Ivan Seah on MondoDiscus

14 Giugno 2010

English
Ivan Seah on MondoDiscus

Ivan Seah on MondoDiscus

By Rosario Curcio

Who is Ivan Seah? Since when have you been breeding discus?

I am Discus breeder from Singapore and I had been breeding discus since 1996. It started off as a hobby and gradually I became a commercial breeder. Presently, I had merged with Colin Heng of Royal Aquatic. In total we had three hundreds of grow-out tanks and fifty breeding pairs spawning at anytime of the year making us the biggest self sufficient farm in Singapore. This will prevent our discus from falling sick from cross contamination with other farms.

Which is your favourite kind of discus and why?

My favourite type of Discus will be the Solid Red Discus, reason being it has a profound warm red and I had spend more than 10 years breeding them.

Which are the criteria you use in making

the selection of the discus for breeding?

Firstly, I will select the breeding pairs without genetic defect, followed by the size, colour and the eyes of the fishes must be red in colour.

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to your opinion the discus is a difficult or easy fish to breed?

Discus is certainly an easy fish to breed with the right water perimeter since it has been domesticated over the years.

And for you exist a particular kind of discus more difficult than others to breed?

Discus with pure golden genetics is more challenging than the rest because due to it’s weaker gene. Male discus tends to be infertile and the juveniles take a long time to reach saleable size.

Which are the principal aspects in managing a farm like yours?

I would say in maintaining a farm successfully, we have a water storage tank of 60,000liters to made possible of 100% water changes daily. Time is an essence factor as regular timing is required to feed the fishes and monthly de-worming is a must. A constant culling of defective fries to maintain the quality of discus for export is also necessary.

Are you breeding your own particular line of discus?

Presently, I am focusing on breeding the Royal Red, Ultra Red and White Peacock while trying to mass produce high quality Ring Leopards.

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If yes which are the efforts in term of time, human resources

and technologies to reach a self-made line?

Usually two batches of fries from each strain will be bred and it takes about a year to grow into an adult size. Only the best fishes showing the desired genetic will be used for further breeding. Duration is likely to take about 5 years to reach a stable strain.

Do you think that having your own line of discus can be useful in your country doing commerce with discus?

Yes, certainly. It will help Singapore Discus to stand-out among the rest of Asian breeders.

For you does exist “The Singapore discus style”?

In view of the high cost in my country, we bred only the high quality Discus.

What do you think about the culture in your country

about acquarium in general and in particular….obviously about discus?

In Singapore, the hobbyist will usually start off keeping the tropical fishes and gradually they moved on to breeding discus as it is much more challenging.

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Is there any foreigner breeder from whom you get inspiration?

I was inspired by a Thai breeder named Kitti. He has an enamoured pursued for the solid red colour discus aka Marlboro Red discus.

Who are the best breeders of discus in the world for you?

I personally felt that Kitti is the best Discus breeder in the world. He was the first to create a various types of discus and to name a few that is the Pigeon Blood, Marlboro Red and Snake Skin. I personally benefited by learning from him.

In your experience exist particular assumptions for breeding

healthy discus and which are the most common problems or illnesses

that can happen in breeding?

In general Discus does not have any common diseases except for the Ultra Red. The male fish is weaker in fertility due to their golden genetic chromosome.

Speaking about Italy….Have you ever heard or you know

any italian breeder or italian name in association with discus?

Yes, I had met the owner of ilmondomarino in Poland for the Poland International Discus Competition. Few years back Mr Daniela Temperilli of Pianeta Acquario used to buy discus from me.

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What do you think about our web site “Mondodiscus” ?

The website of ‘MondoDiscus’ is one of the best site I had seen. Besides the well designed column it is also very informative. Two thumbs up and keep up the good work!!

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 it be?

If anyone has an interest in Discus fishes, I would encourage them to read more articles or information about the fish. It is also essential to speak to a Discus hobbyist as they are usually willing to share certain detail which is fundamental for breeding. Last but not least, do it with passion as every stages you go through will certainly bring you to the next level and gain the experiences with time.

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Singapore Discus Breeder: i Discus di Ivan Seah	Una storia d’amore con il discus… lunga 30 anni
Singapore Discus Breeder: i Discus di Ivan Seah
Una storia d’amore con il discus… lunga 30 anni