Chat Week 2003 - Meet Julian Sprung, Martin Moe, Kevin Kohen, TomLang, more...

AquariumHobbyist, part of the PetHobbyist Community, is proud
to announce its Chat Week 2003 Online Aquaria Chat Symposium.
Chat week allows our users the opportunity to chat with noted
authors and researchers in a live format.

For the latest chat schedule and information on how to
participate please visit our web site at
http://aquariumhobbyist.com

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2003 AquariumHobbyist Chat Week Schedule

Mark O'Shea
From Animal Planet's "Mark O'Shea's Big Adventure"
Monday, December 8, at 8 PM Eastern, in kingsnake.com's MainRoom
This chat is being co-presented with kingsnake.com.
Come take a wild ride with Mark O'Shea! He's travelled to some of the
world's most exotic locations, encountering some of the planet's
deadliest and most fascinating animals. From Arkansas to Argentina,
India to Indonesia, and New Guinea to New Caledonia, Mark has come face
to fang with king cobras, beaked seasnakes and silent rattlesnakes. He’s
got up close and personal with snapping turtles, snappy gators and
cryptic crocs. And he’s rubbed snouts with Komodo dragons, giant geckos,
and skinks with an “extraterrestrial” twist.

Martin A. Moe, Jr
Author, The Marine Aquarium Handbook, The Marine Aquarium Reference, and
numerous other titles
Monday, December 8, at 9 PM Eastern in Fish & Marine Life Chat
Martin Moe has a masters degree in marine biology, and has worked as
lifeguard, a teacher, a fishery biologist, a marine fish breeder, and a
writer. He began breeding marine fish, pompano, in 1969 and then
developed the techniques for breeding clownfish in 1972. He started
Aqualife Research in 1973 with clownfish and goby culture and then moved
the company to the Florida Keys in 1975. There, the company continued to
breed clownfish and other species, but concentrated on developing a
method for breeding the large Atlantic angelfish, the French and the
gray. This effort was biologically but not economically successful. The
company moved to Walker's Cay in the Bahamas in the mid 1980s and
concentrated on commercial clownfish culture. Martin became a bit
"burned out" with running a fish hatchery and in the late 80s, and
turned to writing and publishing books with his wife Barbara. Barbara
was very good for Martin. They met in 1959 over a cup of coffee; she
married him, put him through school, had three kids, edited and
published their books, and generally kept the whole show on the road.

Martin wrote The Marine Aquarium Handbook, first edition published in
1982, which was very influential in the development of the marine
aquarium hobby. The Marine Aquarium Reference followed in 1989 and since
then he and Barbara have published a comprehensive book on spiny
lobsters, Lobsters: Florida, Bahamas, and the Caribbean, a book on
Breeding the Orchid Dottyback, and The Marine Aquarists' Quiz Book. The
new edition of the Reference will update everything in the previous
editions and include much more basic data and information on captive
marine systems. Martin and Barbara now live in old house on the beach in
Islamorada in the Florida Keys. The last three years have been a
whirlwind of moving, working on the old house, trying to write, and of
course, working with marine life and the fragile coral reef environment
of the Florida Keys. A current project is working with the Florida Keys
National Marine Sanctuary to restore the keystone herbivore, the long
spined sea urchin, Diadema antillarum, to the reefs of the Keys.

Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
Deputy Director of the Australian Venom Research Unit
Wednesday, December 10, at 8 PM ET in Kingsnake.com Main
This chat is being co-presented with kingsnake.com.
Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry is the Deputy Director of the Australian Venom
Research Unit. He says, "I use my work in the field to continue a unique
blend of science that focuses on advancing evolutionary theory through
venomous animal wrangling skills, innovative science and unique
specimens." He and wife Alexia "operate as a team of mutual adventurers
driven by our curiousity for the natural world and how it all comes
together." In addition to his work with terrestrial venomous snakes, Dr.
Fry has also works with venomous marine species including sea snakes
(from one of which he received a bite that led to months of painful
rehabilitation), the Blue Ring Octopus, cone snails, and the poisonous
crown-of-thorns starfish.

His sea snake research combines two of his favorite passions, venomous
animals and doing ultra-deep scuba dives. Says Fry, "This research has
been funded by the Australia & Pacific Science Foundation. One of the
things we have discovered is a remarkable streamlining that the sea
snake venoms underwent upon the colonisation of the ocean. Even more
intriguing is the independent, parallel occurance in both the true sea
snakes (Acalyptophis, Enhydrina,Hydrophis, etc. genera in the Elapidae
snake family) as well as the sea kraits (Laticauda genus in the Elapidae
snake family)."

