About

Robert Elder & Jimmie Rattles

Classic City Aquariums is the dream of Robert Elder and Jimmie Rattles.

In its first iteration, C.C.A. was solely a very successful and dependable maintenance company run by Jimmie. Robert joined him in late 2016 and designed the store as it stands today. The two built it from the ground up with tons of sweat and love.

With a common goal of providing the best possible customer service and value to the Athens and Oconee areas, the two launched the retail store in the spring of 2017.

Three months after opening the store, Robert received the devastating news that he had stage 4 esophageal cancer.

He fought bravely and he fought fiercely for two long years. Despite his best efforts, he succumbed to the disease and passed away on August 9, 2019.

Robert was a paragon of kindness, decency, determination, and aptitude.

He had an incredible capacity for treating people well and a genuine love for helpings others to learn and succeed.

It was his clear vision and incredible will that were the driving factors in the creation of the store. We strive to honor his memory every single day and invite you to come and enjoy his memorial tank at the front of the store. We miss you.

Our family around the store is strong and the future is bright with the amazing and dependable team that we have built up.

Jimmie has teamed up with Adam Daniel to take the business to greater heights in Robert's memory.

Adam is a walking encyclopedia on corals and is our resident expert on growing, propagating, and harvesting any coral. His knowledge and skill is second to none.

We have also been extremely lucky and grateful to have had Will Leverington, Hunter Payne, and Matthew King to help run the store and take care of everything behind the scenes. Enough cannot be said about what they mean to our store! Emma Sayeski has joined the team recently and she has proven to be another fantastic addition to the team.