Shout out to all my friends

Hi, my name is Tina. I spent many years on Simply Discus as Tag.

I met Barb Newell a very long time back. We became best friends and that included discus.

She certainly made keeping and breeding Discus, Angel's and bristlenose Plecos seem like such an easy task. After helping Barb for a very long time with her enormous fishroom, I decided to have my own.

I converted our dining room into a fish room which still confuses people when they visit 😊

At one time the walls were covered in a mosaic of different strains of Discus. Heaven on earth.

After losing Barb I brought her entire fishroom to my house. Quickly I realized that there was no keeping up between Barb's Discus and my own and I sold off everything for her children keeping Barb's favourite discus for my own.

Unfortunately it somehow made the grief less manageable and I packed it in and left the hobby. It was such a difficult time for me that I currently have no memory of the whole process.

Since then my passion has been saltwater. Expensive but it held my attention. We bought a seasonal property that eventually took us away from home for periods of time and left my oldest son managing my tanks with no experience or interest in fish of any kind so as you can imagine things didn't go well. I finally conceded to also leaving that behind.

Trying different fish thereafter, frontosa, African cichlids, south american cichlids, I woke up one day recently realizing that nothing has ever compared to Discus.

I'm telling you this because my passion for discus has not been just the discus it's the friendships that I made through the hobby that made it what it was for me so I'm hoping that some of my friends are still active here on simply.

I think those thoughts are the most personal I can say. I'm in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Where do I find myself a good start in discus? I know Bob at UpperCanada is within a couple of hours from me. Any other thoughts?


Thanks for reading. Hoping to connect with old friends and new.

Tina aka Tagprior

Hi Tina. I thought that I had been around for a long time but you were into Discus way before I started in 2001. I can't wait to follow your adventure!

BTW, I also know about strange looks. After I had to close my dog grooming shop due to back problems I converted my dining room into a grooming room.

I hope that I can become one of your new friends. I'm sure that there is a lot that I, and lots of others, have to learn from your experience with one of the hobby's best.

Hi �� yes I guess your dog grooming room is equally as different ��

Thanks for your reply. Nice to meet you ��

Oops my keyboard is doing some strange things. Those were meant to be smiles. Here's one to make up for it ;)

Hi Tina.

Welcome back to Simply Discus.

I didn't know Barb, except for searching for her posts on here and taking in the great information she provided for keeping discus. As a newbie at the time l learnt a lot from her, even being all the way down here in Australia. Im sure lots of others from all around the world did as well. As a result i have a plaque hanging on my wall next to my discus tank, which i won from the first Annual Discus Hobbyist Challenge made to recognize a Discus Enthusiasts Dedication to the Hobby...proudly given by Simplydiscus.con in honor of Barb Newell (1957-2007)....and this i am very proud of.

I can see that she touched you like she had many others on here. Like you i have made some friends on here over the year. I really hope you find what you are looking for.

Regards.

Joe

Hi Joe

That's wonderful. Thank you for telling me that. Everytime I'm in the company of Discus, I talk about Barb. Barb, her dedication to the hobby, her great length of experience remains ever present.

Her memory alive brings a very special warmth to me.

Good job Joe :) That's a very special award you received.

Welcome back Tina.

Thank you!

G'day Tina! Welcome back. Hope to learn from your wealth of experience and get to know you here. Peace

R.I.P. Barb.

Willie

Hi Tina, welcome back! I have been here since 2009 I believe. Yes, there is no other fish to compare with Discus, they draw you right back if you leave them. Long ago our dining room was my fishroom, with about 20 tanks. Hope to see you here a lot!
Another Barb