Something’s fishy in the office

Kansas City Star

Andy Fromm years ago put some fish tanks in his basement office simply to brighten a windowless space.

After two corporate moves, those tanks have grown, literally and figuratively, into the theme around which his Kansas City company's culture is built.

Dr. James Stuckmeyer, an orthopedic surgeon, read years ago in a medical journal that watching fish swim can lower blood pressure by several points. His new office has one of the biggest, soothing tanks one might encounter in a doctor's office.

Michael Ketchmark led the planning for a saltwater tank to serve as dividing wall when the Ketchmark and McCreight law offices moved into new space, up-sizing from the tank in a previous office.

You might expect fish tanks in restaurants. But you're increasingly likely to find them offices that have nothing to do with seafood. They're placed for art and ambience, for conversation and corporate culture.

A wave of marine life retailers and tank-care service companies can testify that fish are big business. Turns out there are a lot of aficionados in the landlocked Kansas City area.

'It's a passion, and it's a wow factor,” said Vinton Ebling, with Paradise Aquatics in suburban Kansas City, who services many office and residential tanks.

SMG's three-sided glass tanks, each with a different marine ecosystem, were built into the company's 2009 renovation of a 1920s-era building that originally was a car dealership.

One of the office tanks features the 'meat eaters,” beefy blowfish and other large varieties. The other two tanks hold the 'vegetarians,” smaller and multicolored sea life.

'Fish have become a really big part of our culture,” said Kim Klosak, SMG's vice president of human resources, pointing out the handblown glass fish that are given as gifts to decorate the work areas of employees on their five-year anniversaries with the company.

At 10 years, they get stipends to spend on their vacations, with the requirement that they return with a fish picture - with plenty of latitude about where or what is presented.

Jason Gray, an SMG worker who serves as principal fish feeder, said he sees correlations between camaraderie in the workplace and how fish coexist in the tanks.

'Each tank is a community - as long as the right fish are introduced,” Gray observed, adding that the right tank management is needed. He credited SMG's provider, Custom Aquariums by Design, with keeping the tanks operating.