Guests and Lurkers.. or .....non posters

[scotz]

Ok - OK I guess I will identify myself. My name is Scott, I'm 44, been married for 24 yrs this yr, have 3 kids - 1 married, 1 done with college and working and not living at home , 1 just finished high school and living at home for now. My occupation is a corn geneticist - heh I breed corn - actually quite a cool job! I travel quite a bit with my job so I get to see quite a bit of the country. I have kept fish since I was 5 yrs old - even in college (I was the guy with the fish tank in his dorm room). I used to raise angelfish while in grad school for extra cash, but for the last 15 yrs have been dabbling in salt water, reef, africans, tetra's, guppies, and now discus. I am dumping the africans ;D and moving to discus. I am quite excited about getting in. Hope to make some new friends 8). Scott

[brewmaster15]

April,
 This post was a great Idea! Last Time  I moved  it took the community welcome wagon 2 years to find us, and heres April  doing it under a month! ;D

 Welcome       everyone!   :sunshine: :sunshine:  Anybody out there still lurking? Say  HELLO!  You can post here as  a guest if you feel better about it,  or sign on as a member. The choice is yours. But  if I was  you I would sign on,  as  our next Discus contest is going to be announced  soon, and  discus are the reason you are lurking , aren't they?    Face  it , you are addicted and  need help, we know the only cure, but cant share it with you if  we don't know who you are! ???

Seriously,  welcome everyone!
-al

[April]

yah......this is great fun!! Welcome Scott....if your a geneticist......then you ought to have a great time with discus genetics......same thing.....different shape! oh....and they may have a bit more personality than your corn! but Im sure your quite proud of your corn accomplishments also!
NOw get going and get some more Discus to play genetics on! And be sure to enter our up and coming contest!  ;D
maybe you can help us all out on genetics in a bit!
Oh Scott....I can tell you what the next step in this addiction will be.....you wont go on any travel work trips without first finding out which of us discus phenatics you can go visit when you get there! anytime anyone says thier going on a trip now.....I think who do I know there?

[brewmaster15]

Scott,
   thats phenatics  for you phenotypes!

CT has a bit of history in the Corn genetics.The Connecticut Agricultural experiment Station did some some  pioneer work decades ago.  Dekalb is located here.  If you ever make out  this way let me  know!
-al

[DarkDiscus]

Scott,

Yeah, what Al said.  If you ever make it out to CT, there are at least 2 discus junkies out here to visit with!  Welcome to the board!  Now you not only get to read the posts, but you have a bunch of lunatics who know who you are as well!

John

[April]

Oh....and don't forget Vancouver.....not sure how we are on corn.....but our Fraser Valley is all corn....and everyone swears our Chilliwack corn is the best ever! NO one can live without it! I for one would like to know if we have something special or we're full of it!
Oh your moneys worth lots up here! LOL.
Oh a friend of mine here had an ethanol plant in Montana. Brimm energy. But he sold it. Made from corn.
ok whos next?
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Ardan]

Hi Everybody,
Thank you so much for the kind and warm welcome.
April,I think your kids could be on to something with the grey hair. I'll keep track in my fishkeeping records. HE HE
And welcome to all the rest of you coming aboard!

One question ???, How long am I doomed to carry the title of "lurker" ?....... alright, alright......please turn off the bright aquarium light...... I was lurking.   You caught me. HE HE HE
Carol, I do like that bio section too, can learn about everyone and their backrounds. Now if I can only start remembering it all. A lot of interesting and friendly people here. Sure a lot of knowledge to share.
Matt, Al , Don and Dan, sounds like I sure can learn a lot from all of you. Thanks much for the welcome.
Your friend
Ardan

[April]

Ardan  .......you have already lost your lurker status!! YOu are one of us now!! Also the rest of you new guys who become brave! We promise to never breathe the word lurker to you again! LOl.
;D
We really are here to help the beginnners and the hobbyists and even ones with no discus yet! That is what we want for this forum.
I know i was very intimidated at first.....and my bestest buddy Ed.......aka goldfish in a bowl.....emailed me and welcomed me and I felt like it wasnt so scary after that! we now really are best buddies....and I thank her !
Thanks Karen! Through her I got to meet alot of other people who she encouraged me to email or post to. and I have met many other great people. And lately ive had a few come to vancouver.....and it was great meeting them and we had no shortage of things to say to each other....as we all know alot of the same people and of course we love the same fish! ;D

