I received a very special package this morning. It was one of those deliveries that causes you to stop what you’re doing and reflect on all that’s good in your life. As I eagerly ripped the box open with all the anticipation of a person who can never remember what they last ordered on Amazon, I racked my brain and went over my mental checklist: crested gecko diet? Pistachio flour? Bulkhead fittings? Nope. I wasn’t expecting anything. With the help of a kitchen knife, I cut through some key pieces of tape and got my first look into the box. I could see four thin blocks of wood. There was also an envelope with my name on it. I removed the contents and discovered that the blocks of wood were coasters with exquisite, but familiar images etched into them. I’m not sure which I recognized first, the species or the artist. Only a few feet from where I was standing, a painting by Jason Langer (ThatFishCookieGuy) hung from the wall. There was no mistaking his style. The species were four fishes that had become fixtures in my life: The black cap basslet, Cuban basslet, fairy basslet, and flathead perch. They are also four of the most important species being produced at Biota NC/Carteret Community College.  Next, I opened the envelope. I wasn’t sure what I had done to deserve this gift, but I assumed it was from Jason and perhaps had something to do with the fact that I would (hopefully) be seeing him this weekend at Reef Retreat. The card had three spectacular yellow tangs printed on the front. I opened it and to my surprise, it was not from Jason, but from James and Zip Gorke, two of my former students who also happen to work at Biota’s hatchery in Hawaii. They had commissioned Jason to make the coasters and got the beautiful tang card from Elain Chang at Lazycoffeedesign.

If you’ve read my past posts here, you know how much I value the artwork of my fishy friends. My house is decorated almost exclusively with paintings, drawings, and photos of some of my favorite people in the world of marine biology and aquarium keeping, including Chris Paparo, Karen Talbot, Jason Langer, Frank Baensch, and Nori Vossen.  But the overwhelming sense of gratitude I’m feeling today is about much more than some awesome new artwork. It’s about the sense of pride I get reflecting on my last six years with The Biota Group. In the early days of trying to establish a hatchery in North Carolina and forge a partnership between Biota and Carteret Community College, it felt like this might never come together. I felt the need to over promise our potential output and it didn’t take an accountant to see that our production during the first year wasn’t covering our costs. Also, there seemed to be a cool detachment between the people at the various facilities. The difficulty in communicating and coordinating meetings across all those time zones was confounded by a sense of doom regarding our future, as well as systemic barriers to direct communication.  When I think of the stark contrast between those sleepless nights and life at Biota in 2025, it’s hard to believe that this is the same organization. Today, The Biota Group feels like a family. The 29 employees spread across North America and the Pacific Ocean communicate daily through multiple platforms. Among them are former students, fellow fish culturists who I’ve never met in person, but have been speaking with for years, and our social media manager, my close friend Felicia McCaulley, who I first met in a fish wholesale warehouse in New Jersey around 25 years ago. Our conversations run the gamut, from shipping details and hatchery troubleshooting to industry gossip and weather. Sometimes we even complain about our boss (Just kidding Manu. No one would ever complain about you). Often, we use our shipments of livestock and supplies between facilities as an excuse to send each other little surprises. Sometimes fresh baked cookies or a slice of Norwegian gold cake find their way into a box of fish heading to Florida. And our Florida crew often sends us samples of our latest merch and, if we’re lucky, some cool fish from one of the other hatcheries to subsidize our personal aquaria. Yes, we all go home from a day of aquarium maintenance to continue feeding and cleaning tanks. And I guess that shared obsession is a big part of what binds us all. I love this family!