Bob Goemans' Biography

With many decades in both the freshwater and marine aquarium hobbies, I often look back and think about some of the changes I've seen. As for my beginnings in the hobby, they are still very clear in my mind. - I was born and raised in Queens, New York and the early post World War II years were very difficult for our family. Yet, I maintained a freshwater 10-gallon glass aquarium with a slate bottom and metal frame. I gathered live foods such as daphnia and mosquito larvae from local ponds, even if I had to walk 10 miles with pail in-hand to feed my guppies. During some of my elementary school summer recesses was sent either to my grandparent's farm in New Jersey or my aunt's tavern at Rockaway Beach, New York. At my grandparent's potato farm, I cared for their vegetable garden and fed the chickens and pigs. At my aunt's tavern I sometimes swept the dance floor in the mornings, but actually spent most of my time at the beach, which was only a hundred yards away, and where I became an excellent swimmer. Those summer away 'vacations' certainly helped the meager food budget for the rest of our family. And while away my mother fed the guppies dry food. I think my guppies were actually happy to see me return. And I must say, I learned respect for nature at an early age, and also that farmers had a hard life and how important they were to the rest of the population.

At this early age I joined an aquarium society in Jamaica, New York, and at their monthly meetings my questions always centered on natural looking aquariums and how to improve water quality. The answers, in the late forties were always water changes and to maintain a good growth of live plants. Actually, still good advice these days! At one society meeting a guest speaker who had just come from Europe showed a new device that could draw water through bottom gravel. He felt it would result in a healthier aquarium and the item was called the 'French Invisible Filter.' It was made by a gentleman named 'French' and 'Invisible' because its porous tube-like body would be buried in the substrate with only its clear chamber-like portion containing an airstone remaining above the substrate surface. The speaker said this was the first showing of this item in the United States and he thought it might prove to be a major improvement in aquarium keeping. How right he was!

The gentleman had only two such devices with him and was kind enough to offer one for the night's auction before returning to Europe. I was the only bidder and purchased the item for twenty-five cents. That was big money for me in those days, as I can remember a newspaper costing two cents! This was the first 'undergravel filter' (UGF) ever offered/seen in the United States! The following day, it was placed in my aquarium within a few inches of the front glass and connected to an air pump. Within a month's time the dark line of waste matter just below the gravel's surface became much less visible. In those days all I knew was that waste products were being removed somehow and my aquarium looked cleaner. It appeared I had a healthier environment for my fishes. At a following meeting I was asked to come up on the front stage and then questioned if I thought the filter was working as discussed in the previous meeting. Explained what changes I had seen, but was laughed at by many of the attending 'experts.' Over the next few decades, the UGF became a standard accessory and saw many physical changes.

During the next 60 + years, whether in the USA or the Far East, I have maintained aquariums of different sizes and complexity, and collected specimens for many of them from the South China Sea to the Caribbean.

As for one of those collected specimens from Mexico, Turbo fluctuosus, when I found this snail doing such a good job of controlling unwanted algae in one of my aquariums in the mid 1980's, mentioned this to a local hobbyist who also had algae problems in one of his aquariums. When he also had great success with them, the thought of selling them to other hobbyists arose, and that is how hobbyist accessibility to these snails began. From there, the use of snails in aquaria blossomed, and now includes many other useful species. And, should note, the common name of 'Turbo-Grazer' was given to them by a young child in our family!

Overall, my writings went from general chatter written for a local aquarium society newsletter (late 70's) to those in major aquarium magazines. - In the 80's and 90's, I wrote for Marine Fish Monthly (MFM) for almost 14 years, along with a couple of the decades of monthly columns and various articles in Freshwater Aquariums and Marine Aquariums (FAMA), which was incorporated into Aquarium Fish International (AFI), which sadly ceased its operations in Oct/2012. Have also written for Tropical Fish Hobbyist (TFH) for about two decades, and also Bob Fenner's Digital Magazine and for UK magazines, e.g., Marine World, Practical Fishkeeping, and Marine Habitat. Have also written a series of 5 booklets on aquarium husbandry, and also self-published a CD-ROM book, The New Wave, which was dedicated to aquarium microbial processes with co-author Sam Gamble. And in 2009, with the help of coauthor Lance Ichinotsubo and TFH/Microcosm, published the extremely successful 'The Marine Fish Health & Feeding Handbook, which also brought about the benefits of what appeared as a highly effective, yet little comprehended medication, 'Chloroquine Treatment' (pages 146,147) for various marine fish maladies. Add to this writing the lead article for the return of the renowned Sea Scope, occasional articles for i-5 Publishing, and then in 2017 LuminaMedia, (Marine Fish & Reef USA/Coral & Reef USA magazines), and of course, the development of the very successful website 'Saltcorner.com,' which I consider to be among one of my most significant hobby-related accomplishments, I continue to stay quite busy!

I should also mention while writing for MFM in the early 90's, I wrote a series of articles titled NNR (Natural Nitrate Reduction) that represented a method Dr. Jean Jaubert invented in the 80's. This series of articles caught worldwide attention, and to this very day I must thank both Sam Gamble and Dr. Jaubert for their continued thoughts about this process!

In fact, millions of words have been written these past years and hand written mail, faxes, e-mail and phone calls have been received from almost all fifty states, Europe, Australia, Mexico, the Far East, Mid East, Canada, Africa, South America, and numerous Caribbean Islands. It seems like the only place I have yet to receive mail from is the Moon! I've also provided many question and answer sessions at our home, and have over the past 40 years spoken at various aquarium societies and marine conferences throughout this country and abroad, and even did a TV show for a local ABC station. Presently, and for the last 40 years, we reside in the foothills surrounding Tucson, Arizona.

Furthermore, I have never been paid for the use of my name. And as for our home, it's been something like Grand Central Station, with people coming and going, and with our phone always near a meltdown condition. My wife, who didn't know the difference between 'gefilte fish' and 'angelfish' many years ago has become quite interested in the hobby and deserves many kind words for her continued patience and support.

As for past employment years, none of which were related to the aquarium hobby, after leaving the U.S. Air Force in the late 50's, over the following 35 years I mostly worked for three major organizations: President of the United State John F. Kennedy, Lockheed Aircraft, and General Motors.

My Doctorate is in Business Management, and am a 32° Freemason.

Finally, even though I'm not a scientist or a marine biologist, nor do I profess to completely understand the ocean's entire and intricate ecology, my respect for its delicate existence and for those who depend upon it for their subsistence remains paramount. And because of my independence from aquarium product companies, you have, at least in my opinion, a source of information that is free of any preferential treatment and filled with years/decades of personal experience. Bob