Hi Scotz,
how about breeding discus and their genetics, are you currently doing any (selective) breeding? etc?

thanks = )

[scotz]

Thanks everybody for welcoming me on. You my live to regret it though   ! Currently I am not working on any discus genetics but you can bet I soon will be - ok maybe in a couple of months - I guess that depends on the fish   . I do travel out to the east coast a couple of times a year - so you guys on the east coast look out I may stop by - don't worry I always bring presents!! I do most of my traveling around the midwest however. Always on the lookout for a new fish store - you know how it goes - check out and see what's new, buy some stuff, then rush home and try to put it away before the wife finds out   Oh well, once again thanks to all.

  Scot  

[harryJ]

Hey Matt, just keep at it and pretty soon your wife will come around and start loving those discus. I can almost guarantee it because Karin did it to me.   Since then she has had me in Canada, Oregon and who knows where we will go next. And the thing is I love it and you meet so many nice people. 8) 8) Hang in there Harry

[April]

Scot......if your wife doesnt come around......theres a thread on this forum just for her! theres  a wife of fish husbands support group!!!! . Debbie Burney wants to get togeather with or talk to other wives.. who want  to talk about anything other than fish!  ;D

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Scott:
There hasn't been much work done on discus genetics (at least not published). I hope you do become involved with that area and start sorting it out for all of us . . .
Carol

[jim_shedden]

Ok , I guess that I should throw my hat into the ring, after all you folks have helped me out tremendously. My name is Jim, I am 45, divorced, living with a significant other (is that how you say it?). I have 3 great kids of which 2 live with me (water changers) and the other is playing baseball in the states. I am a retired professional ball player. I came back to Canada after my career ended because of injury. Ironically, I have been in every state in the US but I have only been as far west in Canada as Winnipeg. So April, I will have to come and visit (your fish). As for a living, I am a polymer specialist. I work with the Pulp & Paper companies and the mining companies helping them prevent chemical spills with polymer tank linings and stuff like that. I originally started breeding discus when I was 16, totally by accident. It seemed that everything I put in this tank had babies so the pet store gave me 2 brown discus and said that if I can get these to breed he would give me a 50 gal. tank. Well, they bred. I have been away from hobby for sometime because of travelling but now things are more stable and I can look after them. I picked up a 90 gallon tank and saved a couple of discus from a lfs and I was hooked again. A couple of months ago I drove 9 hours down and 9 hours back to visit Cary and picked up 9 beautiful fish and thats were I am today. I really appreciate the help and no bs that this forum has to offer, you folks are great. By the way I live in Sudbury, Ontario.

Thanks : Jim

wow, what a group of lurkers so far! jim, next time you make a trip to toronto, look me up, although i haven't yet found those fish you were looking for on your last trip, ive got some for sale if you are interested. there are a LOT of retired professional baseball players in torono, it is too bad a lot of them are playing for the bluejays. they don't seem too injured, they just can't or won't play. glad you got some fish from cary, you will be very happy!

steelhead a buddy of mine does metal fab, awnings, railings, production lines etc. have you dropped any pieces on molten metal into your shorts lately. he did. actually in his shirt, and out of his boot. OUCH!! it burned all the way down. he he. there's a mental picture for you huh?

hey joan, you got some of those pidgeon snakes from cary too? i got a bunch of them, and have some very interesting fish growing out here. i'll try to post some pics, maybe you'd like to too? (i'll show you mine if you show me yours.)

gee a corn geneticist, i have some experience in corn. 'take my wife- PLEASE!' it is nice to have some rep's from the scientific community, there is a lot of stuff we get stumped on that is likely fairly simple given the right kind of logic.

and a tip for all of those people whose significant others are not into the fish thing... you are not doing it right. start them with the 'necessary feedings' when you are not there, making sure that they watch the fish carefully and report back as to what happened. listen intently, and give a few tips for what to watch out for next time, how to feed properly, etc. once they are hooked, all you have to do is keep reeling them in. after that it is all uphill! seriously, it is nice to share the 'looking at the fish' thing with the wife, it makes it more fun.

have a nice day,
rick hawkins
toronto, canada