How did this happen?

[Jenene]

Did this title peak your interest? Good!

I am almost at my one year anniversary of receiving my first discus from Kenny. I try to think back before I had them and became so involved in this community and I have a hard time remembering what life was like before discus and how did I even wind up here? So I thought what a great thread. Everyone just jumps in new or returning but no one ever tells us their unique story. Discus are not well known. You really need to discover them. Once discovered, there arises the need to own some, and then more. All the way learning what it takes to keep them and keep them well.

An unexpected benefit was all the people I have met and the friends I have made. Great friends. Some I have never met in person but it doesn't seem to matter. If I have a question or need help they are there. I am here for them if they have an issue, an accomplishment or just need to vent. My life has changed so drastically. I have never been happier. This energy has trickled down into every aspect of my life. I am happier, healthier and much more social. These fish and their people have had an enormous impact on my life. Who knew?

So how did you stumble across these unusual creatures? I think it will be some interesting fodder for posting. I will start.

I worked in a small family owned pet shop in a mall ( I will put it out there since I am not acting my age these days anyway...) back in the 80's. Back then there were a few wilds in the tanks. They were pretty. I was enthralled but I knew they were "extremely hard to keep". I knew my limits. I had a 10 gallon tank in my room and that would not suffice so I just admired them from afar and life took me far away from them. Fast forward (really fast) to last summer. We had a community tank built into our wall between the family room and the living room. I had kept big fish in there. Fish you could see from across the house. Pacus, big Tin Foil Barbs, large, normal fish. I was not overjoyed by the tank and tended to let it go. It was getting ugly and neglected and since it was the center of the house I needed to fix it up. I started a Google search and boom! There was that NADA picture of the colorful discus all lined up. I knew immediately that was my next move. Everything I read became more and more prohibitive. The size of the tank, cost of the fish, the water parameters, the feeding, water changes, filtration..it went on and on- but I was determined. The discus bug had bitten hard and fast. With the help of this forum and a big hand up from Kenny Cheung, Al and the members and moderators here, I did it. I have the most beautiful collection of domestic discus that I could have ever dreamed of. I have eight in my main display and two very new additions in my QT that I will be sharing in another post. I have also talked my husband into cutting the hole in the wall 2 feet more for a 125 gallon tank. He has yet to learn I will need a new sump as well. One step at a time...

These fish are in my blood forever. I actually worry about the day I will be too old and feeble to care for them. That is hopefully a long way off but it just goes to show you how important they are in my life. They came along at the perfect time as both of my kids were off to college. I needed something to nurture and I found the perfect fit.

So what is your story? How did you find discus? Are you new to the hobby or have you returned after having had them years before? Share your history and I won't be surprised to see a lot of common ground here. The ground on which we all stand and share in this great community of discus keepers. I am looking forward to hearing your "love at first sight" stories or maybe they just landed in your lap.... Whose next?

[Ryan925]

Did this title peak your interest? Good!

I am almost at my one year anniversary of receiving my first discus from Kenny. I try to think back before I had them and became so involved in this community and I have a hard time remembering what life was like before discus and how did I even wind up here? So I thought what a great thread. Everyone just jumps in new or returning but no one ever tells us their unique story. Discus are not well known. You really need to discover them. Once discovered, there arises the need to own some, and then more. All the way learning what it takes to keep them and keep them well.

An unexpected benefit was all the people I have met and the friends I have made. Great friends. Some I have never met in person but it doesn't seem to matter. If I have a question or need help they are there. I am here for them if they have an issue, an accomplishment or just need to vent. My life has changed so drastically. I have never been happier. This energy has trickled down into every aspect of my life. I am happier, healthier and much more social. These fish and their people have had an enormous impact on my life. Who knew?

So how did you stumble across these unusual creatures? I think it will be some interesting fodder for posting. I will start.

