NOVEMBER SPOTLIGHT - SLY

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Q - I really don't know too much about Sly the person, other than he always has pics of incredible fish. Please tell us all a little about yourself. Single, married, attached? Other hobbies? Any significant non-discus achievements you want to brag about?

A - As some of you know my real name is Louis. I am 29. A true bred Singaporean, married for 4 years to my lovely wife Celia. I am currently working as a Network Engineer in an IT firm. Other than keeping discus my other hobbies
are playing computer games, football(Soccer), pool Snooker) and most of the ball games.

So far my happiest moment is setting up the oceandiscus.com website and forum for Ahkai and also Aquarealms.com discus section. It gives me a chance to
interact with many hobbyists and breeders around the world and also promoting the hobby in Singapore and around the world at the same time. I have so far managed to convert a few planted guys to discus so I guess that
is a small achievement. Don will not like to hear this! lol.

Q - I know absolutely nothing about Singapore. If you can tell us the basics and WHY is it that breeders there seem to have such success?

A - Singapore is a small island located in South East Asia with 3 million in population. It is a small country compare to many others. Singapore is also the place where Aquarama is being held every 2 years. The success of keeping
discus here is no secret. Its the water quality that enables us to do w/c straight from tap as ph is always stable around 6 to 7. Dedication from our pioneer breeders like the Gan brothers, Mr See Cheow San,Teh Kai Hong, Lee
Tong Juan, Chai Koon Seng and more was also one of the reasons why we had so much success with discus today. The book "Singapore Discus" will tell you more about Singapore discus scene during the early 80s. I have to say the pioneers have make it easier with their hardwork and good advices for the new generation breeders and hopefully the good work will continue.

Q - How did you get into discus? Where was the first discus you saw? How long had you been into fish before you took up discus? When did you decide you want to breed them?

A - I kept different kind of tropical fishes since I was young but never discus as they are not cheap and we always have the conception of them being expensive and hard to take care of. I got my first few discus 7 years ago
when one of our neighbors decided to give up the hobby because he had to take care of his wife who was diagnoised with bone cancer. It was a sad decision for him, but with his wife laying on the sick bed most of the
time he had no choice but to give those discus away. We were one of the lucky families that got some of his tanks and beautiful discus. From then on my dad, mom and myself took turns doing w/c and feeding them. We were lucky that time as we had no major illnesses to deal with and the fish remained healthy.

It was only during 1998-1999 when I got my own apartment with my wife after our marriage that we decided to get a tank and brought the discus back to
my place as my mom was only interested in parrot fish*yikes*. I have to say if it wasn't for my wifes encouragement to take up the hobby again, I
would not have done it. Believe it or not when I first had those discus it was a planted tank. Not heavily planted, but with gravel and some plants. I was having a hard time cleaning out my tank as uneaten food were mostly
trapped in the gravel and diseases such as gill flukes, ick and more were creating havok in my tank. That was when my wife suggested that I should find out more info about discus on the internet if I want to solve those
problems. After visiting most of the discus websites I was more or less enlightened that keeping discus with gravel and plants was not an easy task and immediately removed all the plants and gravel. I cleaned out the whole tank and did a few 100% w/c. Things improved after a week, but by then I had lost a few fish.

The more I read about discus, be it books, internet or thru interaction with other hobbyists, the more I get obsessed with their beauty. Soon my home was flooded with more
tanks and then the discus started breeding. My first pair was a red german turq with a red spotted green. Although they bred successfully, the male ate the fry due to some
disturbance. It was one of the experiences that left me wondering if we should leave the pair alone during spawning and while they were tending to the fry rather than trying to screen the eggs.

Q - What were the major obstacles involved in setting up as a breeder? Any advice for aspiring breeders - including any tips, thoughts on making it easier or anything else?

A - It's not always rosy but once you get it right including water parameters, tanks set up, and the right pairings you should be able to get started. Breeding discus is no longer a secret. You can get tips everywhere on the internet.
Always keep your breeding tanks clean. Scrub them every day if you can. A breeding PVC or brick should be placed at the center of the tank most of the time to allow the pair to choose the right spot no matter which way they are facing. Always make sure you leave enough space for them. If
the space is too cramped, the female might not be able to lay the eggs in a proper manner and the male might have problem fertilizing them.

Q - How many pairs do you currently have producing? How many tanks? Can you tell us about your hatchery/fishroom set up and design? Any tips for building our own setups?

A - Currently I have two breeding pairs which are breeding and producing. The problem with breeding discus and selecting the good ones is that it requires plenty of
time and tank space which I am lacking right now. I have 8 tanks, a mixture of 2ft and 3 ft tanks. I might be setting up an overflow system for every tank if I can and also a piping system which enable me to change water for all the tanks at the same time without running with hose all over
the house. Roy would be helping me to setup those piping system once my new tanks are up as he's more familiar with these systems. Hopefully I can get another six 3ft tanks up and running in the next month or so.


Q - Your fish always look incredible. They have received some great praise from folks here on the site, so tell us more about your breeding plan. What strains are you the most happy with? Which do you think need some work?
What strain/s do you like best, personally? Do you have any breeding goals?

A - Thanks for the compliments. To be frank, I am still a newbie and still learning every day. My breeding goals are to produce some strains like a pure golden spotted snake, yellow white spotted and white spotted but all these
have to be done with selective breeding as in only breeding the best to achieve results and I am sure it would take a few generations or even several years to get them right. This is something I am still working on. Personally I like the white as they have the angelic look and spotted fish
because of the breathtaking patterns and the fact that every spotted fishes looks different. You wouldn't be able to find identical twins. So I would like to create a strain that has the combo of both.

