Years in the Discus hobby?

[brewmaster15]

I think we did this poll awhile ago, but site demographics are always changing so I thought we'd run it again.

-al

[the_oracle]

Been in this hobby for almost 9 years.

[gary1218]

I even remember the "discus-l" days :D

GARY

[jeep]

If you don't count the 25 year lay-off, then 2 years ???

[wildthing]

This thread should provide the opportunity for a little more creative revisionist history.....
;D ::) :balloon: :computer: :flame: :fried: :cowboy: :juggle: :jester: :puke: :mickey: :lickin: :smash: :sleep: :sick: :scared: :yikes: :spit: :soapbox: :lurk: :spank: :whip: :vanish:

[April]

ok..well..about 5 years for me..so i chose the 5-10 instead of the 3-5 as i remember mega history..seems ive seen alot of changes on the net since i started. from many new strains to many new and older people involved. ;D 8)
your right David..we could have a do you remember page..or a history page.

[DarkDiscus]

I remember this thread from before!

For me it's nearly 3 years with discus and I have been keeping and breeding fish all included now 25 years straight with a gap of about 2 years in college...

Wow. It has been a while!

I'm gonna stick with discus, though!

John

[SLY]

me I am in the hobby for almost 7 years..still a newbie..still have not achieve what I want to achieve so guess I will still be keeping discus for quite some times.

P.S I have seen people with 30 years experience but still give funny advises about discus or say some funny stuffs that are absolutely rubbish..it's not the amount of time you have had discus..it's the effort to learn about discus throughout the years. ;D

[Barb Newell]

2 years 4 months...

Barb

[lesley]

Hi guys,

I see a number of people with 10 years or more. I would be interested to know if the way you keep discus, i.e. water changes, pH, etc have altered with the wealth of information that now exists, or whether you still do what you have always done?

Lesley

[paulmat]

Since I was 11 yrs. old back in "68"
LOL

Paul

[Jean]

Alright Al...

Is this supposed to make us feel old??? http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15/15_2_120.gif ha ha haaa

Yeah, how do you count time 'off' anyway???

Jean ;D 8)

[Tad]

I have kept tropicals off and on since I was about 10 years old, including tetras, cichlids and salt water and I have been a keeper of discus for about 3 years... a "Newbie" in all facets....I figure it will be another 7 years of learning, trial and error before I can get my journeyman merit badge ;D

Tad

[henryD]

Henry the Newbie....need I say more.

[jeep]

That's why I didn't vote Jean. I was 13 when I left and I guess I knew more then than I know now ;D Or maybe I had better success because I didn't know anything at all ??? ;D

[Tad]

Or maybe I had better success because I didn't know anything at all ??? ;D


:-X ;D "I have to agree, sometimes ingnorance is bliss, I have the tendency to analyze till I'm paralyzed ;D :-X

[Condor]

The more answers I get, the more questions I have.

[sean buehrle]

ive asked this before on daah but who here remembers THE DISCUS CHANNEL on irc . i was there, were you.?

[strawman]

Wow!! I really feel old, Been 42 years for me. I'm sitting here thinking, I had the pleasure of meeting Jack Watley at his home and that was about 1984. 20 years ago

[Mr. Limpet]

Strawman, you take the cake!

It must have been slim pickings back then. I have almost 18 years, with only a couple of 12 month sabaticals in between.

It would be interesting to expand the poll to 15, 20 and 25 years.

Take care all,. Paul.

[CHEWAL]

It has been a very long time without telling how long when I started the only ones avail were heckels and royal blues ;D ;D

[brewmaster15]

Paul,
I'll have to run that pol another time. :)

I'm a newbie to some of you :) 10-15 years is my time...memory fades the older I get. I can only pinpoint it to the time I was living in the house with the low basement ceiling pipes ( the one I bumped my head on all the time)... Hey ?do I get bonus years added on for hours on simply :)

I know digital cameras were not around when some of you vintage hobbyyists were, but I'd really like to start a thread where you could post some pics from way back of the fish , tanks etc....any interest in that?

-al

[Cosmo]

Got my first Discus back around 1978 after seeing one in a friends tank. Had bred and raised Angels before that but quickly lost interest and started populating many tanks with Discus, which were VERY expensive and mostly wild back in those days. Looked to get back into Angel breeding a few years later only to learn there weren't many around due to the Angel plague that had ran around the world during my absence.

Had to shut down all the tanks on occassion, moves and personal distress after tragic stock losses (don't ask) but have had Discus tanks up and running since 78 except for a year or two total down time. Actually moved 6 adults from Chicago to Los Angeles in a Rubbermaid Trash can in the dead of winter with an inverter driven air pump and moving them into hotel rooms at night for warmth. Didn't lose a single fish on that one.

When I moved in with my fiancee, now wife, she forced me take down my 55 gal and give away my Discus :'( and swore she'd never allow a fish tank in our home. Guess I was really in love huh? :D

Anyway, on all the trips to the pet stores to buy supplies for our dog (now dogs) I always wandered over to the fish dept. and talked fondly about Discus, so, on Christmas of 2001, I opened my present and it was a book about DISCUS. Inside was a note that read "The tank will be delivered in 6 to 8 weeks" - six weeks later I had a 90gal acrylic setup and shortly after that I again had DISCUS :o ;D :D :D :D

We now have a 180 setup upstairs in the family room, the 90 is in the basement in my under construction fish room, along with a 30 and 4 20's - left room for the 75 gal grow out tank (but she doesn't know about this one yet :) ) PS. Tanks are all either filled with, or reserved for... you guessed it... DISCUS.

