OATA has launched a revamped package of customer care information and business guidance for the ornamental aquatics industry at a special event at the Houses of Parliament.

OATA took the opportunity to showcase its updated and expanded range of free customer care sheets and ‘how to’ guides during an event focused on animal welfare, organised by the Companion Animal Sector Council (CASC).

OATA now has just shy of 70 free customer focused leaflets, the largest selection produced by a pet trade association. The trade association has expanded the number of species-specific caresheets and broadened its number of ‘how to’ guides to include more on testing water quality, a key component for success when keeping pet fish.

Alongside expanding and improving its customer facing literature, OATA has also reviewed its guidance for aquatic businesses, including its biosecurity document, transport code and water quality criteria.

“We were very pleased to show off our expanded range of customer facing literature during an event to launch the new Pet Know How initiative which is all about educating prospective owners about their new pets.

“OATA now has the widest range of species-specific care literature in the pet trade and these will all be available for free for businesses and pet owners to download both from our website and via the new Pet Know How’s associated Pet Portal.

“We firmly believe educating people to pick the right pet for their lifestyle and care for it properly is the key to happy and healthy pets. So the more quality information out there, particularly for pet fish which have such a wide range of species, the better it is for both keepers and animals.”

Previously OATA produced about 40 care sheets and it has been supported by a range of industry experts and specialist fish vets to ensure the expanded range includes more species and the most up-to-date advice on how to successfully keep pet fish.

The updated range can be found free to download on OATA’s website, along with QR code labels for shop tanks to enable customers to have the ability to download them straight to their smart phone.