Interview: Hudson Crizanto on MondoDiscus
Interview: Hudson Crizanto on MondoDiscus
by Luigi Del Favero
Hello International friends of Mondodiscus!
Today we are virtually at home of a new great friend!
For this time is not only a virtual interwew as we personally met Hudson in Duisburg during perhaps the most famous event regarding Discus.
A very kind guy and a very professional approach to the selection of Wild discus. Qualitiy is the obvious result of this melting.
As usual we don’t steal you time and we leave you with the interview and with our friend Huson!
Who is Hudson? Since when have you been selecting discus?
I am the owner of H&K Ornamental Fish in Brazil.
I have 37 years old and I am impassioned by fish since 1986. I always cultivated fish in my aquariums and step by step this big passion made me to enter in the international market of ornamental fish. Today this passion became a pleased business mainly with wild discus.
We are located in the Fortaleza City in Northeast of Brazil. We began our activities in 1996.
First we work with marine fishes and later with wild Discus and other cichlids.
Actually we exported for the Asian, European and American market.
Today we have regular businesses with many customers in many continents.
Which is your favourite kind of discus and why?
I am suspect to answer this question, because I work daily with thousands of Discus. But I can be sincere to say that Discus Heckels, blue moon and blue face from Nhamundá Lakes are my favorites. The Tefes Red Spotted would be in a second place in my preference.
I prefer this kind of discus because they have a beautiful blue color and a perfect body form too. Their colors are comparable to the sea fish.
Which are the criteria you use in making the selection of the discus ?
I am very exigent, so when I buy Discus, I negotiate with fishermen of Amazonian rivers by myself because they are simple people and they have little information about fishes.
It’s necessary to select the fishes looking one by one, if I want to acquire good fish.
During the selection the fishes must have a format roundest possible, small eyes and they must be new and juvenile fish preferably.
About fishing and quarantine… How do you proceed in acclimatation of wilds
and in making them accustom to dead food and granulates?
First the Discus are fished and stored in boxes and rivers tanks, without fundamental cares and all of them arrive very stressed and hungry in my structure. The initial fishery are very primitive.
I try to use a good selection to separate the best ones and to put them in tanks with a good water quality and high temperature. The initial medication is used to prevent and possible problems in the quarantine area. To eliminate the internal and external parasites, I use salt, copper, metradinazol and formaline 37% initially.
My quarantine tanks are tank with 2 different areas.
One area is used to remove possible parasites. The fishes are put in water with salt during some hours and later this water is changed and we use a small dosage of Formol and copper in very low levels to eliminate the parasites. After this initial treatment, the fishes are transferred to the second area. They are put in the quarantine aquariums for approximately 40 to 60 days.
In this phase, the metradinazol is supplied in the feeding (heart beef ).
After the third week, all of the discus are already feed with dry foods, flakes and granulated with easiness.
It’s important vary the food always and offer different foods like artemias fed with algae spirulina and Ergozan that it is a composed of vary natural algae to increase the Discus immunity (immune stimulants).
The fundamental in the quarantine is a good medication preventive, good quality of water with efficient biological filters, temperature and quite varied feeding.
According to your opinion the discus in general and in particulay of course wild
are difficult or easy fish to breed? And for you exist a particular kind
of discus more difficult than others to breed?
I think all of the wild discus are difficult to create, mainly the Heckels these demand more care.
But the other varieties are easier, but they demand a great water quality with a low conductivity and a good temperature. The biological filter is fundamental for the good balance of the levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
The partial changes too.
If you get to have a good water quality, temperature, feeding and correct partial changes, you had gotten to reproduce the wonderful Wilds.
Water Quality = lowers hardness, lowers conductivity, acid ph (5, 5 – 6, 5) and high temperature. (27 – 29c)
It is as simulating the natural habitat of the discus in the Amazonian.
Which are the principal aspects in managing a collecting station like yours?
In my opinion, it is to select the best discus, in the varieties sought by my principal customers. The market demands the varieties of fishes that I should buy. In this moment, the market demands more Tefé, cuipeua and Heckels blue.
My process of quarantine makes the difference.
If the supplier don’t have quality, it will be out of the market soon.
Are you just fishing and selecting discus or are you also breeding them?
Now I just select and fishing wild discus.
But I intend to create in the future.
I already have a project in process for 2000 square meters of tanks, only dedicated the discus creation and Amazonian cichlids.
Wait…….
For you what are the desiderable parameters of water to breed wild and hibrid?
For your experience the correct temperature to keep discus? The Ph is so important?
I work this process daily, because I maintain thousands of Discus in aquarium systems and I can guarantee that the water quality is the principal factor to obtain success with the discus.
I reinforce again that the efficient biological filter is already 90% of success.
