Garnelio origin story

Genesis Garnelio

Farschad Farhadi at Sealife Miami

Behind Garnelio is an absolute aquarium freak . My name is Farschad Farhadi, and aquariums have been my passion ever since I can remember.

It all started with Iranian freshwater crabs

I had my first aquarium in my native Iran. My father had a small production plant by the river in Tehran. I played there as a child. I caught my first freshwater crabs and enthusiastically showed them to my parents. I did that until my parents set up my first aquarium with me.

Due to political persecution, my family ended up in Germany. My interest in animals remained. If I was asked where I wanted to go on a trip, there were only two answers: to the zoo or to the pet store. At the Mannheim public library, I borrowed all the animal books I could grab.

It was then that I met my good friend Daniel. He had three beautiful aquariums with at least six generations of guppies, overgrown with plants. I immediately fell in love with this perfectly running ecosystem. And set up my first aquarium at home in my new home.

A kitchen wall of aquariums

At the age of 13, finishing aquariums for the first store.

Over the next few years, my parents had to put up with a lot. Constantly I was in their ears to build more and more aquariums. I even persuaded my mother to put up a complete aquarium wall in the kitchen.

At the age of 13 I founded the forum wirbellosen.de and offered my first offspring through this platform. At the same time I became a member of the Aquarienfreunde Mannheim and soon published my first articles in aquarium magazines.

At the age of 15 I finally convinced my parents to open a business through them: the online store Flora-Aquaristik. After my parents' divorce, I had to part with the store. However, as soon as I was of age, I started my own store. Its name: Garnelio.
Garnelio - a success story

Today, after five years, Garnelio has 40,000 registered customers from 10 countries and offers one of the largest selection of invertebrates for the aquarium worldwide. To date, we have shipped 80,000 packages.

Despite the success, there is one thing I never lose sight of: my love for the fascinating underwater world, for crayfish and shrimp. I am happy if you share this passion.