About the FTFFA

The Florida Tropical Fish Farms Association is a trade Association of professional ornamental tropical fish and aquatic plant breeders, the mission of which is to represent its members in governmental matters, provide a cooperative for purchasing necessary materials to produce member products, and support research and development for the production of ornamental species.

The Association does not breed fish or grow plants, if you are looking for a supplier please use our Member Directory to find and contact the farms directly.

President's Message

Have you seen the new realty TV show "Tanked" on the Animal Planet Channel? In August it was the number one rated program on the Animal Planet. For those of you who haven't seen the show it's based on the day to day activities of the owners of the world's largest custom aquarium manufacturing company. I really believe that it is responsible for a renewed interest in tropical fish keeping. I recently got to meet with and talk with the "Tanked" stars and they told me in the next season they have been asked to feature more fresh water tanks. This national exposure can only help benefit the Florida tropical fish farming industry.

Next month we will be mailing out reservation forms for the 2012 Aquatic Lounge display that will be held at the Global Pet Expo in Orlando on February 29 to March 2. Like at last years show only 24 Mars units will be available. So be sure to reserve your unit early. Booth space at the trade show is selling out rapidly and it promises to be another well attended event.

A few weeks ago FTFFA held a town hall meeting with representatives from the Farm Service Agency to discuss the procedures of tropical fish production practices as it relates to the Non Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP). The objective of the meeting was to educate FSA representatives how tropical fish are produced and how we can develop procedures to insure that the program is not being abused and fairly applied to all eligible fish farms. With the frequent weather related disasters we have been experiencing during the last few years, it is important that we keep this program intact for our industry.

Since the formation of FTFFA in the mid 60's it's purpose has been to promote and protect the Florida tropical fish farming community. It takes resources, - including the active participation of many members along with an enormous financial expenditures to keep our industry represented in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. The association can't survive on membership dues alone.

The Association's new Coop Store was started to provide a funding source to enable FTFFA to continue to serve our members as it has over the past several decades after the old store was no longer able to support our association and our industry. In addition to the income from membership dues and the fish box royalty our only other financial support has been from the commission we received from the sales of fish farm supplies.

The Coop is based on the principal of offering to our members the best products at the best possible price. I am very proud to inform you that after being open only seven months, the Coop Store is already operating in the black. And soon it will be profitable as to being able to start repaying the loan that was provided to it by FTFFA to cover its start up cost.

The FTFFA Coop Store is different from any other store or vendor offering fish farm supplies. Our goal is to provide our members a patronage dividend based on the percentage of sales a member does with the Coop. In other words, only through your FTFFA Coop Store can you expect to receive a dividend in the form of a credit or cash refund based on the amount of merchandise you purchase through the Coop.

I realize that you may have a choice of other vendors for your fish farm supplies. By supporting the FTFFA Coop, not only do you enable us to purchase in larger quantities and thus allow us to receive bulk pricing and pass the savings on to you and still retain a small mark up to fund programs that keep us all in the business of raising and marketing the best tropical fish in the industry.

It all boils down to this, if you like being in the Tropical Fish Industry, you should support the FTFFA and the FTFFA Coop Store.

Life is Good!

Sincerely,

Art Rawlins