I worked in a small family owned pet shop in a mall ( I will put it out there since I am not acting my age these days anyway...) back in the 80's. Back then there were a few wilds in the tanks. They were pretty. I was enthralled but I knew they were "extremely hard to keep". I knew my limits. I had a 10 gallon tank in my room and that would not suffice so I just admired them from afar and life took me far away from them. Fast forward (really fast) to last summer. We had a community tank built into our wall between the family room and the living room. I had kept big fish in there. Fish you could see from across the house. Pacus, big Tin Foil Barbs, large, normal fish. I was not overjoyed by the tank and tended to let it go. It was getting ugly neglected and since it was the center of the house I needed to fix it up. I started a Google search and boom! There was that NADA picture of the colorful discus all lined up. I knew immediately that was my next move. Everything I read became more and more prohibitive. The size of the tank, cost of the fish, the water parameters, the feeding, water changes, filtration..it went on and on- but I was determined. The discus bug had bitten hard and fast. With the help of this forum and a big hand up from Kenny Cheung, Al and the members and moderators here, I did it. I have the most beautiful collection of domestic discus that I could have ever dreamed of. I have eight in my main display and two very new additions in my QT that I will be sharing in another post. I have also talked my husband into cutting the hole in the wall 2 feet more for a 125 gallon tank. He has yet to learn I will need a new sump as well. One step at a time...

These fish are in my blood forever. I actually worry about the day I will be too old and feeble to care for them. That is hopefully a long way off but it just goes to show you how important they are in my life. They came along at the perfect time as both of my kids were off to college. I needed something to nurture and I found the perfect fit.

So what is your story? How did you find discus? Are you new to the hobby or have you returned after having had them years before? Share your history and I won't be surprised to see a lot of common ground here. The ground on which we all stand and share in this great community of discus keepers. I am looking forward to hearing your "love at first sight" stories or maybe they just landed in your lap.... Whose next?

We must have mind melded or something. I swear I was thinking of the same idea yesterday!

For me my son was given a 10g fish tank for Christmas. We went down to our lfs to stock the tank and saw discus for the first time. The lfs breeds stendkers. We ended up getting a single young fry. Unfortunately we knew nothing about discus and were not given any instruction of their special needs. We very much enjoyed watching the fish get color and pattern. Unfortunately after a year we lost the fish.

Once I started reading more about discus I was sad to find out we had done everything wrong for this fish. I was sad to pool back at an old photo and see how terribly stunted and misshapen he was.

I knew we loved discus and wanted to do things right and be successful. That's where I eventually stumbled upon this forum and found out about Kenny. The rest is history

[Jenene]

That is a great story Ryan! Funny you had the same idea. Great minds! Thanks for sharing- one of my very first buddys on the forum. A perfect start.

Whose next?

[Kyla]

My story is quite shameful. I first read about discus in a magazine as a kid. I was intrigued but intimidated by the article.

A decade later I bought 2 huge discus from our LFS for my heavily planted 55gal. They started laying eggs every couple weeks! It was amazing to see their parenting! I was in love. But they never ate. I tried flake, pellet and frozen food without success. When they started losing weight I returned them to the store, humbled that the article was right - discus were way beyond my skill level...

Another decade later I bought 4 baby discus from a Kijiji ad for my heavily planted 80gal. One died immediately and the others weren't far behind, skittish, refusing to eat, chasing non-stop... Determined to make it work this time, I started asking other discus owners on Facebook for help but I hated the advice I got: increase water changes and remove the substrate. It went against everything I knew. Bare tanks? Water changes EVERY day?? That's insane!

I was ignorant and stubborn. Maybe I just needed more discus? I jumped in on a local discus group-order. The new discus all arrived with chilodonella(?) which we battled for 2 months. My lone discus survivor was later euthanized. So I ordered more discus.

Problems persisted. Thats when I started reading Simply Discus as a guest, but I still had more lessons to learn the hard way... I was curious how BB would look, so I removed a small area of my deep substrate. That was dumb! The next day most of my discus were dead, prob from toxins in the substrate. So I ordered more discus.

I was sensing a pattern and starting to hate discus, but I was hopelessly hooked. Eventually I got my act together and joined this forum. Lots of discus died needlessly along the way. Every lesson was a hard one. Not a glorious intro. I try to make up for it by sharing what I learned so others might not have to make the same mistakes. Now when you see me pushing BB and wc, u know it's because so many of my discus died for that lesson....

