytoplankton and live feeds for the reef aquarium market. Direct comparable to SA's Premium Reef Blend, Rhodomonas, and Isochrysis live phytoplankton lines, serving overlapping hobbyist and small-hatchery customers.

Others

• AquaBounty Technologies: US-based aquaculture company focused on genetically engineered salmon for food markets. Comparable only at the aquaculture technology and operational discipline level; not a direct competitor given AquaBounty's food-fish (not ornamental) focus.

Direct peers

• Quality Marine: Quality Marine is a leading marine aquarium wholesale distributor sourcing and acclimating fish for retailers and public aquariums. It is directly comparable to SA on the wholesale-distribution side of ornamental marine fish, though Quality Marine focuses more on acclimation than captive breeding.
• Oceans, Reefs and Aquariums (ORA): ORA is the most direct US-based competitor, operating large-scale captive-bred marine fish and invertebrate hatcheries in Fort Pierce, Florida. It overlaps with SA across clownfish, gobies, dottybacks, and other reef fish sold to the same aquarium retailer channel.

Regional players

• PetSolutions: US-based online aquarium and pet retailer selling fish, feeds, and dry goods direct-to-consumer. Comparable to SA's e-commerce and The Coral Reef retail operations on the hobbyist D2C side, though PetSolutions is a multi-category retailer rather than an ornamental specialist.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sustainableaqua
• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/Sustainable-Aquatics/167887086613398
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sustainable-aquatics-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sustainable Aquatics