Tell us about yourselves....Please

[roclement]

Hello, My name is Rodrigo - Rod- Clement

I am 34 years old, from Brasil and now living near Philadelphia,PA.

Had fish tanks in a way or another since I was 12, had some Discus here and there but it was not untill I moved to the USA in 1997 that I really got into this hobby. Untill I joined Simply back in 2002, all my fsh were store bought, at absurd prices, this forum is directly responsible for me staying in the hobby, as well as saving the life of lots of my fish!
The most tanks I had was around 2003, when my fish room was fully operational, had about a couple of hundred fish at some point!
Now, with work taking most of my time, I am down to a 150gl, a 29gl, and a 55gl. My favorite fish right now is my redtail cat fish "Mongo", but I still have 8 discus that have been with me for about 2 years now, looking to ad a couple soon.

I also have a cat, a dog, two parrots, and a snake...all in my house were I live with my girlfriend Lauren.

I have a degree in Food Marketing and my Masters in International Business Managemet. I work with private country clubs, I manage operations and am currently opening a new facility close to Valley Forge in PA. Anyone for golf!?

Other hoobies include riding my Harley and enjoying cigars, wines, and scotch.

Well, nice to meet all of you that I hadn't met yet, I am here if anyone wants to talk fish, golf, or just stop by for some wine or beer.

[brewmaster15]

Hi all,
Since I can't do spotlight interviews on everyone... I thought I'd bring this one back up if anyone wants to interview themselves or update us ...

so.. Tell us about yourself!

-al

[GrillMaster]

Name is Mark. I am 47 years old. Feel older sometimes. I have a lovely and patient wife named Carol. We reside in Mystic CT. I also have a 24 year old daughter Kelly living in Dover DE. with her husband an 2 kids. The third one is due Nov. 18th.(Never thought I would be a grandfather at 47!!) I also have a 21 year old son Mark Jr. who lives in Stonington Ct with his fiance.

I was born in Mass. but grew up in SA Texas. Joined the Navy in 1979 an wound up in Scotland for 5 years where I met my wife. We came back to Ct in 1985. I got out of the Navy in 1988, stayed here an kept welding which was my Naval occupation.

I pretty much got tired of welding back in 2000 an started a landscaping company which is doing very well to this day. This is also the reason you dont find me on SD alot during the summer months.

I have had aquariums since I was around 12. I actually had Discus when I lived in Scotland back in 1983. Unfortunately I knew nothing about them. They never had a chance. I moved to Marine tanks shortly after which I spent alot of time on. Once I moved back to the states, I dropped the aquarium hobby an started racing here at the local track. That took up every bit of time an money I had. I grew weary of dumping my hard earned money into something that was eventually going to find itself head on into the back stretch wall!

I started a bass fishing club in 1985 and started fishing bass tournaments thru out New England. This is where the screen name comes in...The club is still active today. I on the other hand, I am not

I got back into the hobby in early 2000, courtesy of a friend who wanted to relieve himself of his 55G tank. It was setup with drab tropical fish, driftwood and plastic plants. Surfing the web, I found abundent amount of info on fish and aquarium plants. The more I read the more I wanted to dive right in to aquariums again.

I currently have a 75G heavily planted tank, an a 55G BB with 6 RT's courtesy of my good friend brewmaster. The rest is history.

A couple picks of us an the kids...

[fredyk]

mARK very inspirational. I like your pictures. My name is Mark. I'm a wage slave pushing papers about to be kicked to the curb in December, being a temporary worker FOR TWO YEARS. Formerly, I was a vegetarian chef for over 15 years, but I lived like a communist, in that all the employees were volunteers getting room & board, like a commune, working for the Transcendental Meditation organization, which I loved, but that's another story.

Always had an aquarium, and around 2000 wanted to grow plants like when I was a teen. But I had to order online and discovered a whole new world of possiblities. I have four planted tanks and a pair of discus, Fred and Ginger. Ginger is feeling a little under the weather. lol
Hope to give her some new meds next week.

Edit
Adding another picture of me-in the mirror Another picture of a sterile office. how boring right? not nearly as exciting as a cafeteria kitchen, I can tell you that. Anyway the picture is a small betta bowl on a file cabinet, which is growing a nice java fern. The main point of the picture is to tell how far from the window is the bowl and yet tons of light enters thru to grow the plant really well. It's actually a co-worker's desk-not my file cabinet, And it's a recent pic.

[mikel]

Ok, I am so busy with everything else on this informative board that I did not realize that I need to do this introduction too. So please excuse my tardiness...here goes.

My name is Mike, and I am in my early thirties. My grandfather had tons of aquarium fish, and he used to breed angels, so keeping fish has always been a natural thing during my childhood. But of course, the discus fish is absolutely brand new for me.

I find animals facinating, and I was always taught to be respectful of them. I currently resides in Milton, just outside of Boston, with my partner of 7 years, our 4 dogs (three cockers, one peke), three parrots, and this new tankful of discus. In fact, the new tank and the whole setup, along with the discus, are all a gift to myself because I recently quit smoking. It is a very nice reward, and one that helps me keep my promise to stay smoke-free everytime I look at the beautiful discus.

Aside from my avian, canine and fishy interests, I am also an avid gardener. We bought our house three summers ago, and since then, I have planted 4 magnolia trees of various cultivars, several tree peonies, a huge number of facinating daylilies, orientpet lilies and irises, along with about 7 different types of clematis and their own trellises. I recently planted a bunch of David Austin roses too....so as you can imagine, our house is full of noise and life. i wake up at three thirty each day to do chores for these animals; I am a teacher so I do have time in the afternoons to keep everone happy.

I usually do about 50% water changes each day, sometimes more if I have more spare time; I find the discus a very graceful and intelligent fish. I hope very much to be able to learn from the experst on this board. It's really such a help to have such a place to go to for help and advice. Thanks mike

[scolley]

Hi. I'm Steve. Though I grew up in the deep south, I'm thrilled be a 20 year resident of the lovely state of Connecticut. I'm just shy of 50, and live on the coast, in a town I can't afford, with my lovely, long suffering, and intelligent (except for spousal choices) wife Mareen, and my two wonderful teenage sons - Stephen and Michael.

My past, most passionate hobby, was bonsai. That heavily influences my planted aquaria hobby today - greatly influencing my aesthetic sense. Bonsai are not judged independent of their pot, their stand, and their immediate surroundings. So I don't set any of my tanks up with the thought of... "Well it will look good when I use Photoshop to crop out the boarders beyond the tank", nor "it will take a better picture when I pull that out of the tank", or even "when I do this significant trim, it's gonna look awesome!" So my tanks are set up to be viewed in their actual settings. As such I avoid hard cropping or alteration of camera shots. I leave everything in the tank. If you see it in my pics, that's how it looks in my room.

With respect to maintenance, I model my planted discus tanks after my bonsai maintenance - recognizing that while major work is periodically required, the object itself (the tank in this case) should look pretty much the same both before and after limited regular maintenance. Small changes consistently applied.

I also travel a lot for a living. Working as an IT consultant takes me far and wide. So this has also caused me to go to great pains to create tanks that run themselves. Or at least, don't get out of control if I go away for a few weeks.

The mythology that pervades both fish keeping and planted tanks is a real sore point for me. And I can't stand misinformation being passed along in the hobby. So apologies up front if you see me challenging conventional wisdom. It happens a lot. And to keep information as reliable, and accurate as possible, if I make a statement as fact, it will only be because I've proven it to my own satisfaction. I won't repeat what I've heard - but haven't proven - nor will I say what I "think" but don't "know" without making that distinction clear. And to help backup my own findings and learning, I keep very detailed records on my tanks. If anything goes into, or is removed from one of my tanks, or if maintenance is performed, or any setting or tank parameter is changed - it all gets recorded. So not surprisingly this detailed record serves as proof to myself of things I've learned, and sometimes even teaches me things - observed over time - that I was not expecting.

I was attracted to planted tanks because they are beautiful. And hard. I was attracted to planted discus tanks because they are even more beautiful (IMO) and even harder. Anything worth being proud of is a challenge. To me.

