Every brand has a story. The PATS ‘Behind the Brand’ series dives into the history and passion of some of the companies joining us at the Pet & Aquatics Trade Show 2026.
Xtreme Aquatic Foods, Inc. is a U.S. based manufacturer specialising in premium, high-protein fish food developed from over 45 years of professional breeding and aquarium experience. Founded by Rick and Andy Biro, the company offers a diverse, USA-made, nutrient-dense, and often colour-enhancing, product line, including, Nano, pellets, Scrapers, wafers and flakes. You’ll be able to find Xtreme Aquatic Foods, Inc. at PATS 2026 on stand S28
We recently sat down with Ashley Coleman, VP of Business Development to find out more about the history of Xtreme Aquatic Foods and why you should visit them at PATS 2026.
1. How did the business begin, and what problem were you originally trying to solve?
Xtreme Aquatic Foods came about from a need to find a fish food suitable for feeding on the original exotic fish farm that the Biro brothers had established back in the 1970s.
The brothers were the first to import many species of wild caught African Cichlid fish from the Rift Lakes of Africa, but back in the 1970s they could only find trout pellets and catfish chow as possible food for these fish they had imported. These fish required a better and all-round food, so the brothers set about developing their own food for the fish on the farm.
They never set out to develop a tropical fish food, they didn’t know they would end up feeding it to over 500,000 fish on the farm every day, and they never intended for the food they developed to be available for retail – it all just happened that way over 40+ years through trial and error and public demand.
2. What has been the biggest challenge in building or growing the brand so far?
In 2006, the Xtreme Aquatic Foods brand was officially born as a commercially available retail product. This was due to public demand over the past 30 years for the same food Xtreme was using on their fish farm, the same food which helped produce fish with amazing colours, great health, vitality and breeding.
One of the biggest challenges since has been keeping our core line of products ‘Made in the USA’ using our premium quality ingredients. There have been many market entrants offering inferior quality products at lower price points.
Xtreme has adhered to their core values and continue to manufacture their foods in the USA using premium quality ingredients such as krill, shrimp, fish, squid, farm-grown spirulina, pea protein, paprika and essential vitamins and minerals. Once we are able to impart many of our brands key features, including ‘when you feed Xtreme to your fish, you will actually feed less and the aquarium water will be clearer’, Xtreme is often the preferred brand of choice amongst aquarists.
3. How has the pet retail landscape changed since you started, and how have you adapted?
Since the fish farm commenced and since Xtreme became a commercial brand, there have been many changes in the retail landscape. The biggest changes are the large number of individual fish food brands and food products now available at various price points, which were not available previously and the online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon, which now offer a plethora of aquarium products.
Often consumers can be easily confused when presented with a massive number of fish food brand choices and fish food products in stores. Xtreme has kept their range of food offerings relatively compact, for example Xtreme’s 1.5mm Cichlid PeeWee Pellets (the original formula from back in the 1970s), this food will successfully feed ALL types of cichlids. You do not need to worry about individual food for different cichlids, such as African or South American. Xtreme Cichlid PeeWee is suitable for ALL cichlids – we developed it on our farm, so we know it is effective and it works for these fish. Xtreme has kept everything simple with a core range of fish food products, we even provide a 100% satisfaction guarantee – we know it’s that good!
To help our retailers adapt to the rise of the internet and the online marketplaces, Xtreme has MAP / MSRP pricing. This is the price point we believe Xtreme should be sold at, we do not support product discounting or race to the bottom pricing. This means all our retailers can sell Xtreme with confidence and maintain healthy margins. Xtreme only has one authorised Amazon retailer in the USA and the UK, and we insist our products are sold at MSRP plus 10% on Amazon - once again protecting our retailers from cheap online competition.
4. Where do you take inspiration from when developing new products or ranges?
We listen to our retailers and consumers for feedback about our product range and new product ideas. We also take inspiration from modern trends in the aquatics area. Once again, any new products developed come from actual real-life testing and not from being developed in a laboratory.
Xtreme will send out samples of potential new products to both our fish farm in Florida and to some of our retailers and even ‘non-paid’ influencers – we love to hear back what people think of our new product ideas, where the new products are great or where they might need some tweaking. We take time with this process, which can sometimes be 12 months or more, we don't see the benefit in rushing perfection in a product.
5. What does “success” look like for you as a brand?
Repeat business is the biggest indicator of success. New customer business which continues for more than one or two orders is also a great sign of success for Xtreme. We like to think of our customers as being part of the family. From the early beginnings of our fish farm back in the 1970s to the official launch of Xtreme as a commercial product in 2006, Xtreme has been and remains very much a ‘Ma and Pa business’. We are a personable and very approachable business; our customers are encouraged to pick up the phone and talk to the owners of Xtreme Aquatic Food at any time.
6. Can you share an example of how your products have made a difference for retailers, pets or pet owners?
Xtreme’s New Zealand distributor also imports, and quarantine live tropical fish as part of their product range. This distributor has found their holding aquariums are so much cleaner now they feed their fish on Xtreme Aquatic Foods, as the distributor told us, ‘because Xtreme uses whole fish meal as an ingredient the food has a low ash content’. Ash is made up of such things as the inedible bones, gills, scales from the fish meal. Because Xtreme has a lower content of Ash, the distributor’s aquariums have less debris on the aquarium floor and in the filtration – helping to keep the aquariums much cleaner.
The distributor has also reported that they can feed less quantities of food than previously now that they are using Xtreme in their fish room. Xtreme is a highly digestible food with perfect protein levels and balanced ingredients, as a result, the fish are not as hungry, the aquariums are cleaner and clearer, and the fish are vibrant and healthy
7. What advice would you give to independent retailers choosing new products or suppliers in the current market?
If a retailer is unsure about selling or using Xtreme, we suggest they place a small order with us to begin with and place the food in a prominent shelf position. Then, choose an aquarium in your store and feed the fish in this aquarium on Xtreme for 30 days – you will notice a definite change in the fish’s colour, vitality and in the aquarium’s water clarity. We also send new retailers a bunch of ‘goodies’ including Feeding Guides, Sample Packs, Store Feed and Shelf Strips.
We would recommend looking up Xtreme Aquatic Foods on YouTube and Florida Exotic Fish Sales (the original fish farm). There are a whole lot of non-paid videos put together by influencers who love our products.
8. How long have you been involved with PATS, and what stands out to you about the show?
2026 will be our first year exhibiting at PATS. We have identified the show as an optimum opportunity for Xtreme to showcase our products to the international market. Additionally, we are also actively looking for a UK distributor.
9. Why is exhibiting at PATS important for your business specifically?
Xtreme has UK approval for our fish foods. We are hoping our presence at PATS can assist with introducing the Xtreme brand to UK retailers and ultimately, we can use the opportunity to find a UK distributor. We receive consumer enquiries from the UK regularly and look forward to being able to direct these enquiries to a locally based distributor and their retailers.
10. What can visitors expect when they meet you at PATS this year?
Visitors to our Xtreme stand will get to see our food range first-hand and will be able to meet and speak with our company owner Andy and our VP of Business Development Ashley.
11. Who should make a point of visiting your stand, and why?
We are looking forward to meeting a host of people and particularly welcome any retailers involved with the aquatic market to drop by our stand during PATS.
12. Looking ahead, what’s next for the brand beyond PATS?
The ambition is to bring Xtreme Aquatic Foods to the UK aquatic market with the same great success and excitement we created when the brand launched in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Taiwan.
