Il re dell'acquario tropicale e la sua corte

 
Currently, 29 years old, I'm a die hard Discus fanatic for the past 24 years. I started my fish keeping hobby when I'm 4 years old and since then, had never stop.  I remembered myself helping a market fish stall, which is still in business at my old housing estate, packing and selling worms, feeders etc.  At the end of the day, I'll be paid not in monetary form, instead, I'll be able to get some free worms or even better, some common fishes for keeping.
 
One day, I came across this round flat fish, which are known to me as Discus.  They were nothing more than 1.5 inches with brown base body and 7 vertical black bars; a few blue stripes/ striations on its forehead.  I began to ask the old breeder, whom had sold those Discus to the stall owner, about the husbandry.  The breeder said that they were tank bred Brown Discus and were the most difficult and delicate aquarium fishes.  He further added that he need to filter the aged water with peat moss prior to daily water changes.  Though all the water parameters were met, Discus still succumb easily to diseases.  A breakout will easily wipe out the whole collection.

 
In order to have this Brown Discus swimming in my tank, I had to work at the stall for a couple of weeks after my school as it cost US$3.00 each.  They were very expensive at that time and not many people were able to maintain them, not to mention about breeding.  Within 2 days, the said fish were dead due to some bacteria infection.  Not willing to give up, I went round asking old fish keepers about their needs and even to travel regularly to libraries to borrow relevent books on Discus, in hope to have more information.  However, every discus that I've owned will not last for more than a week.  I've tried lowering the pH to 6.5, softening the water, adding heaters, using activated carbon follow by peat, but without any good results.
 
Time after time, I've murdered alot of discus. There's one particular occasion, I had to borrow Sin$7.50 from my childhood friend, Jackson Chan, whom is now one of the company's partner, to purchase a 2 inch Blue Turquoise.  Prepared my tank with its best similar water parameter, I managed to sustain this expensive fellow for nearly two weeks.  Unfortunately, it died subsequently and I later realized that it was hormone treated.
 
Its till when I'm about 10 years old, I've finally managed to keep them up to adulthood.  However, disease diagnosis were not that advance.  Once the fish stop eating, its the end of the story.  With Lady luck by my side, I'm able to get a pair from my current Turquoise collection and that's where my breeding started.  I'm able to exchange/ trade the juveniles for some other strains like Red Turquoise etc and to sustain my hobby going.
 
Over the years, I've been trying to keep Discus in the simpliest method.  To me, Discus keeping should be like guppy breeding.  As long as the cleanliness of the tank water is maintain, there will be minimum casualty or disease breakout.

 
Today in my hatchery that consist of 119 tanks in total, I'm breeding and raising all my Discus with direct tap water that contains Chlorine, Chloramine and pH of 7.8-8.2.  I do not see the need for a storage tank as I understand that Chloramine will not be dissipated through aging like Chlorine. It need to be neutralized instead.  In order to make my life easier and more cost effective, I've trained all the fish that I'm keeping; Arowana, stingrays, Wild Altum Angels, Show Bettas and Show Guppies etc to tolerate 100% water change with direct tap water without any additive whatsoever.  Of course, not to mention about my Discus stocks that experience 200% water change daily.  Its only if the fish are trained to withstand harsh conditions like mine at a tender age, will the hobbyists be able to enjoy fsh keeping then to spend a bomb on unnecessary equipments and becoming the slave for his fish.
 
In 1998, I've began crossing my Golden Snakeskin with Wild Red Spotted Green in the hope to create some new spotted variants.  In 2001, when I decided to commercialise in Discus breeding, I've told my customers what I'm trying to achieve but everybody thought that it was impossible.  After several years of persistence, I've finally made a name in Discus Industry with my Red Spotted Snakeskin and Leopard Snakeskin, which I named it as 'Crimson Spotted' and 'Scarlet Spotted respectively, when I swept the top three placings (1st, 2nd and 3rd) during our 6th National Discus Competition held in 2003.  Best of all, my Crimson Spotted which was in the 1st placing, was awarded to be the 'Grand Champion' of the Show.  There, I've set my name in the discus history to be 'Youngest Grand Champion'.  In the same year during Aquarama 2003, my 'Scarlet Spotted' secured the 1st placing in the Spotted Catergory and was again crowned as the 'Grand Champion' out of a total of 180 entries.       
 
 
With the hope to meet more Discus lovers, I've travelled frequently to other parts of the world to participate in competitions and had been lucky to win numerous awards.  The latest competition that I've participated was the 5th International Discus Championship 2004 that was held in Dusiburg, Germany.  My 9.5 inches 'Scarlet Spotted' recieved the 'Most Superior Discus Award' and also the 3rd placing in the Spotted Catergory.  Alot of hobbyists believed that Spotted fish will not be able to grow big but I've proved all of them wrong with my gigantic spotted form. 
 
Despite going to Discus shows as participant,  I'm indeed honoured to have been invited as a Guest Speaker by Italian Discus Club and UK Discus Association respectively to present talks on Discus to fellow Discus hobbyists during their shows.  Sharing my passions with other hobbyists had always been my dream.

 
At this point of time, Discus market worldwide had been rather poor due to low quality fish,  hormone treated and artificial enhancers fed, improper quarantine practices, irresponsible breeders and Importers etc.  All the factors are killing Discus hobby gradually.  However, the main culprits are still the consumers whom encourage most of the factors.  For example, if the consumer refuse to buy a 2 inch 'fully spotted/ patterned' discus knowing that it had been hormone fed, the Importer will reject such stocks from the breeder and the breeder will never again feed his fish with hormone as they are unable to sell.  Instead, alot of breeders are now resorting to tons of artificial enhancers and hormone to bring out the full colour of their fish at an earlier stage so that they worth a higher price.  Therefore, I'll like to advise all Discus hobbyists that no striated/ spotted strains will be complete at 2 inches of size without the use of hormone unless the fish is stunted.  As for the solid strains like Goldens and Melons, try to go for those that are natural in colour rather than those which possess yellow or red tinted tail.  Normally, the latter are artificially colour fed.
 
Last but not least, Discus is no longer a delicate fish to keep as long as you got your stocks from a reputable source without any possible contaminations and risks.  Happy discus keeping!
 
David Lim
Fishio Tribe