So I've got a lot to be grateful for, in my wife and family that put up with my hobby passions. And I've got more to be grateful for when I consider the fun, informative, supportive, online communities I've been lucky enough to find. Not the least of which are you, my wonderful friends, at SimplyDiscus.

I hope I can give back as much as I take. Your support has been invaluable, so I consider myself in your debt.

[cktrimble]

Hello from Noblesville, Indiana! Hi, I am a new member of this forum and am new to the discus addiction! I have 3 discus, one blue diamond, one red checkerboard, and one alenquer red. I currently have the alenquer in a tank of his own. He is being overly aggressive. In reading this board, I see where I should have 5-6 so the aggressive one shares the wealth.

I have a 55G currently with 2 discus in it (3 with the bully) and 1 adult angel and 4 juvie angels. I almost have my wife convinced to let me get a 4 ft 150G tank. We were looking at it today. I'm wearing her down. I also have a 29G and 2 10G fully setup and running. The alenquer is currently in solitary confinement in one of the 10G.

Anyway, I am fairly new to the whole aquarium arena all together. But I am a huge researcher due to my career (Technology Career). I have read just about every post here... I currently do 50-60% WC every other day with straight RO water. I use RO Right and a PH buffer 6.5 to stabalize my PH. I keep my water temp around 86 degrees. I just purchased a sponge filter to add to my tank. I currently have 2 Pengium 350's on it. I have been feeding them a mixture of Tetra bits, FD brine shrimp, FD blood worms, frozen beef heart, frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, and Tetra flakes.

I look forward to continuing to learn and read these posts. I really enjoy this forum and it has helped me tremendously with getting my tanks going and keeping them consistent. Thank you to everyone for your wonderful posts and all the information.

TAKE CARE,
Kevin from Indy.

[2sybs]

It's about timed I got around to this.

*Stands up, looks around, feeling nervous and stammers out*

"Hi I'm Ray, I live in Castle Rock, Colorado and I am a discusholic....."

Uh wait thats a different place isn't it? Or is it.....

Anyway I got back into this hobby when I picked up a 55 at a garage sale for $6. sat in my garage for over six months before I got around to setting it up. My last aquarium was over 20 yrs ago. Back then I had up to 7 tanks going at one point with anything from angels and discus to Piranha even had one setup with salt. Loved that one and decided right away with this one it was going to be either salt or discus. Discus won.
I now have a 75gal that I picked up not too long ago and unfortunately I sold the 55, sure could use it now.

Thank you SimplyDiscus for all the great information and ideas I have found here.
Just a sample of the things I have learned here, the importance of water quality and just how important it is to do regular water changes, But one of the most important things I have learned here is Patience.

[Anthony]

I have join this Forum by last week of September. I think is time for me to get myself introduce at everyone here, which I could hope by making some new friends indeed.

I was here introduced by a Discus Exporter by a name "Discus Sanctuary" He was a very nice guy & asking me to drop by at visitting this Mention Forum, from time to time.

Is my honour to be here.

My name is Anthony Phan, 36 of ages, staying In Malaysia, Sarawak, Miri. Being a small town of Miri as along the seaside, if you love peacefully, relaxing life then u are welcome....hahaha. Mulu Cave is almost 35 minutes by air from Miri, is our National Cave in Sarawak. The most Beautiful & natural cave I ever seen. Feel free to Visit.

I started by knowing Fish as water living creature at age of 6. My parents loves at keeping fishes as of part time hobby. I have two sister above me & I 'm the last from the Phan's family member list.

Last year I was visitting a Tropical Fish Show in Malaysia "Malaysia Aqua Fair 2006" in not cognizance of Discus, but in coincidence knowing the Grand Champion Discus winner. Upon knowing him, he have putting many effort introducing me some of his Discus, by the 1st ordering (after a month later) I'm so great to have them in my bare tanks. Within a month later, I have almost with heart breaking condition as all Discus die from time to time without specific reason uncounter.

I have been paying so much and loosing at a point by no reason given, at this hour I get to know some of those Discus fans in Malaysia during my visitting their Discus farm or house. Some of them but not every ones are in teaching at ready basis, as what we always say "self fishness" attidute.

