Brett started keeping fish when he won some at 'The Fair' as a kid. He started keeping reef tanks in 2001. He still has fish, including two ocellaris who, no matter what's gone wrong in the tank, meet him at the glass every day.

I grew up in Michigan, hunting turtles, frogs, and other wonderful, creepy things. In high school I became particularly interested in coral reefs and set up my first reef tank in 2001--a modest 10 gal tank. I soon upgraded that tank and, as they say, the rest is history. I'm currently a Ph.D. candidate in biological oceanography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where I investigate coral calcification and coral responses to global change.

Chris Maupin is a Ph.D. candidate in the Climate System Science program at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Chris was born and raised in south Florida, and during high school, interned for Mote Marine Laboratory. While receiving his B.S. in marine science and chemistry from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, he worked as the coral aquarist at Mote Marine Aquarium, maintaining a collection of rescue corals from the Florida Keys, including Acropora cervicornis. He received an M.S. in oceanography from the University of South Florida. Chris’ primary research interests involve using coral skeletons and cave deposits from the tropical west Pacific to reconstruct patterns of climate variability over the last 10,000 years.

Danilo Ronchi, aka DaniReef lives in Italy where he is hydraulic engineer, but starting from his love for reef aquarium and photography, he began to write about marine aquariums from 2006 and now it's publishing his first book on the subject. From 2007 Danilo writes on his blog danireef.com where publishes articles, pictures, product reviews, aquariums coverage, reportage and history of his tank. Now he's happy to be part of Reefs.com

Lissa Mann is a Real Scientist™; and has been keeping reef aquaria for five years. She enjoys pina coladas and long discussions about evolutionary theory.

Francis is a marine biologist with over 20 years of professional aquarium experience and an avid explorer having visited 38 countries and lived in 7. At 17, he was among the youngest aquarists ever hired by the Vancouver Aquarium, where he worked for 7 years. His aquarium experience ranges from larval fish rearing to the design, construction and operational management of several renowned public aquariums. Francis currently co-stars on Nat Geo WILD's reality TV series Fish Tank Kings where he is the resident "Fish Geek". Catch the Fish Tank Kings Season 2 Premier' on June 1st at 9pm on Nat Geo WILD.

Heidi is a Marine Biologist who has been working in the public aquarium industry as an aquarist and now as a consultant specialising in husbandry, interpretation and staff training. She has also written a series of children's books about the aquarium and fish world called "Abby's Aquarium Adventures".

Josh Saul is a consultant for Fortune 500 finance and banking companies. He has been involved in the aquarium hobby for 11 years and has been SCUBA diving for over 20.

Jared currently owns and operates Fluid Dynamics International, an ultra high end aquarium design firm based in NY.

Luiz Rocha is the curator of ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences. His research interests and experience are centered on the evolution, phylogeography (or the geographic distribution of genetic lineages), biogeography, systematics and community and behavioral ecology of coral reef fishes. He frequently tries to combine these fields, invoking ecology to help explain evolutionary patterns and using molecular tools to test biogeographic and systematic hypotheses. The overall objective of this interdisciplinary research is to test existing hypotheses (and propose new ones) about what generates and maintains the extremely high biodiversity in tropical coral reefs.

Vince is the managing-director of Manhattan Aquariums & Unique Corals.

Based out of Fort Worth, Texas, I've been a hobbyist for more than 13 years. I enjoy helping others via my two websites melevsreef.com & reefaddicts.com. These feature articles, pictures, podcasts, interviews and product reviews, as well as documentation of personal experience maintaining tanks ranging from 3g to 400g. I make a living selling RO/DI systems and acrylic wares (sumps, frag tanks, overflows, photoboxes), which permits me to enjoy the hobby more. I'm a member of DFWMAS and have served on the board of directors for seven years, doing what I can to encourage growth while keeping it fun. My articles have appeared in print & online, and I'm happy to be blogging on Reefs.com as well.

I'm an 18 year old with 26 years of experience. I live in the southeast corner of South Dakota with my wife, the 3 of 7 children who still live at home, two dogs and a whole bunch of fish. I've been keeping fish prisoner in glass boxes for 37 years.

