Did you mean aquarist?
Many people question why I would use a difficult-to-sound-or-pronounce word in the name of my company SR Aquaristik.
Like many of you, I started out as a young child smuggling as many aquariums into the bedroom of my family home as I could get away with. My mother often asking me, “did you put another aquarium in this room!” My response was always the same, "no, I’ve always had this many aquariums."
When I became old enough to work I decided that I was going to try and get hired by the local aquarium store, Big Al’s Aquarium Services in Mississauga, Canada. I met with the fish room manager and unfortunately he didn’t have any openings, but liked my attitude and sent me to another store for an additional interview. The owner of the store asked me what I wanted to do. My dream was to set up planted and reef aquariums to show customers the incredible beauty of this hobby! He let me do exactly what I wanted, I was hooked! After working at the store part-time for several months, I was approached by a now good friend Klaus Reimuller from Sera Germany. He asked me if I would be interested in becoming a salesperson for Sera, wasn’t really sure if this was the career path I wanted to take with my life. But the temptation of doing something that I loved and sharing that with others seemed like the right thing to do. After working for Sera for eight years, I decided it was time for a change and approached Rolf C. Hagen to see if there was a possibility for me to join the team. I had the honor of meeting with Rolf C. Hagen, the owner and founder of the Hagen company. What an amazing human!
They really didn’t have a position for me at the time but wanted me to join the team. Mr. Hagen said that I would be the Aquaristik Product Manager. What an honor to work with such great people at such a wonderful company. To this day I can not say enough good things about the Hagen company and family! I was able to travel with Mr. Horst Hagen developing products for almost 10 years - the best education anyone could ever ask for! After almost 10 years I decided it was time to make another change and move to the United States. I was offered a position with Aquascape Inc. in Chicago, and I had the chance to again work with some great people including Mr. Greg Wittstock, the owner and founder of Aquascape. I was able to help with the development of new and exciting products and marketing collateral for the company. Working primarily on pond products, I missed working in the Aquarium hobby that I love so much. That’s when I decided to start a small aquarium company, leveraging what I have learned over the last 30+ years.
One of the people that I respected most, the person that gave me a chance and believed in me, even though they didn’t have an opening or position for me, gave me the title Aquaristik Product Manager, that day being such an important part of my life, I decided to call my company SR Aquaristik. It’s hard to say, it certainly does not roll off the tongue as easy as it should. But it is an important part of my life and I hope it pays homage to one man who truly gave me the opportunity to grow in this industry.
Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading!
Best regards,
Scott Rhodes / SR Aquaristik