[Keith Perkins]

Not that it's a bad idea, but...

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...42#post1266342

[Ryan925]

Not that it's a bad idea, but...

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...42#post1266342

I think is more what got you into discus and not a personal history

I think it's interesting to know how a person first came to discus being a person that never saw one til a couple years ago

[Jenene]

Lol! Keith stirring the pot! Yes, Ryan and I are interested in the more precise moment of discovering discus. Not so much in personal history, although very interesting, knew that had been done. I thought to search for an old thread but have been on a while and hadn't seen one. Even if there was why not start a new one for the newer folks? I am already intrigued by the last two posts.

So jump on in Keith! I am sure your moment is pretty interesting as well!

[Jenene]

My story is quite shameful. I first read about discus in a magazine as a kid. I was intrigued but intimidated by the article.

A decade later I bought 2 huge discus from our LFS for my heavily planted 55gal. They started laying eggs every couple weeks! It was amazing to see their parenting! I was in love. But they never ate. I tried flake, pellet and frozen food without success. When they started losing weight I returned them to the store, humbled that the article was right - discus were way beyond my skill level...

Another decade later I bought 4 baby discus from a Kijiji ad for my heavily planted 80gal. One died immediately and the others weren't far behind, skittish, refusing to eat, chasing non-stop... Determined to make it work this time, I started asking other discus owners on Facebook for help but I hated the advice I got: increase water changes and remove the substrate. It went against everything I knew. Bare tanks? Water changes EVERY day?? That's insane!

I was ignorant and stubborn. Maybe I just needed more discus? I jumped in on a local discus group-order. The new discus all arrived with chilodonella(?) which we battled for 2 months. My lone discus survivor was later euthanized. So I ordered more discus.

Problems persisted. Thats when I started reading Simply Discus as a guest, but I still had more lessons to learn the hard way... I was curious how BB would look, so I removed a small area of my deep substrate. That was dumb! The next day most of my discus were dead, prob from toxins in the substrate. So I ordered more discus.

I was sensing a pattern and starting to hate discus, but I was hopelessly hooked. Eventually I got my act together and joined this forum. Lots of discus died needlessly along the way. Every lesson was a hard one. Not a glorious intro. I try to make up for it by sharing what I learned so others might not have to make the same mistakes. Now when you see me pushing BB and wc, u know it's because so many of my discus died for that lesson....

Kayla, thank you so much for sharing your story. A very valuable one that you see happen here often. You are not alone. I can see myself having gone down that path but for 2 reasons did not. First I could not keep a planted tank alive to save my life. Ryan knows. I have joked about forgetting to water them. Second back in the day I did not have the monetary funds to buy one discus let alone group after group. Baby sitters back then made $1 per hour. �� My point is if those factors had been different our stories may have been similar only I would have done it way more because there was no internet to get any kind of help! I do believe I saw a thread about keeping discus before the help of the web. Thanks Kyla!

Who's next?

[two utes]

Nice thread Jenene.

After moving into this house 25 years ago i saw the need to have a tank set up in a certain place. With the help of my local fish shop, l bought and setup my first tank, but not sure what to put in it. The day came when the guy at the fish shop told me that my tank was ready for fish and to pick some from the tropical fish section. Guppies, Angles, Swords, Neons, and the usual assortment for a community fish tank.....but what did i do....l went straight to the discus tank and said i wanted them . He tried to steer me away saying they are to hard for a beginner to keep, but l bought them anyways, but he was right, and l did not do well raising them, so l searched for answers which bought me here....But my story dosn't end there. 15 or so years later, my wife and l went to for a holiday to my homeland of Malta, and while visiting my uncle he said that he had something for me that belonged to a deceased uncle of mine. I remember him from when i was very young. He had tanks throughout my grand mothers house . They were everywhere! My uncle gave me the package and told me that when i was a little boy this was always with me and he would read from it at bedtime. It was my deceased uncle's tropical fish book, and on the cover had a beautiful discus, and i had only seen any in real life that day i was made to pick some fish for my first tank....Go figure?

