YouTuber turns hobby into a globetrotting journey
George Mavrakis films himself in front of an aquarium for his YouTube channel. • Photos Submitted
By Tom Victoria
George Mavrakis turned an aquarium hobby into a globetrotting journey.
The 23-year-old YouTuber, who now has more than 850,000 subscribers, tours aquariums across the world, gaining behind-the-scenes access for unique sea life encounters and projects.
George, a Chicago native, has been to Southeast Asia, Australia, Israel, South America and all across Europe, including Iceland. He has been scuba diving at an abandoned island in Thailand, visited the largest koi fish farm in Singapore and toured a 30,000-gallon reef aquarium in Florida.
In addition to exclusive access at public attractions, George also is privy to many privately owned aquariums.
George and Shawn Hale, left, co-founded the annual Aquashella festival, which has grown to three cities this year (2021): Orlando on June 12 and 13, Chicago on August 14 and 15, and Dallas on October 30 and 31.
Aquashella: A not so "regular" aquatic experience. This show — which offers an atmosphere that is family friendly, fun and educational — features freshwater and saltwater aquarium vendors and artistic aquatic installations, as well as live aquatic animals. Source: Aquashella.com
“The craziest things I see are private collections,” he said. “People who have become obsessed with breeding one certain fish. They will dedicate their lives to it and set up one-of-a-kind infrastructures to accomplish it. These people and places are always off the beaten path. It’s usually by word of mouth of a local that I find them, and it’s always amazing walking into those places.”
While exploring the world, George was struck by one common denominator.
“People rich and poor can both be equally very generous,” he said. “And it’s amazing to see how equally passionate and willing to share their love for something is, which in my case is their aquariums.”
As if George’s traveling wasn’t enough to keep him busy, he also co-founded the ever-expanding aquarium festival Aquashella, which has grown to three cities this year in Orlando on June 12 and 13, Chicago on August 14 and 15, and Dallas on October 30 and 31.
George records thousands of baby koi in Japan.
He said the event, which is expected to attract around 30,000 people at three sites this year, was the realization of an idea he had at the end of 2017.
“I was actually studying abroad in London at the time,” George said. “Leading up to that, another big aquarium event in Chicago had closed down due poor management. I saw an opportunity present itself and we acted on it. I said we need to find a way to take aquariums to the masses. I think the most successful people see opportunity before others. Everyone always thinks ‘why didn’t I think of that’ afterwards.”
During a convention, George met Shawn Hale from Fritz Aquatics. The encounter was fortuitous as the men forged a friendship and partnership that culminated in Aquashella.
Along with hosting freshwater and saltwater aquarium vendors, Aquashella brought in artists and their three-dimensional works that are representative of the artistic installation genre.
The first show, which was in Chicago during 2018, drew 3,500 people. In 2019, shows in Chicago and Dallas were attended by 5,500 and 7,000, respectively. After a year break due to government-mandated closures in response to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, the attendance this year is expected to continue growing.
George always was intrigued by aquatic life.
“I was always drawn to fish,” he said.
That interest extended to sea creatures’ enclosures.
George eyes possibilities to snatch in the net.
“I just became fascinated with the world of aquariums,” George said.
In 2008, George got his first aquarium. The 12-gallon tank was the inspiration for his YouTube channel’s name: CoralFish12g. His first swimming denizen was a clown fish, but coral occupied his time
“I got really addicted to growing coral,” George said.
It dawned on him coral had more benefits than purely aesthetic reasons. He cited economics: it can be grown and sold.
“Coral has value,” George said.
He started airing YouTube videos when he hit his teens.
“You’re sort of fearless when you’re a kid,” George said.
His videos are known for their quirky humor, including transitions and scenes from the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants that he employed long before that became a common default for YouTubers.
George started using SpongeBob material as a way to keep the pace moving in the videos. Although George no longer uses as much of the cartoon, he said it won’t completely disappear.
“There’s always a time and place,” George said.
George stands by small stingrays and a rare Arowana fish in Singapore.
Over 11 years, he has built a significant following. According to George, that was a better route than exploding prematurely.
“It made me work for it,” he said. “Slow and steady wins the race.”
George draws upon his passion and experience with filmmaking, which includes producing a short film and viral Facebook videos, for his adroitly edited YouTube content.
“I had a lot of different skills in my repertoire,” he said.
Due to trips that had yet to be edited, George had sufficient material to carry through 2020. One three-week trip produced 12 videos.
George also draws satisfaction that his show evolved into a travelogue of aquariums.
“There was a plethora of untapped content here,” he said.
George no longer wants to solely focus on documenting his own aquatic inhabitants, which expanded to more exotic animals, including an octopus.
George walks under assorted sharks, including a hammerhead, and a sawfish.
“Everyone else does that,” he said. “It’s not what I wanted to do with my channel.”
George dispensed some advice for youth wanting to buy an aquarium or start a YouTube channel.
“Just start!” he said. “That’s 90 percent of the battle. Momentum is everything. Whatever it is you want to accomplish, whether it be setting up a fish tank or starting YouTube, break it up into manageable daily objectives and start putting one foot in front of the next. Once you get going on something, it can be equally as hard to stop as it was to start. Momentum!”
George also encouraged others to stay motivated when things go wrong.
“It’s okay to have bad days,” he said. “They are inevitable. The question is: will you let it go? Can you find a way to rise out of it after a few bad days? Some people will let a bad day turn into a never-ending bad life. You have to be able to get up on the third day and snap out of it. Rewire, rework or channel your energy into something.”
The link to CoralFish12g, George's YouTube channel, is: https://www.youtube.com/user/coralfish12g
The link to Aquashella is: https://www.aquashella.com
Aquashella Chicago 2019 highlight video: https://fb.watch/5M1t7RU_yU/
“I just became fascinated with the world of aquariums.”
