David Francis

David Francis Quick Facts

Main Areas: Pet Supply Industry Retailer
Best Sellers: Hagen, API, Current USA, Coralife, Red Sea
Career Focus: Diversity of Online Retail Growth
Affiliation: Orange County Aquarium Supplies - www.ocreef.com

About the founder: At the early age of four, David, founder OCReef Aquatics, built his first freshwater aquarium - from a glass jar, and stocked it with aquatic life from a local neighborhood pond. While others were busy with recreational activities in the park that day, David was mesmerized by the aquatic animals he saw swimming and lurking at the waters edge. He caught Minnows, Snails, Aquatic Plants and water beetles from a pond in City Park, in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. Without any real knowledge, David was able to keep the fish alive for several days, not knowingly creating his first ecosystem. This began is undying interest in fish and the inner workings of marine ecology.

After a couple of years of seeing his genuine intrigue, David's father finally bought him a small fifteen-gallon fish tank. By the age of eight, along with his growing interest, he upgraded to a forty-gallon tank filled with African Cichlids (the more colorful of freshwater fish).

By age twelve, David had acquired about ten tanks in an assortment of sizes, with fish and invertebrates from nearby Biloxi Beach (Gulf Of Mexico) that could rival even the most eccentric of saltwater fish collectors. If he had listened to his mother, he could've begun financing his hobby then, by charging a small fee to the curious friends and neighbors who came by for a glimpse of the tanks in his bedroom, and breeding tanks in the garage.

Over the next six years, David's colony of fish grew tenfold. He began giving fish away to friends, to spark their interest in marine life, and sold specimens from his overcrowded tanks to local pet stores. He studied various books and journals on marine ecosystems and the biology of fish, and continued building his reputation as an amateur aquatic authority.

After High School, David's experience and love of marine animals influenced him to take up studies in Marine Biology. Throughout college, he studied Microbiology with an emphasis on Marine Life, as well as numerous other sciences. He continued to advance in his hobby, by building a dozen or more saltwater ecosystems all utilizing Microbes as the major source of his filtration method. In a sense, he lived and breathed in the ocean realm. With a desire to share his knowledge and talent, he began his first business, designing and maintaining aquariums for others. He states, "their is nothing more rewarding than educating, and working with people first hand, over being a scientist stuck in a lab all day"!

David and his OCReef team now have over twenty-five years of hands-on experience and knowledge in the ecology of aquariums. Beyond the traditional, with his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and new discoveries, he has successfully tested and sustained environments that have been uncharted territories for hobbyists, for decades.

David has learned what methods and products are tried and true, and has developed a unique approach and talent for creating and maintaining stable and visually appealing systems. Yet he's the first to admit he doesn't know it all. With constant advancements in technology and science, new and wondrous discoveries are emerging at an accelerated rate, from our deep and mysterious, ages-old oceans. There will always be something new, amazing, and exciting to learn about. It's a hobby one can never outgrow, or grow tired of.

As a young hobbyist, David got hooked, in an ever-changing, life-changing way. In turn, it has inspired in him, and in the OCReef.com Team, a commitment to serve Aquatics Hobbyists with excellence, and to support and foster interest in and appreciation for aquatic life and preservation of our world's oceans.

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