The Fishman

My name is Kerry Kardell and I am “The Fishman”. My love for aquariums and their inhabitants started over three decades ago when my father purchased for me my first aquarium from my local fish store. I was hooked “pardon the pun” and from then on no weekend was complete until we had made a trip to the local aquarium store to check things out.

As a matter of fact, I frequented it so much that in 1982 they gave me a job. Now being that I was very young, my day consisted mostly of learning about everything, but my interest was mostly in keeping saltwater systems, “which at the time were still pretty archaic, with regular use of undergravel and external hanging systems”. The rest of my day was spent doing grunt work, like bagging natural gravel in five and ten pound bags, and cleaning feeder flats and corner filters, “30 to be exact,” on a daily basis. But for me, as a young man, working in that environment was essential in setting the ground work for a life long career.