FAQ’s

Frequently Asked Questions

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What is AZaquaculture?

AZaquaculture is a pilot scale marine hatchery and service laboratory located at the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park. As a hatchery we focus on producing species for the marine ornamental market. While we produce all of the staples of aquacultured corals and tank bred shrimp, clownfish, gobies and seahorses, we specialize in oddball invertebrates that are not commonly available in the trade.

As a laboratory, we provide consulting services for other aquaculture and retail operations as well as hobbyists. We also provide water quality testing and microbiological analyses for commercial clients and hobbyists.

Who is AZaquaculture?

AZaquaculture was founded in 1996 by Olin Feuerbacher while he was an undergraduate at the University of Arizona. It began as an outgrowth of his research in marine cholera and his desire to promote aquaculture as an alternative to the environmental ravages of wild collecting of ornamental specimens. Many of our current employees began as interns from the University of Arizona themselves.

How do I place a retail order?

Retail orders are currently limited only to a specific portion of our catalog, specifically coral frag packs, refugium critters, and a variety of our invertebrates, macroalgae, and microalgae. Orders can be placed by clicking the Buy-Now buttons next to specific products, or you can email us to put together a custom order.

How do I open a wholesale account?

To order our larger coral pieces, aquacultured fishes, and to get wholesale pricing on our entire catalog, you must be registered as a wholesale client. Please contact us to find out more.

I tried calling but nobody answered – where is everyone?

If you called during normal business hours, we were probably in the lab. We do not allow phones in the lab space due to the potential for contamination. Since we are not primarily a retail operation we do not employ a dedicated customer service staff. Instead, when you call you will talk to the scientists themselves. Please leave a message and rest assured that we will get back to you as soon as we can. Or even better, email us. Science geeks love email!

What is the Reading Room?

The Reading room is our attempt to share with you some of the knowledge that we have gained over the years. We are passionate about developing aquaculture technologies and methodologies as a mechanism from protecting the oceans from over exploitation. By sharing our knowledge we hope to inspire the next generation of aquaculture biologists. We also recognize the tremendous value and contribution that marine hobbyists have made to the advancement of this field over the years. Most discoveries in the aquaculture of marine ornamentals have come not from hatcheries but from hobbyists. We hope that an open exchange of knowledge and ideas can further advance this exciting field.

Aren’t you giving away all of your aquaculture secrets?

We still have a few tricks up our sleeve. Our company is based on a culture of continuous innovation and we are constantly advancing our abilities in marine aquaculture. While we are presenting the biology and science of aquaculture, enabling a hobbyist to be successful with a species is quite a leap to commercialization.

Why the blog format?

We picked the blog format to allow our readers to provide feedback and ask questions. We also felt the ability to automatically publish news by date was valuable. The blog engines also allow for easy categorization of articles based on multiple criteria. While not as immediately intuitive to navigation as static pages, we believe you will find this format to be helpful, especially as our collection of articles grows.

What’s with the ads?

As committed as we are to the dissemination of information, we have to eat also. Publishing these articles brings in no direct revenues, and most of our revenue goes back into research, so we decided to carry some ads to help cover our costs. We hope you won’t find them obtrusive.