During Last year, i need times for recovering my Liver status, I do reading alot of books & experince byself learning & of course two breeder advices as during problem incurred specially bacteria invention along the road. At times I have even imported second stages of Discus in volume to cater my experince by keeping them alive in no mistake allowed......I almost fail again by Bacteria & Virus invention, God Bless I got it through.

Last 6 months I have noted some but not all at the basic ways by keeping those Discus staying alive. Somehow I have even sucessfully breeds Alenquer Red at the fries volume by increasing to 400+ , Vietnam P.Checkerboard at 100+ fries, included recently another 100 + fries at Snow White & LSS.

To understanding Discus is not a day, weeks or months time......is to use your patience by knowing them " what they want from you" from their life style, water & foods needs.

Therefore, please don't give up easily exspecially to those silent Discus Keeper whom may dissapointed & failed many times, I believe everyone here are sharing & helping each other...right ? Even I'm still here for learning........

[Tropical Haven]

Well I posted a picture of myself on here quite some time ago but never actually said anything about myself so I guess better late than never.
My name is Scott Winefka and I am 41 yrs old and live in the Western suburbs of Chicago. I have a wife (Cheryl) and two sons (Mike & Danny) ages 18 and 13. I have been keeping fish since 1977 when I started out with mollies and swordtails. Over the years I moved on to the two types of fish that have always been my favorite which are Angelfish & Discus. Starting in 1988 I have been breeding both of these fish and this is what I truely love to do. In 1991 I was growing strong with my garage converted into a fish room and had around 80 tanks of fish going. I was about 1 year away from buying my own building to be a tropical fish supplier but one cold February night I had to shut off my main gas line to replace my water heater in the house. After I was done I turned the main gas back on but I forgot to light my pilot light back on in my furnace that was in the garage that heated my fish room.
When I went out there the following morning to feed my fish it was really cold in there when I opened the door. The first thing that entered my mind was OH NO my fish, I turned on the light and all of my fish in every tank was floating motionless on top of the water. I acidentally murdered over 3,000 fish in less then 24 hours. I was absolutely heart broken from that and quit with breeding fish for nearly 10 years before I caught the bug to start doing it again so here I am starting my journey all over again. Sorry for the long story but I tend to be long winded.

[back 2 discus biz]

Hi there,

I'm out in Colorado. I started in Louisiana with a 90 gallon tank and 4 adult discus. I was saved by vociferous reading about discus keeping and advice from the person I bought the discus from. We had some tough times but made it through with a few losses in eight years. When I tore it down to move to CO I decided to go African Cichlid. They were fun and hardy but their hardiness made me a lazy aquarium manager. I had been thinking of going back to discus for a couple of months when the family took a vacation. I changed the water just before leaving. When we got back they were all dead with the exception of one electric yellow. My air pump had given out and the recent water change took the water level up above my two canister outlets where they could not agitate the water. And so went about 20 beautiful ACs. I took that as a sign to go back to discus. I now have eight juveniles. In the old days I would have called them Pigeon Bloods, Cobalts, and Browns but I found the new names very confusing and not real descriptive. Anyway we are off and running again. This forum had some of the best info from weeks of trolling for discus news.


Thanks!

[back 2 discus biz]

Hey Ray,

I'm in Parker. Maybe we can hook up sometime.

Paul

[2sybs]

Hey Paul
welcome to Simply.
I'm just down the road, It would be great to get together sometime.
I have to agree this is the best site I have found for info, not to mention some of the nicest and helpful people.
Sorry to hear you lost your Cichlids though.
Oh hey, can I ask where you got your discus?
Ray

Go Rockies

[ffighter14]

Hi
Im from NY and have just gotten into keeping discus fish.I will have many questions as I raise these beautiful creatures and will appreciate any help I can get.I have a 55 gallon African chichlid tank that has given me pleasure for many years.I am retired from the Fire department and look foward to devoting more time to my hobbies.I do like to fish(dont tell the fish I keep in my tanks)and photography.
I look foward with getting to know the discus community and making a few friends.
Thanks

[fishmama]

Welcome ffighter14-

Glad to have you on board. Some buzz around here that recently some really nice imports arrived in NY.

Good luck,
Lisa aka Fishmama