Meet Our Staff

Randy Jahier-Owner-After a 25+ year career as an owner of a successful, international manufacturing corporation, Randy was burned-out and ready for a change. A life-long lover of nature and SCUBA diving, Randy had a Saltwater fish tank installed in his home in 2005 and, to put it mildly, became obsessed. Never doing anything half-way, he decided to retire from the only career he had ever known (other than being a professional Magician for about 10 years during High School and College) and engulf himself in his hobby full-time. He “retired” in his late forties and after working for minimum wage in several local fish stores for a few years (a fun, educational and humbling experience), decided to open his own store where he could incorporate many features which he felt were missing in other stores and share his passion and enthusiasm for nature and fish keeping with the general public. After 4 years of exhaustive planning he opened Life Aquatic (inspired by the quirky Bill Murray movie of the same name) in December 2010. The good news is; Randy is not doing this for the money. Yes, there are bills to pay and overhead to cover, but he is primarily interested in doing what is best for his customers and the environment, not his wallet. He and his staff truly treat all their customers as they would want to be treated themselves and believes that such a philosophy will benefit all in the long run…….and he’s having a blast doing it!

Thadius C. -“Thads” is in charge of maintaining our store’s nearly 2000 gallons of saltwater displays and their occupants, as well as our freshwater habitats. Born and raised on the island of Panay in the Philippines, Thads spent his childhood swimming with many of the animals we keep in our store. When he wasn’t attending school, he helped support his family as a commercial fisherman. Though he loves the water, he is quick to admit that he was terrified of Sharks, but made up for this fear by eating a local dish called “Linabog” (aka Shark Curry). In 2015 he moved to New Canaan with his family and at Life Aquatic is thrilled to be close to the beautiful sea life that he grew up with, once again.

Chris C. -Service Manager- Chris heads up our staff of outside service technicians and he alone has over 30 years of experience servicing all types of aquariums, ponds and reptile habitats. Having worked for some of the largest aquarium service providers, he became disenfranchised by what he saw in the way of greed and dishonesty and sought a working environment that shared his philosophy and where he could be proud of the work he does, not embarrassed. He has found a new, second “home” at Life Aquatic.