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Adam Blundell

Bio: Adam Blundell M.S. works in Marine Ecology, and in Pathology for the University of Utah. He is also Director of The Aquatic & Terrestrial Research Team, a group which utilizes research projects to bring together hobbyists and scientists. His vision is to see this type of collaboration lead to further advancements in aquarium husbandry. While not in the lab he is the president of one of the Nation's largest hobbyist clubs, the Wasatch Marine Aquarium Society www.utahreefs.com. Adam has earned a BS in Marine Biology and an MS in the Natural Resource and Health fields.

Rod Buehler

James Fatherree

Steven Pro

Gary Parr

Bio: James Fatherree has been an aquarium hobbyist since childhood, has been keeping marine aquariums for over 15 years, and has spent many days diving in Florida, Hawaii, the Bahamas, Japan and Indonesia. He also managed a large retail aquarium store, owned and operated an aquarium design, installation, and maintenance business for several years, and spent a summer working as a diver/collector/slave for an aquarium livestock wholesaler in Florida. James has also published well over 100 articles and 1,000 photographs in various aquarium magazines in the U.S. and Europe, and has written and illustrated several books on the topics of reef organisms and marine aquariums, the latest of which is Giant Clams in the Sea and the Aquarium. If you'd like to know more about the author, visit his homepage at www.fatherree.com/james

Bio: Rod Buehler is a true friend to the hobbyist. Over the past 18 years in the hobby, Rod has accumulated a wealth of knowledge about reefkeeping. Rod is a DIY guru, which was based on necessity due to his location and when he started reefkeeping. He is best known for his promotion and utilization of the Borneman surge. Rod's passion for the hobby lead him towards fish breeding. Initially he bred Banggai cardinals and published an article in FAMA magazine regarding the topic. His success breeding Banggai's lead him to start a business selling Banggai's and coral, which he farmed in his basement. He left his home-based business to pursue a partnership in DT's plankton farm. After leaving DT's Rod had a short stint working with Brett Perry of Zero Edge fame. Rod opened his store, Rod's Reef in 2003, and moved towards raising and breeding different species of clown fish. He currently breeds the 'Rod Onyx' clown fish ( www.rods-reef.com ) that are known for their deep black coloration. In addition to his clown fish, Rod is also the creator of the world famous Rod's Food ( www.rodsfood.com ) Over the past year, Rod has begun sharing his vast knowledge by speaking at various club meetings and events.

Abstract: Your reef is thriving, the colors are beautiful, and you want some photos to share the fruits of your labor with friends and family. You break out the camera, fire off a few shots, and end up with blue, blurred, and distorted photos, half of which are ruined when the light from your flash unit reflected off of the aquarium glass. Frustration sets in and you ask the inevitable question: How do I get decent shots of my reef? Attend "Photographing Wet Stuff" and learn what equipment you need and don't need, how to get the proper exposure and what makes for good photo composition. You'll also learn how to photograph fish, get quality full-tank shots, and shoot corals, all of the way down to the feeding tentacles. There also will be a hands-on photography workshop on Sunday morning, so bring your camera and tripod. Workshop attendance is limited to 15 people. To reserve your spot, send e-mail to Gary at

Bio: I have been keeping freshwater aquariums for as long as I can remember, but did not start with saltwater fish until 1993 during my junior year of college. Upon returning from school, I was fortunate enough to reside only a short five-minute drive from Poseidon's Living Treasures, Anthony Calfo's greenhouse propagation facility. It was here that I gained a tremendous resource of information and inspiration.

I am currently the proprietor of Pro Aquatic Services Company, an aquarium sales and maintenance business in Pennsylvania. I have long been active in the retail and hobby sides of the ornamental aquatics industry. I have taken an active and impassioned role in the industry as a member of the Pittsburgh Marine Aquarium Society, Inc. for the past seven years, having also been elected to the Board of Directors for the last five years. I am also a member of the greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society, Inc. (the local freshwater club), as well as previously serving a one-year stint on the Board of Directors of the American Marinelife Dealers Association.

You may have seen my name before if you ever visit the aquatic information website http://www.WetWebMedia.com as I previously answered some of the e-mailed daily questions along with friends Anthony Calfo and site host Robert Fenner. Eventually, the demands of family and business became too great, and I had to "retire" from the WetWebMedia crew, but I am still active on its message board.

I currently maintain a 120-gallon reef display, a 1500-gallon freshwater pond, a 75-gallon winter home for turtles (when they aren't out in the pond), as well as numerous smaller tanks scattered throughout his house (much to the chagrin of his wife) which are used for quarantining livestock for customers. My previous 55-gallon reef tank (which was taken down around the first of 2003 to make room for the 120) is profiled on the Pittsburgh Marine Aquarium Society, Inc.'s http://www.pmas.org/pro/. There is a good deal of husbandry information located there and should provide insight into my aquarium keeping philosophy.

Randy Reed

Bio: Randy Reed is the Executive VP & Sales Manager, Reed Mariculture. Randy holds a Masters Degree in Systems Management from the University of Denver, Denver Colorado, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from California Baptist College, Riverside, California. From 2006 to Present Randy has been Executive VP and Sales Manager for Reed Mariculture and from 1995 to 2006 has held the postition of CEO, CFO, Reed Mariculture, Inc. Randy worked from 1986 to 1998 as an Information Technology Engineer at Hewlett Packard in the areas of office automation, networking technology, Internet and web-based technologies, sales and marketing, Artificial intelligence design, coding, and implementation and Data Center design and implementation (chief architect)

Jake Adams

Bio: Jake Adams is a professional, practicing aquarist who has been an active participant in the national marine aquarium community for over 10 years. He has been educating aquarists of a wide range of marine aquarium topics through frequent articles, podcasts and presentations around the country. His latest effort is the website coralidea.com which provides a free downloadable guide to coral identification for mobile devices and home computers. Jake has a Bachelor's Degree in Marine Science and he will be returning to graduate school to further pursue research in the field of coral reef ecology.

