Successful in the aquarium sector

The Anivite wholesale business, which now imports and distributes products by Tetra, Flexi, Ferplast, Gimborn, Sicce, Beaphar and Seven Seas, was found-ed some years prior to the creation of Aquapor, in 1968. Anivite and Aquapor together employ over 100 people. The proprietor of both companies, Jose Pico, is still actively involved in them today.
The company pairing of Aquapor and Anivite in Alverca, Portugal, teams a leading wholesaler with a leading manufacturer of aquarium products.
“Aquapor is a company manufacturing and selling aquariums and accessories,” says general manager Filipe Caprioca. “Its creation was due to the need to set apart an activity that was highly relevant to the parent company Anivite.” Initially production consisted mainly of electrical products for aquariums, such as lighting hoods and air pumps, but gradually production was extended to aquariums on their own assembly line. “Nowadays, Aquapor manufactures almost everything that the fish-keeping expert needs and it offers a range of combined solutions, permitting a variety of choice when equipping an aquarium,” continues Filipe Carioca. “Aquapor is one of the few manufacturers of aquariums and aquatics accessories to be certified as complying with ISO 9001.”
The aquariums and related products are manufactured in plants equipped with modern facilities.
Aquapor supplies its products to wholesalers as well as pet store chains and garden centres. The company states that it exports almost 70 per cent of its products, to over 30 countries. 65 different countries in all in Asia, America, Europe and Africa have taken delivery of Aquapor products. Its new aquarium line “Space”, on which production is currently focused, recently helped Aquapor to break into the French, Spanish and German markets successfully. One revolutionary feature of the range is that the “corners” of the glass aquariums are rounded in very small radii. To implement this new line, Aquapor had to build a new pavilion into its fittings and also had to change the entire layout of the factory, introducing new equipment: “It`s a new line of bent glass aquariums, produced using Japanese technology, unique in Europe,” comments Filipe Carioca. “Looking to the future, Aquapor is in the final stage of a major modernization project with regard to its production, which will secure it the technological leadership in Europe and enable it to access new market areas. To achieve this, the company has opted for a differentiation strategy…