Presenting with the theme of Past Challenges in Reefkeeping.

Presentation Title: Save a Wild Reef, Grow a Captive One. A 30 Year Journey of Captive Coral Care at GARF.

Bio: President and Executive Director for the Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation (GARF). 1992 to Present.

It was my beloved husband LeRoy Headlee who first introduced me to this amazing resource known to all of us as the mighty Ocean. Together we studied the problems our reefs were facing, and in 1993 we dedicated our lives to researching methods that would allow us to not have to rely on wild collection for our home tanks.

In 1995 LeRoy changed my life forever when he gifted me my first aquarium. I looked at him and said without hesitation ”only if we take nothing from the ocean”. We studied and made our first Aragocrete rock, and Grunge, our live-sand, and I propagated every single coral that was placed in the tank.

That first bullet proof tank soon seeded so many of our tanks at GARF that we decided to launch our success and share it with the rest of the world. We started our online research website GARF.org with the mission of education for all in mind. It became crystal clear to us the only hope we can truly offer our wild resources is to learn, share, research, ask questions and seek answers, so no additional animals have to be collected.

I have been published, in Marine Fish Monthly, FAMA Freshwater and Marine Aquaria, Tropical Fish Magazine, Mike Paletta’s book ultimate reefs, Sea Scope, and have written and illustrated 10 children’s books.