Matt Pedersen has been a marine aquarist for 25 years, and an aquarist for 30. After spending time on every side of the aquarium industry (retail, commercial and private maintenance & installation, wholesale, hatchery), he currently considers himself a "professional hobbyist". Matt is well recognized as a marine fish breeder, having spawned 25 species of marine fish and reared 9 successfully to date, including the worldwide first rearing of the Harlequin Filefish, Oxymonacanthus longirostris in 2008. Matt has been involved with breeding organizations for years, currently sitting on the MBI (Marine Breeding Initiative) Council. He writes and edits for multiple aquarium publications and websites, and speaks around the US on the topics relating to marine fish propagation. In 2009, Matt was awarded "Aquarist of the Year" honors by both IMAC West and MASNA in recognition of his accomplishments and contributions to the marine aquarium hobby. Matt is a strong proponent of being a lifelong learner.

I hate to say it but I have been keeping fish from about 1954 or so. I Was drafted in 1969 and was in the Army until 1971 and when I returned back from Viet Nam I bought my first salt water fish started a tank, that tank is still running. I Did my first SCUBA dive in Sydney Australia while I was on R&R and became certified in about 1979. Most of my dives were for lobsters in NY waters with about a quarter of them in the tropics. I am also a boater and a Lisenced boat Captain. I made my living as a construction electrician foreman in Manhattan from which I recently retired.

Paul Whitby is originally from the UK, but now resides in Oklahoma USA. While in the UK, he received his Doctorate in the microbiology of fish diseases, specifically diseases of fish with high economic importance and has published several articles in this field as well as medical microbiology. Currently he is an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma where he specializes in the microbiology of pediatric infectious diseases. Paul is the current President of the Central Oklahoma Marine Aquarium Society (COMAS) and has had several articles published in Reefs Magazine, Reef Keeping magazine and Reefs.com and ReefBuilders. He has published several articles on COMAS, the development of a captive propagation program to conserve coral species, pests and parasites in marine aquaria as well as numerous reviews. In October 2007 his SPS dominated display tank was selected as Reef Keeping Magazine's Tank of the Month. Paul has presented several marine aquarium related seminars at local clubs and conferences including Oklahoma's CRASE, Reef Fest, ReefStock, NERAC, IMAC west and others. In association with his good friend Ed Brookshire, Paul owns Highdefcorals.com He has been keeping saltwater aquariums for over 22 years and has owned a variety of tanks ranging from under 30 to in excess of 600 gallons. His current system, including filtration, is over 1,000 gallons.

I'm a real Floridian from Ft Myers. I live in Coral Gables where I eat, sleep, and breathe corals. Well maybe not eat... ;] I love all creatures great and small, growing corals is my passion and writing about them is just fun. When I'm not online melting my brain I'm outside engaging in our beautiful world. You can see my frag babies at: www.Reefgardener.net

Ret Talbot is an award-winning writer and photojournalist with nearly 20 years of experience covering stories from some of the more remote corners of the globe. From the icy summits of the Andes to the reefs of Papua New Guinea, his assignments have taken him off the beaten track and put his readers face-to-face with stories of adventure, new ideas and innovative approaches to commonplace issues. A graduate of the prestigious writing programs at both Wheaton College and the University of St. Andrews, Talbot launched his career balancing work as a mountaineering and fly-fishing guide, freelance writer and English teacher. His articles appeared in publications such as Outdoor Sports, Rock & Ice, Fly Fisherman, Shallow Water Angler, and American Whitewater. While not in a river, on a glacier or at the head of a classroom, Talbot traveled extensively lecturing on his own expeditions to places like North Africa, Alaska, Norway, Ecuador, and Peru. Since 2007, Talbot has worked as a fulltime freelance writer and photographer, penning stories for magazines and working on book-length projects. His most recent work has focused on marine ecosystems and the myriad interactions between humans and those ecosystems. From the artisanal fisheries of Pacific Islanders to the heavily politicized commercial fisheries of Hawaii, Talbot has spent much of the last year interviewing fishermen, politicians, scientists, environmentalists, and other fisheries stakeholders about the concept of sustainability. Talbot frequently reports on the marine aquarium trade, and his articles can be found in a variety of trade publications. His aquarium-related books include The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saltwater Aquariums (September 2009) and Coral (forthcoming). He is a senior editor at CORAL Magazine, where he is currently working on a multi-year series of articles focused on sustainability and marine aquarium fisheries. Reporting from places as disparate as remote island nations across the Indo-Pacific and the massive import and wholesale facilities at Los Angeles International Airport, Talbot's series of articles in CORAL have established the marine aquarium fishery as a microcosm for the complexities of international trade, socio-economic development and environmental conservation. Ret and his wife Karen, an artist known for her fish paintings, split their time between Laguna Beach, California and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

