UK trade-only aquatics wholesaler
Your one place for aquatics
Ornamental Aquatics Wholesale — established 2020 and grown through mergers and acquisitions into a business in continual operation since 1965. We deliver the finest quality live and frozen foods, plants and botanicals to your shop’s door — plus direct imports from exporters around the world.
Trade only — we supply retailers, not the public. And yes, we also do bugs.
What we supply
One delivery. One supplier. The whole shop.
Direct imports from 24 exporters, our own live foods, frozen foods, reptile foods, plants and botanicals — consolidated into one delivery.
Live foods Home-grown
Through Yorkshire Brine Shrimp — the UK’s only production facility for top-quality brine shrimp — we grow live foods at home: brine shrimp, bloodworm, tubifex, glassworm, mysis, copepods, river shrimp, daphnia and phytoplankton.
Blackworm New — 2025
UK Sourced Blackworm, one of the most sought-after and nutritious live fish foods. Cultured on a high-quality diet, an incredible superfood for your fish, free from disease and pests.
Direct imports
Order straight from the stock lists of 24 exporters in 16 countries: Singapore, Indonesia, Czech Republic, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Kenya, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Japan, India and Nigeria. Consolidated into one delivery to your door. Trade account required.
Apply for a trade account →Botanicals
OAW began offering a curated range of botanicals in 2024. Botanicals are a unique way to bring natural design and enrichment into housing for fish, reptiles, amphibians and other exotic animals. Every product is tried and tested in house, and we are more than happy to answer any questions you may have!
Frozen foods
A full frozen fish-food range: bloodworm, brine shrimp, mysis, daphnia, krill pacifica, cichlid food, turtle food, and tropical and marine quartets.
Reptile & amphibian foods
Live locusts, black and silent crickets, dubia roaches, mealworm, morioworm, waxworm, calciworm, and fruit-fly and curly-wing-fly cultures — plus frozen mice, rats, rat weaners, pinkies, fuzzies and chicks. This is the “we also do bugs” department.
Aquatic plants New — 2026
High-quality plants sourced from the best growers in Indonesia, in pots, premium pots, bundles, loose, cups, plates, by the kilo, bonsai and set boxes. Great value, a wide variety of choice, and pest-free — ideal for any aquatic store.
All livestock photography is our own — shot in our facility by Max.
Our story
Established 2020. In operation since 1965.
Founded by Matt and Max with over 35 years of combined aquaculture, quarantining, breeding and IT know-how — then grown, deliberately, into a single destination for busy retailers.
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1965
The oldest thread in the business begins trading. Through the mergers and acquisitions below, OAW stands on nearly six decades of continual operation.
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2020
Matt and Max establish Ornamental Aquatics Wholesale as a freshwater fish wholesaler, built on top-quality livestock and an excellent customer experience.
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2021
Import consolidation added early in the year. In November, OAW acquires Yorkshire Brine Shrimp — the sole UK production facility for top-quality brine shrimp — bringing live-food production in-house.
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2022
OAW acquires Corkers Pet Foods in October, adding our own daphnia production and expanding the range into frozen and reptile foods.
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2025
After years of research, we crack in-house blackworm production — disease-free, pest-free live superfood, cultured on a high-quality diet.
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2026
We begin offering high-quality bunched aquatic plants to the UK aquarium trade, sourced from the best growers in Indonesia.
The team
Two founders, one obsession.
Max
Livestock, imports & quarantine
Max has over 10 years’ experience working with tropical and temperate fish. Having worked in retail, teaching and breeding, he has amassed a great deal of knowledge in correct import and quarantine methods — and ensures that any fish leaving our facility do so in the finest possible fettle, ready for your valued customers.
Max can usually be found photographing fish and frogs, breeding fish and frogs, looking at fish and frogs, talking about fish and frogs, or playing football. If you can’t find him, he is probably in a vat at Yorkshire Brine Shrimp doing something “shrimpy”.
Matt
Business & operations
Matt has spent over 20 years in business consulting, working for businesses large and small — so he could be seen as the “business” side of this team, but that would not be fair on the others. So he is probably here for his good looks… *cough cough*.
Having kept freshwater fish as a youngster and marines in his older years, Matt has always loved visiting the local fish shop — and wants to provide the best he can, so your tanks receive the best they can. With two kids who genuinely love the subject matter, take-your-kids-to-work day sorts itself out.
Contact us
Questions about stock, deliveries — or just want to talk fish?
Get in touch. If you’re a retailer and new to OAW, the quickest route to a price list is a trade application — it only takes a few minutes.