In my opinion, the comfortable temperature should vary among 27 – 29. I get to maintain my Discus in this temperature naturally because in my area in Brazil is very hot and I don’t need to use heaters and thermostats.
About the PH, I maintain it between 6,00 and 6,5.
For Heckels, I use the lowest pH 5,00, 5,5, but with the larger care of efficient filters and good water circulation .
The conductivity have be below 120. It’s very important for reproduction too.
The water parameters variation in the lakes is:
– Nhamunda lakes: the conductivity is us/cm = 11,00 and PH= 4,5 – 5,00
– Tefé lakes: conductivity is us/cm = 23,0 to 31,0 , Ph = 5,4 -6,00
Your particular aquariums are your private laboratory to discover the best parameters for your discus. Each person must try to find your way, using the natural parameters and discovering your reality.
The fatidic question we ask to all wild collectors:
Do you think is correct to take from nature wild discus and why?
To fish discus, it is the same for any other fish.
The collect happens naturally among the indigenous communities of the Amazonian.
They eat the discus that they fish.
I believe that if we fished with rationality without destroying the rivers and our forest, the activity becomes rationally maintainable. We only can fish during 4 or 5 months in a year.
And during the rest of the year, the fishes are protected and they reproduced naturally in the rivers.
What can harm and to finish the discus is the deforestation, the burning, the pollution and destruction of the igarapes of the Amazonian.
This fact are putting in risk the future of the Amazonian fish.
The forests destruction and the river water pollution is that can take to the end any species of fishes.
Wich are the principal markets you can reach from Brazil?
My principal market is Japanese.
But I sell shipments to Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Shouth korea, United Kingdom, Holland, Germany, Austria , Peru.
What do you think about the “market of discus” in this particular moment
of economic recession?
It is one critic moment .
But this activity is a hobby. And we are lovers of this hobby.
I believe that we won’t have a reduction in the sales.
I am already receiving requests of several countries usually.
In the next days, you will say if I am wrong.
I believe that the people started to seek for wild Discus with more intensity in the last two years, because there are more varieties of fishes with better quality to be offered to the market. It’s important talk about the publicity too. The Internet this publishing more about theses fish through the Forums and specialized sites like Mondo Discus.
What do you think about the culture in your country about acquarium
in general and in particular….obviously about discus?
The culture of the ornamental fish in Brazil is crazy.
The brazilians prefer imported fish from Asia and Ibrid discus.
I don’t understand this. We have the largest variety of fish of the world in the Amazonian but the brazilians prefer the Asian and African fish. It’s very difficult of understand…..
In your experience exist particular assumptions
for breeding healthy discus and which are the most common problems
or illnesses that can happened in breeding?
The one that I have been noticing in all the discus creators in the world is that the quality is falling every year. The format of the Discus body changing for another format type and not the natural format round that characterizing the discus fish.
The not sanguine renewal and the crossings among groups of discus of the same family for a long time are doing the discus are with form of Uaru – Amazonian chiclid.
The consanguinity problem and low resistance to diseases is the principal problem.
Speaking about Italy….Have you ever heard or you know any italian breeder
or italian name in association with discus?
Lamentably I don’t have a lot of knowledge of the Italian market.
But I have a great luck because I am being presented to the Italian market by my friends of the team of Mondo Discus. Thank you.
In this moment I am more familiarized with the good wines, cookery and Italian soccer.
What do you think about our web site “Mondodiscus” ? In Brazil does exist any similar web site?
In the Mondo Discus’s site I find an important tool for our Hobby.
It is a way to learn and to know about Discus world and to exchange ideas and yours experiences with other creators. Through the forum, you can publish the discus and to create more interest among the creators. This will do the market grows more.
When the people start to know the wild and domestic discus, they have interest in acquiring more aquariums, equipments, books and material related to the hobby that improves all the productive activity related to the discus.
Concluding, this is very important to us that we are lovers of discus and to discus suppliers, wholesalers, shopkeepers, products manufacturers for fish too.
The forums are fundamental tools for the growth of our activity and of the Hobby in general.
This last question is the question we do to all breeders we virtually visit:
If I ask you to give only one advise to a person that want to start breeding
discus what would be?
Before you begin to create, you must study the hobby.
You must ready everything about the hobby and try to do the best.
If you know this hobby and dedicate to it you will have success. Everything that you do with love you will be well
I love that I do, this is my secret.
Thank you Houdson for spending your time with us!
We are looking forward to read about your adventures in Amazon!
Read you soon!
| Acquari italiani: Wild Discus e Angel fish | Hudson Crizanto su MondoDiscus |
| Acquari italiani: Wild Discus e Angel fish | |
| Hudson Crizanto su MondoDiscus |