[Ryan925]

Nice thread Jenene.

After moving into this house 25 years ago i saw the need to have a tank set up in a certain place. With the help of my local fish shop, l bought and setup my first tank, but not sure what to put in it. The day came when the guy at the fish shop told me that my tank was ready for fish and to pick some from the tropical fish section. Guppies, Angles, Swords, Neons, and the usual assortment for a community fish tank.....but what did i do....l went straight to the discus tank and said i wanted them . He tried to steer me away saying they are to hard for a beginner to keep, but l bought them anyways, but he was right, and l did not do well raising them, so l searched for answers which bought me here....But my story dosn't end there. 15 or so years later, my wife and l went to for a holiday to my homeland of Malta, and while visiting my uncle he said that he had something for me that belonged to a deceased uncle of mine. I remember him from when i was very young. He had tanks throughout my grand mothers house . They were everywhere! My uncle gave me the package and told me that when i was a little boy this was always with me and he would read from it at bedtime. It was my deceased uncle's tropical fish book, and on the cover had a beautiful discus, and i had only seen any in real life that day i was made to pick some fish for my first tank....Go figure?

Great story Joe

[Phillydubs]

Fun Topic...!

I feel like most/many of us all sort of start out the same way, which is the WRONG WAY! Lol, but most of us ended up here or somewhere to grow and learn and do it right. Truly showing who we are as people, aquarist and in life.

I, like most, started by seeing discus in a picture and in magazine ad's and articles that got me hooked. The shape, size, color, temperament and just majestic presence lured me to the fish, like it seems to do most who lay eyes on it. Getting them however, was a whole other ball game. I used to read and subscribe to all those aquatic magazines. Although I am not that old, yet I feel like it and I have had the internet in my back pocket for what seems like forever, I still loved and at times still do, to this day, to have the paper mag, the glossy pictures and just the purity of the tangible read. I recall ad's for Wattley some ten years ago that would draw me. I don't even know if Jack was running things then, or if it was the new guys, yet they always seemed to be in there. I don't even recall how it happened, but I had a buddy who knew I loved and kept fish. He had a cousin who wanted fish and specifically discus. Somehow we connected and I told him about Wattley. He actually lived in florida and took a ride over and got him some discus. I sort of lived vicariously through him for a while. He took to it well and was breeding himself and really immersed in the hobby, it was nice to see and I felt like I helped without really knowing what I did by leading him to a good source and not some shabby LFS or anything like that, at this time not even knowing how this craziness worked with breeders and importers and all that.

I always had a tank of something or some creatures all my life. Oscars mostly, then African cichlids from malwai which were my passion for a while. I'd say about 5-6 years ago now or so, if I recall correctly. A friend was moving and gave me my first 72 bowfront for the simple task of breaking it down and hauling it away. I gladly accepted and moved all my africans to this tank. I had this weirdly shaped tall 39 gallon tank I was using and it sat empty for a few weeks until I said I need to fill this thing. At this time I was ordering african cichlids online and had been a member of a cichlid forum as well. For the life of me I still can't understand why I didn't use that knowledge as a bridge into discus. I guess we all get just giddy and sometimes dumb when we want something and make impulse purchases. I went to a local petland here and laid my eyes on 3 blue diamonds. They had a buy 2 get one free sale going on and so the $59.99 stunted garbage discus they had seemed dooable for me and off I went. 3 fish, poor quality, no real idea how to keep them, but I had them!

So, long story short, I backed my big arse into this forum as they started to get sick, not eat, fight, darken and all the sure tale signs that I was royally f'ing up. Even once here, I still got my 2nd group from a local importer, not a sponsor. The fish were ok, people here had mixed reviews about him but I "HAD TO SEE THE FISH OF COURSE BEFORE BUYING" lol... Those fish were decent and doing ok, until one night in my early must do a water change no matter what phase when I was downright exhausted and did a 1 am change, yet never plugged any pumps or filters back in and prob didn't add much prime if any to my tap juice, oy, passed out on the couch until I awoke to splashing and jumping and dead fish. That prompted me to really want to buckle down and do it right.