Bio: Gary Parr is a self-taught advanced-amateur photographer who "specializes" in close-up/macro photography of corals, flowers, and insects. To see some of his photography, browse the galleries at www.gparr.com Gary is a former high school science teacher and currently a magazine publisher. He has been keeping reef aquariums for more than 10 years.

'Amazing Nanos'

'Breeding Marine Fish'

'Clams'

'Photographing Wet Stuff'

Keynote Speech:

'Avoiding Disaster'

'The Basics of Feeding Your Reef'

'Stony Coral of the Carribean'

FragFest 2008 Speakers

The FragFest 2008 program agenda provides locally and internationally known speakers who will cover a wide range of topics for all levels of reef aquarists. Topics will include reef nutrition, fish breeding, clam care, SPS husbandry, and photography. (Abstracts coming soon…)

Abstract: Nearly all aquarium corals are imported from far away regions of the Pacific Ocean, but the corals of the Carribean are diverse and unique in their own right. The average coral aquarist can probably recognize about half of the commonly imported Pacific corals but they would be hard pressed to recognize any Atlantic coral which was not Acropora or Porites. Field guides for corals of the region are intended for divers so they do little to portray them as anything more than variations of a "brown-mound" theme. This presentation is an effort to present an intimate aquarist's eye view on the interesting and colorful Carribean corals.

Richard Ross

'Welcome Ceph Overlords'

Abstract: Richard Ross started keeping cephalopods seriously in 2003, devoting a spare room in his house to the breeding of dwarf cuttlefish, Sepia bandensis. Rich has also had the pleasure/responsibility of being one of the few Americans to successfully keep more exotic cephs like the flamboyant cuttlefish and the wunderpus.

Keeping cephalopods in home aquaria is a challenge that is still in its infancy; we therefore have both the amazing opportunity and the serious responsibility to ensure that this segment of the marine hobby grows in a sustainable way.

This talk will cover the basics of cephalopod husbandry, the importance of selecting appropriate species for home aquaria, the possible impact of collection on wild populations, and the current state of captive ceph breeding.

Currently, Richard has two saltwater systems; a 150 gallon reef tank with a 200 gallon remote sump/frag farm, and a 200 gallon cephalopod breeding system. In his spare time he is a volunteer at the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences, an improvisor with Bay Area Theatresports, a martial artist, and dives reefs around the world with his crazy cool wife and 4 year old daughter. Check out www.StickyCricket.com and www.DaisyHillCephFarm.org for more information.

Bio: Richard has been keeping saltwater animals for over 20 years, and has worked in aquarium maintenance, retail aquarium stores, and marine wholesalers. In 2004, Rich was selected to help establish a coral farm in Tonga. He is a writer/photographer for Advanced Aquarist, Reef Hobbyist Magazine and C the Journal of Aquatic Science, Travel and Adventure. He has been a crew member at wet web media and is currently an Site Administrator at Reefs.org. He is an avid diver/underwater photographer and videographer, and designed a permanentvideo exhibit for the Birch Aquarium at Scripps - "The Art of Deception". He is also a founding member and past president of Bay Area Reefers, the largest reef club in Northern California.

Octopus News Magazine Online is sponsoring Midwest FragFest Speaker - Richard Ross

Mike Paletta

'Coral Health and Coloration'

Bio: Michael Paletta has been keeping marine tanks since 1980 and reef tanks since 1985. During the past 20 years he has written over 180 articles on marine fish and invertebrates in both the US and Europe. His first book "The Modern Marine Aquarium" is an attempt to simplify marine fish keeping for the beginning hobbyist while at the same time incorporating advances that have been made due to reef keeping. This book has sold over 140,000 copies. His second book "Ultimate Marine Aquariums" illustrates how far the hobby has come in the past 15 years. In this book are examples of just about every type of reef tank using different methodologies and technology. Michael has enjoyed speaking at over 120 marine societies and national conferences in North America, Canada, South America and Europe. Michael has appeared on both local and national radio shows to discuss the hobby and to help new hobbyists become successful. Currently Michael has 1,200 and 40- gallon reef tanks set up in his home. He has helped in the set up of over 200 tanks throughout the U.S, including several tanks over 4,000 gallons in capacity. Michael also acted as a consultant with the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the Pittsburgh Zoo Aquarium. Michael has B.S. from Dickinson College and a Master's degree from Yale University. Michael has also been a technical consultant for several equipment manufacturers and online companies. Michael is currently employed in sales in the biotechnology field.

Abstract: There are different factors involved and necessary to optimize the coloration and health of the corals in our tanks. I will talk about 8 different factors that can either enhance or inhibit good coral health and coloration.

Reef Nutirtion is sponsoring Midwest FragFest Speaker - Randy Reed

Sera is sponsoring Midwest FragFest Speaker - Jake Adams

Uberfrags is sponsoring Midwest FragFest Speaker - Steven Pro

Steven Pro Frag Demo is sponsored by Midwest Reef Supply