BlueTurquoise
01-14-2003, 01:34 AM
Hi all,
I just wanted to share with everyone my experience with keeping fish and in particular getting into the discus hobby and how it has effected my life and the people around me in good ways (and bad! but mainly good!). But mainly I want to touch on how it has made me new and very good friend, maybe even lifelong friends, all because of a small fish that lives only in the waters of the Amazon, in aquariums all aroudn the world and in the hearts of their keepers.
I was hoping that people could share their stories too and we can all have a long winded chat about our favourite topic.
I have kept fish for years, mainly goldfish and Koi. Last year in my facination with my uncle's beautiful and intelligent "round" fish (that' all i knew them to be then) I found Simply Discus. Well I thought, here is a bunch of very nice people willing to help me even though I was asking very silly questions and had very little understanding of these pretty remarkable fish.
Today I know people that live down the road, wonderful, good and kind people with big hearts and without our simple (and complex) passion for discus we would never have met at all. Without the forum, we would have shared a passion in the dark and battled it alone.
The other day I got my fridge delivered by a bloke sent from the distributors, he came in to the house, walked all over my new carpet with his boots and plonked my new frost free, unsidedown fridge into place. Immediately he pointed to my fish tank and said "ahhh discus". I said "Ahh yess!" and we talked alittle about how his brother keeps discus and how he is thinking about buying a tank. Without the fish I would have just signed the dotted line and part ways.
I went to the plumbing store the other day where I enlisted the help of a very friendly young store hand with my (fish related) plumbing questions. I explained to her my odd request for a side mounted float valve and various other odds and ends, and she was confused as to why I would need specifically side mounted valve becuase all toielts need bottom mounted. So I said I keep south american exotic fish and I need it for my water change tank. Immadiately she said "Ahhh Discus!". I said "Ahh Yess!!". We talked about how her father used to keep discus before he passed away. "Very pretty fish" she said and gave me a discount on my goods.
I once explained to a friend, if my future boss kept discus, and I went for an interview where I mentioned discus, he would most likely hire me without looking at my credentials! So is the nature of our passion...
So as you can see, for me, the discus hobby is more than just fish and water, it is a micro community within a community. It brings people from all over god's wonderful world together with one common interest. I meet more and more discus people everyday and I am loving it! Networking is fantastic and I can't wait to learn more about fish and befriend many more people who share my passion. Now that I have been made moderator of this forum I feel that the passion is not dead but on the contrary, I realise that it is alive and kicking! growing day by day. More and more people that I meet are showing interest in my "round and colourful" pets.
Share your discus 6 degrees of separation story. It's interesting and amazing to see what a south american cichlid can achieve indirectly...
Chong :thumbsup:
I just wanted to share with everyone my experience with keeping fish and in particular getting into the discus hobby and how it has effected my life and the people around me in good ways (and bad! but mainly good!). But mainly I want to touch on how it has made me new and very good friend, maybe even lifelong friends, all because of a small fish that lives only in the waters of the Amazon, in aquariums all aroudn the world and in the hearts of their keepers.
I was hoping that people could share their stories too and we can all have a long winded chat about our favourite topic.
I have kept fish for years, mainly goldfish and Koi. Last year in my facination with my uncle's beautiful and intelligent "round" fish (that' all i knew them to be then) I found Simply Discus. Well I thought, here is a bunch of very nice people willing to help me even though I was asking very silly questions and had very little understanding of these pretty remarkable fish.
Today I know people that live down the road, wonderful, good and kind people with big hearts and without our simple (and complex) passion for discus we would never have met at all. Without the forum, we would have shared a passion in the dark and battled it alone.
The other day I got my fridge delivered by a bloke sent from the distributors, he came in to the house, walked all over my new carpet with his boots and plonked my new frost free, unsidedown fridge into place. Immediately he pointed to my fish tank and said "ahhh discus". I said "Ahh yess!" and we talked alittle about how his brother keeps discus and how he is thinking about buying a tank. Without the fish I would have just signed the dotted line and part ways.
I went to the plumbing store the other day where I enlisted the help of a very friendly young store hand with my (fish related) plumbing questions. I explained to her my odd request for a side mounted float valve and various other odds and ends, and she was confused as to why I would need specifically side mounted valve becuase all toielts need bottom mounted. So I said I keep south american exotic fish and I need it for my water change tank. Immadiately she said "Ahhh Discus!". I said "Ahh Yess!!". We talked about how her father used to keep discus before he passed away. "Very pretty fish" she said and gave me a discount on my goods.
I once explained to a friend, if my future boss kept discus, and I went for an interview where I mentioned discus, he would most likely hire me without looking at my credentials! So is the nature of our passion...
So as you can see, for me, the discus hobby is more than just fish and water, it is a micro community within a community. It brings people from all over god's wonderful world together with one common interest. I meet more and more discus people everyday and I am loving it! Networking is fantastic and I can't wait to learn more about fish and befriend many more people who share my passion. Now that I have been made moderator of this forum I feel that the passion is not dead but on the contrary, I realise that it is alive and kicking! growing day by day. More and more people that I meet are showing interest in my "round and colourful" pets.
Share your discus 6 degrees of separation story. It's interesting and amazing to see what a south american cichlid can achieve indirectly...
Chong :thumbsup: