Founded in 2017 in our hometown of Gisborne, EasternMarine Aquariums operated from a 75 square meter shed that was used to quarantine our livestock. Due to limited space capacity, we opened a second quarantine facility a year later in 2018. At this stage we were focused on importing live fish, coral and invertebrates and distributing them via overnight courier and same day airfreight around New Zealand.

Due to the isolation of Gisborne, we quickly became experts in the transportation of livestock to ensure great success rates. This meant ensuring the total supply chain was transparent and quick, to ensure proper handling of the animals as well as the proper packing of the animals post-quarantine. We are now experts in such transportation, with regular shipments being sent to Kaitaia in the North, through to Stewart Island in the South - no matter where you are located in New Zealand, we’ve got you covered.

In 2019 we began importing a limited range of dry goods including salt and protein skimmers. Our management team attended MACNA in Orlando in October 2019, where we had the opportunity to visit numerous coral farms such as World Wide Corals through to Tidal Gardens. We met many industry leaders and increased our knowledge of animals we keep through some amazing workshops and conversations with experts in the field. This knowledge was then brought back to New Zealand, where we used it on our next stages of our business.

2020 was a big year for our business as we began the task of relocating to our current base of Auckland, New Zealand. The move was to ensure transit times of our livestock upon arrival in NZ was reduced. Our entire facilities and animals were relocated 7 hours north, and amazingly we didn’t loose a single fish or coral during the move!

Since our move, EMA has continued to invest in our facilities and our business. We’ve become distributors for major dry goods brands such as Red Sea, Fauna Marin, Walt Smith International, Coral Essentials and more.

In 2023 our staff attended a Fauna Marin ICP Training session, where we received ICP Analysis training from the Fauna Marin CEO, Claude Schuhmacher. This training provided is with our Fauna Marin ICP Accreditation, making our staff qualified Fauna Marin ICP Advisors.

Since our creation, EMA is proud to have achieved many NZ Firsts, which is even more impressive given how isolated New Zealand is to the rest of the world. Such firsts include:

• First NZ Importer to import direct from Kenya (a 5 day transit!)
• First NZ Importer to offer captive bred surgeon fish such as Purple Tangs, Yellow Tangs.
• First importer to import directly farm raised Maxima Clams
• Only importer in NZ to have continued importing throughout the COVID pandemic, when flights/logistical challenges into NZ were very restricted.

+ Many more to come!



We are incredibly passionate about our livestock and customers. That’s why we’ve always focused on improving our processes, handling and staff training to get better and better results. Such results can be seen in person at our Auckland Store. Our friendly team are highly trained to provide the very best experience for our customers, so if you’re around Auckland, please pop in!

We hope to see you at EasternMarine Aquariums in the near future!