Q - Any tips on breeding or raising discus? Please give us something we can use!

A - I believe dedication plays a very big part in breeding and raising discus. To breed you need patience. To raise them you need dedication. As long as you do what you have to do, the results will show. Balanced diet and
regular water changes are the key. No matter how dead tired I am, I still do w/c for my fishes every night before I go to bed.

If you want your discus to grow fast make sure you do not feed them after your last w/c if you are doing a couple of small w/c a day. That is why I will always do w/c in the nighttime. For growout I feed them beefheart
most of the time to get the thickness and shape.

Never stop learning. I have never stop asking questions and the internet forums do give me tons of good tips and idea of how to improve my knowledge on keeping discus. But then again you need to judge the advice yourself. What works for others might not work for you.

Q - What do you feed your discus?

A - I feed my discus various kinds of food including beefheart as the main course, plus Tetrabits, Sera bits and frozen bloodworms as treat. Sometimes frozen brine shrimp.

Q - What is your most exhilarating moment with discus? What are you proudest of?

A - When my first pair spawned and carry their fry. That's the happiest moment. As for proudest moment I have none yet. Hopefully to create a strain of my own.

Q - What is your most frustrating moment with discus?

A - It has to be dealing with an unknown disease which killed eleven of my discus day after day. I almost gave up discus then.

Q - Do you have any future discus plans that you would like to share with us?

A - If there is an opportunity, I would love to set up a discus hobbyists association that discus hobbyists can use to freely share information and do various farm outings and discus competitions for hobbyists together not just in my country but around the world.

Q - How do those in your life feel about discus?

A - I am fortunate to have an understanding wife who love discus as well and since we have no kids at the moment I am enjoying the freedom with my hobby and hopefully I can continue with this hobby for as long as I live. My family are equally supportive.

Q - Do you have any funny, amusing or interesting discus stories to share with us?

A - There are some funny moments but the one of them that I thought was hilarious is when one of my discus pushed a piece of beefheart around the tank using his pelvic fins like a pushing a wheelcart. He did this continuosly for five minutess and ate it in one corner after that. I have never seen anything like that! LOL

Q - Do you have any thanks or credit to give for your success with discus? Any mentors or colleagues who you think deserve some appreciation?

A - I would like to thank a few people that have been helping me with good advice throughout the years. People like Roy, Robert and David are some of the people I would turn to if I have problems with discus and they have
always been very helpful particularly Roy (zoids). You should interview this guy as he has a wealth of knowledge in keeping discus and is always not afraid to share. Hes just not as vocal as me but definitely a guy who know his discus.

Q – I’ll have to keep Roy in mind for a future interview! What do you see as the future of discuskeeping? More/less people? Any cool ideas for strains?

A - The hobby will continue to prosper with many new strains coming up and new hobbyists being introduce to the hobby. If you and I do our part to promote the hobby and to educate people more about the fish, I am sure this
hobby will last a very long time. We know discus is not called King of Freshwater for nothing. If we continue to breed discus the right way - not selling culls, not feeding hormones, not breeding discus without tails and worse, I am sure discus would outlast any tropical fish anytime.

Many people have this misconception about Asia discus breeders being unscruplous and sending crap to North America, but I can tell you its just a few black sheep that are doing the wrong things. Most Asian breeders still work towards quality rather than quantity. I sincerely hope to see more Asian breeders playing their part and change this misconception very soon.

Q - Can you think of anything I left out you would like to bring up - either personally or discus related?

A - I have to say that ever since I have been in this hobby I have met many nice people around the world and Simplydiscus is one of the forums that I would love to
have stay around for a long time. I have to thank Al introducing this forum to me when it first started and props to the mods team for doing such a good job maintaning the forum. It's this forum that brought me closer to these wonderful people like Karen, April, Pamela, Julz, Jason, Don, Tony, Jack, Carol, Cary, Mike, Ari, Scott, Rod, Dave, David and everyone else who I have not had much of a chance to talk to in another forum. I hope this forum will stay around
for a long time.

And thank you for your time, John.

Q - Thank you, Louis, for an interesting and informative look at you and your fish!

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Here are some pics of Sly's fishies.

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And some more fishies...

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Here's a really nice pic...

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Who's kidding who! All these pics are nice!

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Just great fish, aren't they?

Thanks Sly!

nice to get to know you a littel better ;D

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Jason's a really fast reader! Here is another pic!

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Gotta love these pictures!

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Another great shot - he's not a bad photographer as well as being a great hobbyist...

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Last one! Thanks again, Sly!

Good Job My Brother from another I hope to make it over to Sing Sing this spring for a personal tour and to get my Red Whites.... ha ha


Mike

[April]

Sly and John..that was a very nice interview.
and it was nice to hear more about my friend Sly.
Stay around Sly....as we need your pics and your humour here on simply.
Love your fish as usual.

[Don_Lee]

Great interview! It is sooo nice to hear more about Sly, I have missed him so much on the chats. Here is a public plea Sly---Pleeeaaasssseeeee come back to the chat room! We all miss you and talk about you all of the time.
I really hope to go to Singapore next year to meet Sly and attend Aquarama. Sly, you sure have some great looking fish. Just remember, discus and plants can go together you know, lol. :P

Don ;D


PS-Hi Sly!!!

[Francisco_Borrero]

That was very nice indeed. I am inspired. Thanks Louis SLY and John.
Let's keep it coming! I would be very interested in hearing and seeing some of this Roy guy fishes/experiences.
Cheers, Francisco.