I ordered some fish from an old importer here by the name of Mike Beals. That is when I truly understood what a discus was. He sent me MONSTERS. they were the prettiest things I ever set sight on. It still took me time and a lot of mistakes and stubbornness to even somewhat get it right, which I still don't think I do, I def don't kill them at the rate I used to and thats a plus....

I am a discus lifer, I can't see myself without at least one tank of these...

[Bizarro252]

Hey everyone!
I had fish when I was younger, but didnt really know what I was doing. About 3 years ago I got the bug again, no idea why, the wife was taking a nap and I showed up out of the blue with a 40gal tank. That turned into a pretty decent community but I stumbled into a real LFS that specialized in african cichlids - I wanted them BAD but couldnt keep them with my other fish, and that tank would have been to small anyways for the mbuna group I wanted.

I eventually heard that store was going out of business I went down to check it out and he had all his tanks for sale, there was a 75gal and stand that was in pretty good shape, just scratched up. Bought it and the owner was nice enough to set me up with some seeded sponges. Set the tank up and waited a week per his instruction and bought a load of mbuna all at once (luckily those sponges he gave me were nice and seeded, didnt have any sizable mini cycle at all).

I fell in love with how much more active and interesting they were that my community fish! I figured I would be into cichlids forever at that point.

I knew that discus exisisted but not much else until I came across Al's talk on youtube, I think it was hosted on the King of DIY's channel on youtube. I was to scared to get discus before I watched that, I figured I would have to be retired before I could get them, invest in RO, etc etc etc. But Al and Joey set me straight - which also led me here. I think I did some reading for 2 weeks or so before deciding I wanted to pull the trigger.

Got myself a 55gal as I couldn't really find room for something much larger, and got it all set up, seeded it with media from my Mbuna tank since I had not lost a fish due to disease in that tank ever, only to fighting Posted me plan on here and I think it was Discus Paul who replied first, made me feel pretty awesome when even he said it looked like I had done my research and looked to be on the right track!

Ordered from Hans and have been very happy with the decision, learned many things about water as well. Figured out a way to get rid of Nitrates in my tap without going to RO, and many other things that I didnt know.

If we end up building a house for our next home a built in 125+ gallon discus tank is going to be the first thing I design in!

[Jenene]

Nice post Matt! I love that Al's video was what set you in motion. It has been fun watching you figure out those nitrate issues and conquer.

You set the bar for taking such good care of all of your fish.

To make the end even sweeter I had found another great friend. ��

[Jenene]

Love your story too Phil. This is exactly what I was hoping to discover. Everyone had such a different start. Thanks for posting!

[Jenene]

Nice thread Jenene.

After moving into this house 25 years ago i saw the need to have a tank set up in a certain place. With the help of my local fish shop, l bought and setup my first tank, but not sure what to put in it. The day came when the guy at the fish shop told me that my tank was ready for fish and to pick some from the tropical fish section. Guppies, Angles, Swords, Neons, and the usual assortment for a community fish tank.....but what did i do....l went straight to the discus tank and said i wanted them . He tried to steer me away saying they are to hard for a beginner to keep, but l bought them anyways, but he was right, and l did not do well raising them, so l searched for answers which bought me here....But my story dosn't end there. 15 or so years later, my wife and l went to for a holiday to my homeland of Malta, and while visiting my uncle he said that he had something for me that belonged to a deceased uncle of mine. I remember him from when i was very young. He had tanks throughout my grand mothers house . They were everywhere! My uncle gave me the package and told me that when i was a little boy this was always with me and he would read from it at bedtime. It was my deceased uncle's tropical fish book, and on the cover had a beautiful discus, and i had only seen any in real life that day i was made to pick some fish for my first tank....Go figure?

I love your story Joe. At first I thought you were going to say he was giving you a package meaning a tank setup. My mind was trying to figure out how you would get it home from Malta. This is the sleep starved brain effect! I LOVE that is was a beloved childhood book with memories still tucked between the pages. Just beautiful. Thank you.