Richard Ross currently works as an Aquatic Biologist at the Steinhart Aquarium in the California Academy of Sciences, maintaining many exhibits including the 212,000 gallon Phipipine Coral Reef. He has kept saltwater animals for over 25 years, and has worked in aquarium maintenance, retail, wholesale and has consulted for a coral farm/fish collecting station in the South Pacific. Richard enjoys  all aspects of the aquarium hobby and is a regular author for trade publications, a frequent speaker at  aquarium conferences  and was a founder of one of the largest and most progressive reef clubs in Northern California – Bay Area Reefers. He is an avid underwater videographer and has been fortunate to scuba dive all over the world. At home he maintains a 300 gallon reef system and a 250 gallon cephalopod/fish breeding system, and was one of the first people to close the life cycle of Sepia bandensis. When not doing all that stuff, he enjoys spending time with his patient wife, his incredible daughter and their menagerie of animals, both wet and dry.

In 2008 Richard landed his dream as an aquatic biologist at the Steinhart Aquarium in the California Academy of Sciences, just in time for the migration from its temporary home to its completely rebuilt, state of the art facility in Golden Gate park which houses, among other cutting edge exhibits, a 212,000 gallon reef aquarium. This talk will discuss not only the huge reef tank project from conception to ‘completion’, but also Richard’s transition from being mostly a hobbyist (and stay at home dad) to full time aquarist at a major public aquarium.