I am from Portugal (EU). I am a medical doctor and I also run the European reef blog H2O + Something. I´ve been a hobbyist for the past 15 years. I´ve started with freshwater aquariums - planted aquariums and African cichlids - and I´ve been doing reefkeeping since 2004.

Richard lives in Yorkshire, England where he works as a freelance writer and photographer. Richard edits UltraMarine Magazine, the UK's premier magazine for marine aquarists and writes for several magazines on topics as diverse as scuba diving, travel and wildlife.

Robert, who comically refers to himself as a "budding biologist" is currently an undergraduate at Cornell University.

Shane has been keeping saltwater tanks for the last 11 years, is a research scientist, lives in northern Indiana. He also regularly blogs at Advanced Aquarist.

Marcin Smok is a reefer and aspiring photographer. He has been keeping freshwater fish tanks since he was 9. About three years ago he put his snorkeling mask on in Florida Keys and that's how his journey with saltwater side of the hobby started. He is also a SCUBA diver. You can check his photography site at www.photoreef.com

Tal got back into the hobby in 2006 after a long break. After hearing Dr. Frank Marini speak at the Midwest Marine Conference in 2008 he was hooked on fish breeding . Since then he has created his own website with his personal captive breeding information and helped create the Marine Breeding Initiative. It is Tal's hope to promote captive breeding as much as possible by speaking and writing about the topic.

I come from the far off land of Salt Lake City, Utah where I works as a technology marketer. I am a relatively new saltwater hobbyist having only maintained reef tanks for just over three years. I am also a technology geek at heart. However, in that short time I have gravitated toward the technology side of reefkeeping with my involvement in aquarium controllers and automation. My family and I currently maintain a 210g SPS-heavy mixed reef, and a 135g frag tank in my garage — both controlled by a single Apex Aquacontroller. In March of 2010 I co-founded the Utah Marine Aquarium Society (www.utmas.com), a club of reefkeeping enthusiasts. I am extremely passionate about the hobby and even more passionate about helping others enjoy it and, most importantly, to stick with it. I speak nationwide on the topic of marine aquarium automation and have recently spoken at MACNA 2011, Reef-a-Palooza, and MAX. I am also is a technology patent holder and have a background in computer technology that spans over 20 years. I have BS in Computer Science from California State University Northridge.

Richard Ross currently works as an Aquatic Biologist at the Steinhart Aquarium in the California Academy of Sciences, maintaining many exhibits including the 212,000 gallon Philippine Coral Reef. He has kept saltwater animals for over 25 years, and has worked in aquarium maintenance, retail, wholesale and has consulted for a coral farm/fish collecting station in the South Pacific. Richard enjoys all aspects of the aquarium hobby and is a regular author for trade publications, a frequent speaker at aquarium conferences and was a founder of one of the largest and most progressive reef clubs in Northern California, Bay Area Reefers. He is an avid underwater videographer and has been fortunate to scuba dive in a lot of places around the world. At home he maintains a 300 gallon reef system and a 250 gallon cephalopod/fish breeding system, and was one of the first people to close the life cycle of Sepia bandensis. When not doing all that stuff, he enjoys spending time with his patient wife, his incredible daughter and their menagerie of animals, both wet and dry.