Almost half a century ago the young German scientist, Dr. rer. nat. Ulrich Baensch revolutionised the fishkeeping hobby, which until then had been a particularly rare and difficult hobby. Baensch was breeding tropical fish in Hanover, Germany, around 1950. There were only about 50,000 fish keepers in Germany at the time, as it was a very time-consuming and complicated hobby which required the collection of live food from streams and river beds. The situation changed dramatically when Baensch came up with the idea of manufacturing dried flake food for tropical fish. TetraMin was born at the beginning of the 1950s. It consists of four different types of flakes with added vitamins. Tetra is the Greek word for four and Min is the third syllable in the word Vitamin. Hence the name TetraMin.

When TetraMin came onto the market it radically changed the fishkeeping hobby. It developed from a minority hobby to a hobby which today fascinates over 3 million people just in Germany. TetraMin in the yellow tin with its brown lid soon turned into a well-known brand which could soon be found next to tanks throughout the world.

With the revolutionary development of dried fish food, Baensch also laid the foundations for a globally recognised company. The company soon prospered and became global market leader with affiliates around the world.

Today, the Tetra group employs over 700 colleagues, has representatives in more than 90 countries worldwide and is the largest manufacturer of aquaristic and pond products in the world. It supplies fish keepers and pond owners with a complete range of products such as food, water conditioners and plant conditioners, technical equipment and medicinal products.

Tetra's economic action is always very customer-focussed. It implements all modern market and opinion research instruments and the closeness to the market and the knowledge of varying market conditions have also make Tetra extremely successful on an international level.

In December 2002, Pfizer sold the Tetra aquaristic and pond business to the "Triton Fund", a private independent European investment fund. Investors in the Triton Fund include European insurances and banks as well as significant American institutions. Three years later, on April 29th, 2005 Tetra Holding GmbH was acquired by the global consumer products company Spectrum Brands. Spectrum Brands - including its subsidiary United Pet Group - is a leading marketer and manufacturer of premium branded pet supplies.