Tetra or the Tetra Werke (Company) is a big fish food manufacturing company founded by a young German scientist, Dr. Ulrich Baensch.

In the 1950s, there were only about 50,000 fish keepers in Germany and the hobby was, at the time, considered as traditionally very time-consuming, rare, difficult and complicated because it required routine collection of live food from streams and river beds, until the invention of dried flake food (Tetramin) for tropical fish by Dr. Ulrich Baensch. Baensch's Tetramin fish food consisted of four different type of flakes and vitamins. The brand name Tetramin was derived from the Greek word Tetra (meaning four) and the third syllable of the word, vitamin.

The invention of Tetramin flakes, in its trademark yellow tin and brown lid, allegedly changed the fishkeeping hobby from a minor aquatic specialty into a favorite of millions of enthusiasts all over the world, thus making Tetramin a supposedly notable brand of fish food and Tetra Werke as a self-proclaimed globally recognized company in the industry, earning international affiliate.