Steven Pro

Steven has been keeping freshwater aquariums for as long as he can remember, but did not start with saltwater fish until 1993 during his junior year of college. Upon returning from school, he 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 he gained a tremendous resource of information and inspiration.

Steven Pro is currently the proprietor of Pro Aquatic Services Company, an aquarium sales and maintenance business in Pennsylvania. He has long been active in the retail and hobby sides of the ornamental aquatics industry. He has 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. Steven is 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 his name before if you ever visit the aquatic information website  www.WetWebMedia.com , as he previously answered some of the emailed daily questions along with friends Anthony Calfo and site host Robert Fenner. Eventually, the demands of family and business became too great, and he had to "retire" from the WetWebMedia crew, but he is still active on its message board.

Steven currently maintains a 120-gallon reef tank, 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. His 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  www.pmas.org/pro . There is a good deal of husbandry information located there and should provide insight into his aquarium keeping philosophy

ABSTRACT:

"Your Future in Reef Keeping: Working in the Ornamental Marine Industry"

A lot of hobbyists have a dream of one day turning the hobby that they love so much into their new career.  While that kind of occupational change can be very rewarding, it is also full of peril.  For every person I know that has successfully made the transition, I know as many that have lost substantial amounts of money and in many instances got so burned that they have now quit the hobby all together. In this presentation, I will attempt to help attendees steer clear of these pitfalls, make good choices about potential occupations changes, and hopefully teach you how to make some money.

While I intend to cover all aspects of the industry from collection to retail sales, a smart person knows what they know and more importantly what they don't know. So, while I will talk briefly about all facets, I will concentrate on the areas I have personally worked in. Likely, those also happen to be the most likely areas for most hobbyists to make it into the industry. I mean, how many of us are really going to move to Indonesia to become a collector?