Steve Bitter Promotes Education, Conservation, and Having Fun “Under” the Aquarium at the Boardwalk
Setting up an aquarium requires a lot of ‘homework.’ You need to learn a lot about your fish and what kind of environment it needs to be healthy and thrive. So what goes into opening a whole new public aquarium – with many different systems and hundreds of species? My guest today, Steve Bitter, has worked for years in the industry developing and opening public aquaria in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. In November of 2020, he opened the Aquarium at the Boardwalk in Branson, Missouri, where he serves as Director of Husbandry. Join us, as Steve shares his journey from building systems in the Arizona desert to building Branson’s newest aquatic animal oasis.
BIO:
Steve Bitter grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He got interested in aquariums as a hobby in high school, and worked in pet stores through college and his early 20s. Working in the hobby, he maintained a love for fresh and saltwater fish, and developed a love for live corals and aquatic quarantine and medical care. He did custom installs, aquarium service, and managed a dedicated quarantine facility for a retail aquatics company.
In 2010, he joined the public aquarium world, moving to Tampa to work at The Florida Aquarium where he spent four years continuing to work in quarantine and coral care. In 2014 he moved back to Arizona and took the curator role at SEA LIFE Arizona, owned by Merlin Entertainments. While at SEA LIFE Arizona he led that team to its first ever AZA accreditation before accepting an overseas work assignment to help open a new facility in Chongqing in central China. While in China he accepted a permanent role doing new openings, and over the next 2 years he traveled extensively to help Merlin open 6 new facilities in China, Japan, Malaysia, England, and the US. In 2019, he and his wife elected to try and slow down, and Steve left Merlin to join Kuvera Partners in Branson, Missouri where he currently lives and works. As Director of Husbandry, he built a husbandry team that opened Kuvera’s first aquarium attraction, Aquarium at the Boardwalk. The facility broke ground in early 2019 and opened in November 2020. Aquarium at the Boardwalk contains approximately 400,000 gallons of exhibits, all saltwater, with a 60,000 gallon offsite quarantine facility and houses about 10,000 animals.