Personal bio
Born: 1940
Married to Ginger (best friend & retired teacher) since 1963
2 wonderful daughters, 2 great son-in-laws, 4 dynamite grandkids, 1 old dog
Residence: 24612 Acropolis Dr. Mission Viejo, CA 92691
Telephone: 949-855-2371 (don’t call before 9:00 AM – I’m a night owl)
Email: scover1@cox.net
Koi philosophy: It’s a hobby and has nothing worth going to war over. Let’s get on with the business of having fun.
Education: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, 1963, Cal. State Long Beach
Experience: Aerospace 1963 thru 1973 - guns, missiles, bombs, aircraft hydraulic controls
Biomedical 1973 thru 1995 - dialysis equipment, extracorporeal (heart bypass surgery) products, ophthalmic products, peripheral IV catheters
Job responsibilities: Consultant, engineer, project engineer, chief engineer, VP of R&D, President & CEO and entrepreneur (this last one was the best!)
Current status: Retired – since 1995 (and loving it!)
Fish bio
3 years old - gold fish in a wash tub
Pre-teen: guppies in jars & bluegill in a barrel
Teens: tropical fresh water fish - aquariums
Adult: more fresh water tropical fish - more and bigger aquariums
Koi bio
1985: Started Koi pond - put on hold - gold fish, frogs, water lilies and 2 Koi in the ½ done pond
1995: Finished Koi pond - started the hobby “for real”
Pond: 3000 gal system, prefilter, two 300 gal up-flow rock, gravel & sand filters, two ¼ hp Lim pumps, 50K BTU natural gas heater
Q-tank: 500 gal - heated - doubles as overflow/hospital/holding tank
About 25 fish – 16” to 26”
1999-2009 - Head of AKCA’s Scientific Committee
2000-08 - Planned, staffed and founded AKCA’s KHA program - served as Program Director, course writer and instructor (Anatomy, Physiology, KHA/Hobbyist Interface, Labs, KHV)
2005-09 –Director of AKCA’s Project KHV; wrote comprehensive KHV status paper; established and directed BHP development; identified and vetted research projects including the ongoing ~$80K KHV research project at Oregon State Univ.
2009-present – One of the founding members of KOI, Inc., writer, instructor
Other: Articles published in KOI USA, Nichirin, Nishikigoi International, and club newsletters
Self taught re: Koi health and disease; extensive personal library
Speaker/presenter at Koi seminars, club meetings and veterinary seminar
Conducted experiments on Koi and filters
Member of several Koi clubs
Incurable fish geek
Sage, soothsayer and former javelin catcher to the 1986 Olympics