In any lecture or article on marine fish culture, small details are often omitted, not necessarily to keep secrets, but probably more often because of the simple constraints of time, attention spans, and maximum word counts. The resulting presentation includes important bullet points like broodstock diet, first food, transition foods, time to settlement, filtration, water parameters, etc. Essentially, it answers the big questions on everybody’s minds. Yet aquarists following even a detailed recipe for success will frequently experience vastly different outcomes. Some will attribute this to their level of experience, or just "have the right touch" (or not). Very often that "right touch" comes with experience and amounts to an accumulation of seemingly insignificant factors, any one of which might have little bearing on the outcome of your efforts, but in combination, can make all the difference. In this presentation, I will cover as many of these little details as time will allow, at all stages of production, from phytoplankton culture to grow-out and broodstock management. Todd Gardner is a professor of marine biology at Suffolk County Community College in Riverhead, NY. His life and his career have both been shaped by his passion for marine life and he has written numerous scientific and popular articles about his research and experiences collecting, keeping, and culturing marine organisms. Todd’s professional background includes work on a National Geographic documentary, commercial aquaculture at C-quest Hatchery in Puerto Rico, and an 11-year term at the Long Island Aquarium where he spent much of his time developing techniques for rearing marine fish larvae. To date he has raised more than 50 species. In 2013 Todd received the prestigious Aquarist of the Year Award from the Marine Aquarium Society of North America (MASNA). In his spare time, Todd dives, photographs marine life, runs marathons, and plays in a blues band.