Guess I've been at it for awhile?

And... could I have married a more loving and caring woman???? DON'T THINK SO..... Lucky man am I !!

Jim

[Cosmo]

Al,

Regarding the old pics - that would be fun if we could find em, and if they haven't already deteriorated beyond recognition ;D
Guess we could scan them since they were all taken on "film", whatever that is

Jim

[Ardan]

I see some people have had discus a lot shorter time than I and have accomplished so much.

I have had them off and on since 1975??
I used to have gravel, wc once/wk , undergravel filter ;D
Now bb, wc daily, HOB filters

I think things are better now, better stock from Cary ;D
And this great website to learn from all the great people ;D

What great things we have now 8) 8) 8)
I have a lot to learn :o ;D

[gikkicat]

I ordered my first discus through mail order from the back of Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine, They came from Jack Wattley and were shipped through the mail. I got my first tank for christmas when iwas eight years old and have kept fish for 43 years. I have loved the adventure of seeing all the new strains develop along with the changes in equipment. My first tank was stainless with a slate bottom.

Hi, All:

I'm still a newbie. My anniversary is this week. My first trisome of Discus told by a not-so-close fish store that I have Wild Cobalts. LOL. Oh, well. Then two weeks from now will also be the first anniversary of three Goldens I've received from Heppner.

I'm always learning and faillessly integrating my ideas along with other folks' ideas. It's an endless databank going in my head, which is why I need a lappy to keep some of this data. LOL

*Angie*

[Mr. Limpet]

Well, Strawman still has the record for this post, But Arden, you have been around.

Brew, I know what you mean about exact dates. I have to reference how old my kids were at the time and subtract back to get an approximate date.

I know there are some others that have kept them longer. One of the owners of an LFS that I sell to had them back in the Fifties. Only Browns back then.
:) Paul.

[ddfish]

Been keeping Discus continuously since 1980, 24 years but who's counting.

Dick

[Cosmo]

wow.. stainless steel tank with a slate bottom... does that ever bring back memories :)

[Cosmo]

Hey Chewal - back then the royal blues weren't very blue either were they lol. a couple blue lines on the forehead was about the only thing that distinguished them from the browns back in those days.

Fishroom almost done (know I've been saying that for weeks, but ... whew... a lot of work!) I'll have to be stopping over soon.

Jim

[Steve_Warner]

Hi all,
Discus hobby..........'bout 9 years, fish hobby..............26 years. Holy crap, that sounds alot longer when I type it out :o


Steve

[amazing aquatics]

I got bit by the bug about 5 years ago. I always enjoyed looking at them but never bought any. Thought they were to rich for my blood. Then one day a person gave me a phone # and said call this person. It ended up being Cary Strong. He got me hooked and we ended up becoming good friends and now Partners. Now I have lots and lots of great Discus to look at everyday.

[ODwyerPW]

Discus 2 years - 10year break - 1year = 3years total
Fish Hobby: 25 years.

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

Goin' on 2 years this October......

-Ryan

[Discus_KC]

A little over 3 years with a year vacation ;D ;D ;D ;D

All inclusive !!!!

[Jeff]

I have only kept discus for a little over 2 years now. Before that it was other tropicals. I do have to agree with Sly though; it's not how long it's what you have learned.

The 2 most important things I have learned with discus are:

1. There are many ways to correctly do accomplish your goals.
2. Don’t get set in your ways. This is an ever-changing industry. You need to be open to other ideas, suggestions, and new products as they are presented to you.

[April]

wow..alot of old folgies around here. lol.
im impressed..
i believe alot of us started with tropicals as kids..and have gotten a passion for them. im sure most of us have taken tanks down..moved.. new tanks up again..many times over. seems you need breaks or somethin comes up everynow and then..but seems most of the time you end up back at it. love setting up a new tank..clean water..sparkling clean..and of course..the little scuba diver bubbler in the center on the pink gravel all ready for fish. ;D 8)

[crimson cross]

Discus has been my passion, but still a newbie in experience and knowledge.

[simply_fishlover]

I have been playing with fish for over 12 years. I started with a 55 gallons and some comets and goldfish. A koi pond in the backyard. Then we moved to a bigger house. I am currrently owning a 300 gallons tank, 180 gallons tank, 140 gallons discus tank and a bigger koi pond in the backyard.

[Fons_van_der_Hart]

Aquaria in general > 35 years.
First Discus - appr. 1973.
Serious in Discus since mai 1992

Fons.


Hmm these kind of topics makes me feel rather old :)

[Howie_W]

Mentally I've been enjoying fish since the late 50's... ;)

I made the mistake of reading about Discus over five years ago.

I've tried getting out of the hobby, but it's just not possible...
Just when I thought I was out, they keep pulling me back in! :vanish:

Howie

[Anonapersona]

I'm very, very new to discus -- I got my discus from Dan at Gulf Coast Discus the first of June, so this is now 3 months that I've had discus.

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Post some pics Ann

dan

[Anonapersona]

Post some pics Ann

dan


will do, see my new post in the photos section.

[fishfarm]

Hmmm, Now I feel old, I started keeping fish in 1960 (That's 44 years, ouch!) My first discus were some wild blues in about 1969-70. They died quickly, I got some fish from Wattley in the late 70's and have had discus just about continuously every since. These were also the first discus I ever bred, got maybe 10 fry, Thought I was something. LOL.

[kpix99]

I'm not so sure that I'm ready to admit my age. ;D