Joshua Wiegert is an accomplished aquarist, having kept fish for as long as he can remember, and quite possibly before. He has written extensively on the aquarium hobby in numerous magazines, and penned the well-known Conservation Corner in Freshwater and Marine Aquarium magazine's pages. After FAMA's closure, the Conservation Corner was moved to FishChannel.Com, where it remains. He is extremely active in the aquarium hobby, as well as various aquarium clubs and societies. He has presented at several aquarium clubs, from California to Georgia.

Karen Randall grew up with aquariums as a child. While experienced in many facets of the aquarium hobby, as an adult her focus turned to a concentration in planted display aquariums and the study and propagation of aquatic plants. Her articles and photography have been published in six languages in 9 countries. For many years she authored the monthly column, “Sunken Gardens” in Aquarium Fish Magazine. She is an international speaker on aquarium subjects.

Karen is past president of the Boston Aquarium Society, and serves on the board of the Aquatic Gardeners Association. She was editor of the AGA magazine, The Aquatic Gardener for 5 years and is now technical editor of the magazine. She has served as a judge for both the AGA Aquascaping Contest and the Aqua Design Amano International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest since their inception. In 2010 she had the pleasure to serve as a speaker and jury member for the prestigious live international contest, “The Art of the Planted Aquarium” held in Hannover, Germany. She has also served as a consultant on several major projects at public aquaria.

She has traveled to South and Central America, Thailand and Taiwan as well as the southern part of the U.S. to study aquatic plants and biotopes in the wild. In Brazil she has assisted with Project Piaba, a conservation program in the Amazon centered on the aquarium fish trade. She regularly does programs on this topic for groups ranging from school children to garden clubs and church organizations.

Karen started a program a number of years ago to put aquariums in many classrooms in the local public elementary school. Now, with her own children grown, this program is still going strong. In 2003 she was awarded the Northeast Council of Aquarium Society’s Betty Mueller Award; a life-time award for her outreach work and other contributions to the aquarium hobby.

Jason Baliban has been an avid aquarist since 1980, starting with a 10 gallon aquarium and blue gravel. Since that time, he has worked with salt water aquariums, fresh water aquariums, and planted tanks. Over the last 6 years, Jason has focused primarily on planted tanks, approaching each planted aquarium as a piece of art. He strives to create compositions that inspire himself and others, while providing healthy environments for his plants and critters. Jason’s talent has been proven worldwide by placing 2nd in the Aquatic Gardener Association’s 2008 Aquascaping contest, and was the 3rd highest ranked U.S. aquascaper in ADA’s aquascaping contest during the same year. His work has been featured regularly, both online and in print, which has opened the door for him to give several presentations over the past 4 years. Jason also maintains a website, Project Aquarium, specifically dedicated to keeping planted aquariums.