Todd Gardner was spawned and reared in Centerport, New York, where his aquarium-keeping habit, which started around age 6, was encouraged by his parents and an abundance of local marine life. Within a short time, Todd's fish room had reached such proportions that his 4th grade class took a field trip to see it. Not to be hindered by the high price of the hobby, Todd survived on donations of used aquarium supplies from friends and neighbors, and collected all his own specimens. Every family vacation and trip to the beach turned into a collecting expedition for him, with nets, traps, buckets, coolers and portable aerators.

In 1988, Todd began attending East Stroudsburg University where he founded the ESU Marine Science Club. This gave him a great excuse to mount more serious collecting expeditions with like-minded students, which helped keep the ESU aquarium room well stocked with an array of marine life. In 1991, while working as an intern at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Todd became acquainted with the techniques of algae and rotifer culture, two skills that would open up a whole new world to him.

In 1993 he graduated from East Stroudsburg University with a bachelor's degree in biology and marine science. After graduation he spent a year working for Blue Earth Films, assisting in the production of a National Geographic Explorer feature film about coastal marine life. His job was to collect and maintain as many interesting creatures as possible, for filming in aquaria. It was in those tanks that Todd experienced his first successes in the spawning and rearing of marine fish. He found fish culture to be so addictive, and such a worthy cause, that he felt he had little choice but to devote his life to it.

Todd spent the next 3 years working for Bill Addison at C-quest, the world's largest marine ornamental fish hatchery, where he worked on developing technology for the production of new marine species. His most important contribution was the development of a technique for commercial scale production of the Pseudochromids (dottybacks), allowing for the first widespread availability of several species including Pseudochromis fridmani, P. aldabrensis, P. flavivertex, and P. springeri.

In September 1998, Todd decided it was time to get more serious about aquaculture research, and with much regret, left C-quest behind to pursue a master's degree in biology at New York's Hofstra University. Studying under Dr. Eugene Kaplan, Todd has recently completed the research portion of his Master's thesis on the early nutrition of the lined seahorse, Hippocampus erectus.

Todd is currently putting the finishing touches on his Master's thesis while working full-time, as an aquarist and researcher at Atlantis Marine World, a small but impressive public aquarium on the east end of Long Island, New York.

ABSTRACT: The copepod/Artemia tradeoff in the captive culture of Hippocampus erectus, a vulnerable species of seahorse in New York State

More than 20 million seahorses are traded worldwide each year and there is every indication that seahorse consumption is on the rise. Although the vast majority of seahorse landings are destined for use in Chinese traditional medicine and shell shops, substantial numbers are also taken for the aquarium trade. Seahorses' low fecundity, monogamous mating behavior, and limited species ranges place them in a precarious ecological position. The sustainability of this fishery has not been determined, but it is likely being exceeded for many species (Vincent, 1996). Seventeen species of seahorse, including Hippocampus erectus, are listed as vulnerable by the World Conservation Union (IUCN, 2000). New York populations of H. erectus, facing massive habitat loss, pollution, and unregulated collection (pers. comm., J.A. Olin), may be particularly vulnerable.

Aquaculture may prove to be an important conservation measure for seahorses. Although seahorses have been spawned and reared in captivity for many years, a simple, effective, and reliable culture protocol is yet to be developed (Forteath, 1996; Scarratt, 1995; Vincent, 1996). Development of cost-effective production techniques has been slowed by several bottlenecks. One of these is early diet (Lunn and Hall, 1998). In preliminary experiments, it was determined that higher survival could be achieved by rearing H. erectus on wild copepods rather than on Artemia nauplii. Payne and Rippingale (2000) achieved similar results rearing the West Australian seahorse, H. subelongatus. Because the collection and sorting of wild copepods is labor-intensive, their use in seahorse culture increases production costs. Additionally, parasites and fouling organisms can be introduced to rearing tanks along with wild plankton. Considering the well-established importance of copepods as an early food for seahorses, and the costs associated with obtaining them, it would be useful to know the minimum number of days of copepod feeding necessary to achieve a reasonable rate of seahorse survival.

At the Hofstra University Aquaculture Laboratory, an effort is underway to solve some of the problems preventing efficient seahorse culture. In each of the five replicates of this experiment, juvenile H. erectus will be offered wild copepods for 0-5 days before being switched to a diet of enriched Artemia franciscanis. Random samples of seahorses from each treatment will be removed and measured, weekly. After 28 days, all seahorses will be counted and measured. Average growth and survival will be determined for each feeding regime. Costs associated with providing copepods versus enriched Artemia nauplii will be determined and discussed.