Oceanarium is a business partnership operated by Peter and Leanne Fullarton. It started life in 1996 when we first acquired a license to collect marine fishes in Western Australia. We initially started with license conditions allowing us to only collect "bony fishes" operating from a dingy diving on a daily basis supplying quantities at a wholesale level only. Over time, we acquired a bigger boat and more license conditions to now hold a comprehensive license to collect all manner of aquarium specimens. In 2000, we decided to base from Perth near an airport that could supply healthy specimens across most of Australia with a internet based marine specimen shop, possibly the first of its kind in Australia.

We have spent many years operating as a seller of primarily wild caught product. It has been a wonderful experience to have such a privilege of earning our living doing what many would consider a holiday, diving on tropical reefs. We came into the industry from a love of the sea, diving and fishing, rather than as passionate aquarists, though we are now converts to the hobby ourselves. Our customers have taught us much on what can be achieved with a captive reef of carefully chosen specimens via magnificent aquariums with healthy growth and magnificent colours of their corals. You have inspired us to try to achieve similar results. In our attempts we found that many of the more commonly collected corals did not flourish or colour up vividly. We, like many enthusiasts in the hobby, desired the strains that were brighter coloured, interesting shapes, or different, etc. We found the best place to get these was from other hobbyists who are always keen to trade in these special pieces. Organizations like MASA who promote and further the hobby and other businesses who have already started their culture based business have made these corals more and more accessible, and in doing so, reducing the strains on wild reefs.

We have seen the excesses of our hobby / industry, increasing demands for more product from an ever expanding hobby have brought a new level of professionalism to the now industry of collecting aquarium specimens.

Collection practices are difficult for  government regulators to control and keep in touch with, only now are they starting to effectively handle live rock issues, quantifying and limiting the take. Live rock has only been a main stay of aquarium filtration for fifteen years, yet the Australian hobby already demands many 100's of tones of live rock. The wheels of bureaucracy move slowly in comparison to the expanding hobby. The regulators have yet to come to grips with changing trends of collectors, now the US market dictates greatly the species collectors target. Yet there is no limit of any one species a collector may take as a proportion of their quota.

We join you now in trading in the corals most suited for our captive reefs. You, as hobbyists, have already made considerable gains in pioneering the industry of supplying captive raised specimens for the aquarium industry. We hope we can help ease the burden on wild reefs stressed by climate change and population growth.

Peter & Leanne Fullarton

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Last modified: 02/15/10.