Julian Sprung
Two Little Fishies, Inc.
Thursday, December 11, at 8 PM ET in Fish and Marine Chat
Julian Sprung is an author, photographer, aquarium design consultant and
lecturer on marine aquariums, coral husbandry, and coral reef biology.
Julian has a bachelor of science degree in zoology from the University
of Florida, and has been keeping marine aquariums for over 30 years.
Julian also is a co-founder and the Vice President of Two Little
Fishies, Inc., an aquarium industry manufacturer and publisher.

Julian writes the column "Reef Notes" in Freshwater and Marine magazine,
and has authored numerous articles in other publications such as
Seascope, Aquarium Frontiers (which he co-founded with Daniel Ramirez
and Terry Siegel), Advanced Aquarist Online, Aquarium Fish Monthly,
Marine Fish and Reef USA, and Tropical Fish Hobbyist. His articles have
also appeared in aquarium hobby magazines in Japan, France, Germany,
Italy, and England. Julian wrote and narrated the video entitled "An
introduction to the Hobby of Reef Keeping," the first product of his
collaboration with Daniel Ramirez, which resulted in the formation of
Two Little Fishies, Inc.

Julian's books are a continuation of this collaboration and include The
Reef Aquarium, Volume One and The Reef Aquarium Volume Two, which he
co-authored with J. Charles Delbeek, Reef Notes Revisited and Revised
(volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4) that feature his monthly question and answer
columns with his own follow-up revisions, Corals: A Quick Reference
Guide, featuring hard and soft corals from around the world with
approximately 700 photographs by the author, Invertebrates: A Quick
Reference Guide, and Algae: A Problem Solver Guide.

Kevin Kohen
LiveAquaria.com
Thursday, December 11, at 9 PM Eastern in Fish & Marine Life Chat
As a lifelong hobbyist/enthusiast with a Bachelor of Science degree from
Wright State University, Kevin has extensive knowledge of and
wide-ranging experience in the aquarium industry.

Professionally, Kevin has helped pioneer important research studies in
water chemistry management, filtration technologies, fish diseases, and
acclimation techniques to safeguard the health of a wide range of
aquatic species. He also was influential in the research and development
of specialized shipping techniques that are now used by most
distributors and exporters in the nation to ensure the health of aquatic
life during transit.

As a hobbyist/enthusiast, Kevin has bred and reared nearly 100 species
of fresh and sal****er fish, and in 1981 was one of the earliest
pioneers in maintaining live corals in captivity. He has received the
Sal****er Aquarium of the Year and Reef Aquarium of the Year awards from
the Greater Dayton Aquarium Society. With membership in both the
American Cichlid Association (ACA) and Marine Aquarium Societies of
North America (MASNA), Kevin has a special interest in SPS coral
propagation, performing research on advanced filtration techniques, and
writing articles to help fish and coral owners build successful aquariums.

Dennis Gallagher
"The International Marine Aquarium Conference (IMAC) and What You Could
Get Out of It"
Friday, December 12, at 9 PM Eastern in Fish & Marine Life Chat
Dennis received a B.S. in Physics from the University of Arizona, where
he also did graduate work in Astronomy. He has been the Director of the
planetariums in Ft. Worth, TX and Winnipeg, Canada, before starting his
own TV production company, Galaxy Productions Ltd. He partly paid for
college by breeding and selling killifish and angelfishes and he set up
his first reef tank in 1990. Dennis invented a unique wavemaker which he
sold under Marine Laboratories. He was Conference Coordinator for MACNA
IX and was heavily involved in the planning of MACNA XII and XIII. He is
the founder and Conference Chairman of the International Marine Aquarium
Conference (IMAC).

Tom Lang
Executive Director of Aquarius Aquarium Institute and President of The
Breeders Registry
Date and Time TBA in Fish and Marine Chat
Tom Lang is the executive director of the Aquarius Aquarium Institute,
seeking to build a public aquarium overlooking the San Joaquin River in
California's Central Valley. The facility will feature a 2 million
gallon Oceanarium as its centerpiece exhibit. He is also the
President/CEO of the Breeder's Registry, which is dedicated to
collecting and redistributing information about propagating marine
organisms. According to Lang, "Most of the marine organisms kept in
aquaria are not of commercial food fish interest. Much of what is known
and to be learned about reproductive behaviors and culturing techniques
for these marine species, especially the 'ornamental species,' is and
will be, by the 'amateur' aquarist."

Lang and his wife Aletha also own Aquarius Aquarium. Their company
provides aquatic system design and consultation services and maintains
aquariums for clients throughout Central California.

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