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To Be Determined
Biography:
Cory McElroy has been passionate about the freshwater aquarium hobby since he first saw a friend’s display tank back in the early 2000’s. After years of working and managing a fish store in his area, Cory decided to go out on his own and established Aquarium Co-Op in 2012. His focus from the very beginning was to better the aquarium hobby, and he set out to do this by supporting local breeders, providing high quality fish and plants to his customers, and focusing on educating newer fish keepers. He soon took to social media to continue educating others by creating videos on YouTube, sharing his passion for the hobby while explaining things in an easy-to-understand style that resonated with millions of viewers. During this time, Cory focused on growing the business by adding online sales and developing or improving upon products that he felt the market needed. While Aquarium Co-Op has grown significantly over the past several years, with over 200 fish stores across the country carrying their products, Cory always stayed rooted in his passion for fish keeping and educating and entertaining others.
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Shelby Kaye, Brand Specialist at Pisces USA and Co-Operator of The Garden Of Eder, has always held an interest in the outdoors and all aquatic life.
Led by that interest, Shelby has kept a variety of aquatic animals for 25+ years including many large Oscars or cichlids but is more well known for her nano fish and invertebrates. She enjoys collecting all over Florida and making fun videos of Biotopes, gathering knowledge of diverse habitats, and exploring the species of Florida native fishes. She goes on collecting trips at least every month with Grant Eder and their children to educate them on the natives and how to preserve nature. Some of that nature can be found emulated in her many aquascapes – some thrown together along the adventure and some created later at various aquatics conventions. Back at home, The Garden of Eder boasts 438+ tanks filled to the brim with freshwater shrimp and other live goods.
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Rick Borstein is the Webmaster of the Greater Chicago Cichlid Association (GCCA) and President of the Chicago Livebearer Society (CLS). Rick was the Chairman of the successful 2006
American Cichlid Association Convention held in Chicago, IL. Rick has spawned over 250 species of cichlids and is one of only sixteen people to hold the title of Master Breeder in the GCCA. Rick’s basement fishroom has 42 tanks ranging in size from 10 gallons to 240 gallons. Rick is primarily interested in cichlids and livebearers.
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Zenzo Tazawa began keeping fish at a young age after falling in love with the aquarium exhibits that he saw when visiting the public aquarium in San Francisco. About 24 years ago, he became more serious about the aquarium hobby, and started keeping multiple aquariums in his home. Around the same time, he also discovered his love for African cichlids, which he would breed, sell and trade.Several years later, Zenzo learned that there was a need for service providers in his area, and started an aquarium service business to help others and to provide a supplemental income. During these years he also continued to breed and sell fish to his local aquarium stores. In 2017 while in the Seattle area on business, Zenzo met Cory McElroy, founder of Aquarium Co-Op. Cory gave him several suggestions on how to improve his YouTube channel, which Zenzo followed, allowing him to successfully grow his educational aquarium channel. In 2021, Cory offered Zenzo the opportunity to join the Aquarium Co-Op team. Zenzo realized that this was his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to blend his passion for the aquarium hobby with his business experience, and happily joined the company. Zenzo is now the Director of Company Culture & Teams for Aquarium Co-Op.
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Jason Den Haese has a strong and diverse research background acquired from experience in industry, clinical, and academic settings. He has served as the director of gene cloning and research at IMMCO Diagnostics Company where he used his training in molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, and biochemistry to produce two new products for diagnosing autoimmune disease in patients in just under three years. In a clinical research setting, he spent 13 years working at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (RPCCC), focusing on cancer prevention and leukemia. In the academic setting, he began teaching at D’Youville University (DYU) in the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in 2009. For the next decade until 2018, he worked in two full-time positions, one at RPCCC and the other at DYU.
In 2020, Jason started his own research program at D’Youville University working with fish from the armored catfish families; Loricariidae and Callichthyidae. The natural habitat of these fish is the Amazon River Basin of South America. He maintains over 90 tanks in his fish research lab. Jason’s research focuses on the breeding, growth, and survival of armored catfish fry. To date, he has spawned and produced fry from 30 different species spanning nine different genera from Loricariidae and seven different species spanning three different genera from Callichthyidae.
In addition to this research, he is also interested in fish conservation. Jason’s conservation work focuses on establishing captive breeding groups of wild fish that have been listed as vulnerable (VU), endangered (EN) or critically endangered (CR) on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list of threatened species. Species with these designations could become extinct in the wild. He has established breeding groups for Hypancistrus zebra (CR), Peckoltia compta (EN), and Leporacanthicus joselimai (VU). If, or rather, when these species on the IUCN red list become extinct in the wild, fry from his captive breeding groups can be made available to both scientists and hobbyists.
Jason’s passion for this research is only rivaled by his passion for teaching, service to others, and devotion to my family. He strongly believes in giving back to those in need and is actively involved in volunteering at both DYU and the greater community. When Jason is not at DYU, he spends time with his wife Charlene, and his seven children, Erick (31), Jason Jr. (29), Summer (28), Chloe (25), Luke (21), Blake (18) and Brody (16).
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