Get To Know Us


Natural Environment Aquatix is the aquarium hobbyist's unbeatable source for rare and exotic freshwater fish, aquatic plants, aquarium products, and aqua-scaping commodities. We proudly offer a combined background of more than forty years of fish and aquarium keeping. With our extensive customer service background and passion for the hobby, we are sure that everyone will enjoy their experience with Natural Environment Aquatix.

 

Our Team

Our team is the most important part of NEA. They are the ones who make sure the shop is clean, the fish are healthy, and the people are happy. Everyone works so hard doing weekly water changes, scrubbing tanks daily, feeding, creating social media content, and helping customers. Our team is here to share knowledge, make recommendations, problem-solve, and handpick fish for you. Our staff is not here to just sell you fish. We are here to build relationships. The most exciting part of our job is geeking out with our customers over fish. 

 

Brian:

Director Of Services. Brian is our full time employee and is the voice you hear on many of your youtube and live videos. He is full of knowledge about freshwater fish and live aquatic plants and is excellent at helping all of our customers find that perfect new addition for the aquarium. Brian currently has four aquariums at home filled with Bettas, shrimp, livebearers, snails, and so much more. He is a prime example of the fish keeping hobby being addictive.

freshwater fish 


Sarah M:


Aquatic Specialist. Sarah is one of our part time employees and the new kid on the block. She joined our team with a desire to learn everything she could about freshwater fish. Her attention to detail and love for the hobby have made her fit in perfectly with the rest of the team. Sarah has always had a love for animals and has previously worked at the Jacksonville Zoo.

 

April:


Aquatic Specialist. April is one of our full time employees who has been with us for some time now. She has had multiple different tanks and beautiful ponds. April gives her undivided attention to each person she comes in contact with and has outstanding customer service skills. She is great at suggesting what fish to add to your aquarium, foods you should feed, and different water conditioners you may need.  

 Gary:

Gary C. Lehr Jr, the founder of Making Waves. With an extensive background in the aquarium industry spanning Retail, Distribution, Manufacturing, and Livestock, He boast a decade of experience in Retail and Livestock, six years in Manufacturing, and four years in Distribution.

Sarah P: 

Director of Operations. Sarah has been with NEA since we opened. She used to keep African cichlids, and now she has multiple community fish tanks and betta fish tanks. Sarah is the one who handles all of the behind the scenes tasks like building our website, packing online orders, marketing, and so much more. 

 

Ronnie: 

Owner. Ronnie originally ran NEA on his property years ago, and when the business began to explode, he knew it was time to open a larger location. He has kept nearly every fish you can think of at one time or another and has endless knowledge about the fish keeping hobby and how to run a successful business. 

Freshwater Fish 

 

Katelyn:

Aquatic Specialist. Katelyn is one of our part time employees who is your go to for all things betta fish. She has a betta fish sanctuary at her home consisting of over 12 aquariums stocked with aquatic plants. Katelyn is one of our newest employees.  She is a customer favorite because of her cheerful attitude and dedication to helping customers.

Betta Fish 

 

Our Retail Store

Betta Fish

 If you are in our area, come see us! Our facility is open to everyone, from the beginning enthusiast to the advanced hobbyist. NEA is a developing small business where you will be surrounded by beautiful exotic tropical fish, friendly customers eager to learn, and staff eager to chat with you about fish. When you walk in the front door, you are immediately greeted with a smiling face, and the first thing you will notice is our 400 gallon koi pond and our large selection of frozen fish foods. Our shop is filled with a little over 130 freshwater fish tanks and a large selection of aquarium products and aquatic plants. The front section of our store is where you will find our products and 3 large aquariums that display our large aquatic plant section. As you work your way back, you will find that we have approximately 60 aquariums dedicated to different types of community fish, 30 aquariums consisting of mainly larger aquariums filled with stunning African and South American cichlids. For our predatory and monster fish, we have about 30 aquariums, some being large with multiple different fish inside, but most are individual tanks for fish that don't play nicely with others. We also have a selection of 50 or more different betta fish throughout the shop. Around the shop, we have every aquarium ornament imaginable and the largest selection of different stone, driftwood, and substrate in our area.

 

Our Livestock

Here at the Natural Environment Aquatix, we know that you want the best fish. We also know you expect them to be treated well before they reach your home aquarium. We get new fish and plants weekly and, most times, multiple shipments a week. We have carefully selected all of our wholesalers based on their quality, fish and plant availability, and practices. When our shipments come in, we quarantine and medicate all new arrivals, perform weekly water changes, and feed only the best quality foods. If you are ever looking for specific fish, feel free to email us below, and we will add it to our fish wish list so that we can get it for you! If you want to know more about our livestock care, read our blog post "How we care for our fish Q&A"

 

Buying Fish Online

Our team will help guide you through the interprocess. We can answer any questions you may have, whether it be about the fish or the shipping process. If you are not sure about what you are ordering, you can always contact us. We will be more than happy to send a photo or video upon request of the actual fish you are going to get, or we can even set up a facetime appointment with you so that you can handpick the exact fish you want. When you shop online with NEA, you no longer have to wait until payday to buy that fish or product you've been eyeballing. You could be eligible for our buy now pay later option by answering a few questions at checkout.  If you don't want to deal with shipping but won't be able to pick up your fish until a later date, you can always select our local pick up option at check out. This way, you don't have to worry about that fish you've been looking for being sold before you make it here. We do not hold fish longer than a week.  

Freshwater Fish 

Shipping Live Fish 

We know that shipping live fish can be scary, so that's why we put the most care into packing our livestock. 

Shipping Steps:

Step 1. We get notified of your order then we select the fish for your order and place them on hold.

Step 2. We create your shipping label. Even if you qualify for free shipping, that does not mean we will ship your order the cheapest way. We choose shipping based on distance and what you ordered. We will always choose the safest shipping method for your order.  If the weather at the location livestock is being shipped to drops below 40°, it is required that all livestock is shipped via express shipping. 

Step 3. We schedule a pick up for your order. When you place your order, it will be shipped out on the following Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday so that you don't have to worry about your order being held up over the weekend. 

Step 4. Packing your order the day of pick up. We carefully select your fish and add a light dose of ClorAm-X with most fish so that they are calm during the shipping process. Most fish are bagged individually to avoid aggression. All fish are packed on compressed oxygen, and double or triple bagged to avoid bags being popped. Depending on the weather, bags are packed tightly into an insulated box with either a heat or ice pack.

Freshwater Fish 

Aquarium Services

 We have beautiful tank displays in the front area and now offer aquarium sales, custom aquarium design, and installation services. Financing is available on all aquariums. Additionally, we offer a wide range of aquarium maintenance packages and services. Every dollar spent on aquarium services and new aquariums goes towards your reward points. For more information, please contact our team, and we'll provide you with a full catalog of our aquariums for sale, maintenance, and service options. We proudly serve North Florida and Southeast Georgia. 

Our Goal

Our goal is to provide everyone nationwide with top-quality, beautiful freshwater fish, aquarium products, and aquatic plants. We are here to grow the fish keeping hobby, and we believe that in order to do that, we need to educate people new to the hobby, set customers up for success by only selling healthy fish, and showing people the beauty and fun of fish keeping. While we do all of this, we also want to be known to have the best selection of tropical fish and the best customer service. 

Freshwater Fish