Withdrawn - First attempt at breeding Discus - Log

[Disgirl]

Al, Pat, Chad, and other mods, could we perhaps have a section here at SD for experiments in discus keeping? This way any of us who want to try something possibly new, untried, untested, could have a place to record their experiences, whether good or bad. For example, several years ago I had an experiment here about cycling a new discus tank with nothing but Miracle Gro fertilizer. It worked! But the thread is long gone now, buried in thousands of other posts, and nobody will see it again, most likely. If it were in an "experiment section" then it might be seen again and tried by other folks. Shawn's experiences might be an example of all this. Just an idea from me...
Barb

[John_Nicholson]

Good thought. It would help take care of one of my biggest concerns...that new people would read the thread and think it was the normal way of doing things.

-john

[Kal-El]

Al, Pat, Chad, and other mods, could we perhaps have a section here at SD for experiments in discus keeping? This way any of us who want to try something possibly new, untried, untested, could have a place to record their experiences, whether good or bad. For example, several years ago I had an experiment here about cycling a new discus tank with nothing but Miracle Gro fertilizer. It worked! But the thread is long gone now, buried in thousands of other posts, and nobody will see it again, most likely. If it were in an "experiment section" then it might be seen again and tried by other folks. Shawn's experiences might be an example of all this. Just an idea from me...
Barb

+1 on this idea... this way we won't have this issue...

[pastry]

yep, i'm approaching beer thirty in a few hours, john. definitely looking forward to it. i've somehow managed to get my panties in a wad today over this thread. ah well.

[roclement]

because these contests really don't award anything and actually help people keep logs so others can learn off of them. shoot, good point though Rodrigo, that's why I apologized to encouraging him to enter into the "contest" when he first started. that way it'd help motivate him to keep us posted. man, the poor guy looks at SD as a mental outlet, but then still catches flak constantly.

Elliot,

Thanks for the reply. In my mind, Simply if a forum dedicated to the king of the aquarium, and on how to best maintain them, breed them, a place for dicussion on what are the best methods that make the best possible environment for our beloved fish. Simply proving that one can keep the fish alive may go over well at a non-breed specifc forum, but this one is dedicated to this one species alone, and I believe we should be promoting the best methods so the fish can thrive, not a way to keep them alive.

Think of it in different terms, would you join a breed specific dog forum, that promotes buying from high quality breeders, etc, and expect to be taken seriously by your peerps, if you posted that you bought your dog from a puppy mill, bred it with a mutt, and was raising the pups on a crate? I don't think so.

Just my respectfull oppinion. I personaly have bo horse in this race, so it makes no difference to me how the op raises his discus but, he has to expect some scrutiny when he enters a contest in this forum, and choses to disrespect some highly respected members here in the process.

Rodrigo

[Vieira]

I was just happy to see the little guys eating well. They looked good and healthy from what I saw in the video.

[pastry]

Rodrigo,

Rgr and partially agree but then how do we branch out in expanding our learning in discus? Behind closed doors? Because if this forum is about the perfect discus methods and breeding (all subjective) then I guess I'm in the wrong forum. I'd like to listen and follow more experiments on breed-specific forums. I do not look at this site as just champion quality fish but also what the common keeper like me has. I like getting just little ideas here and there but I like reading about discus and discus only but they don't have to be champion discus.

And yeah, you're totally right on about the scrutiny but after awhile it builds up. Again, I feel part of the blame for pushing him into the contest. I just thought it help him continue his log.

[shawnhu]

Now I had nothing to do with the Shawn debate I was responding to Vieira's post about those fish are great. Please look at the entire post before you drag me into that converstation. Thanks.

No where did Vieira mentioned that the fish were great. Elliot is right, please understand my position and that of Vieira's post before jumping to conclusions.

[Larry Bugg]

I have resisted posting but I'm going to reply now. First, I have read the entire thread. I was post number 2 and have followed it ever since. Like a lot of others I applaud Shawn for this experiment. A lot of people talk about trying something different but very few actually follow through and of those most don't document it. When you try an experiment like this it serves no purpose at all unless the results are discussed and conclusions are made. The experiment is certainly not over and like others I would like to see it completed. That said I think the results to date can and should be discussed. The problem is it is hard to discuss something like this without people taking sides and feelings getting hurt. Done in person and not in writing would certainly be different. I agree that Shawn never stated that he set out to raise Show Quality discus. I think we can drop that part of the discussion. What that leaves us with is whether or not he is growing out average quality discus. In my book, if the discus do not measure up to average quality then the results say this method is not successful. Just to keep discus alive is not success. There have been quite a few post recently stating how successful Shawn is. Just my opinion but I don't see it that way at this time. I think the discus appear to be falling behind in their development. I believe all living things have a period of growth. Once that period is over its over. You won't see a lot of growth after that. For humans and I would expect for most creatures, once puberty starts growth really starts to slow down. You have a definitive time period for growth and once that is done any additional growth is minimual. Both my kids see a growth specialist so I have a little insight into this. On top of this there can be health issues when growth is not what it should be. Fortunatley both my kids will end up growing enough to not have these issues.

[shawnhu]

Rod,

I didn't realize this forum was for breeding Discus only. All this time I figured it was for ALL discus enthusiasts, silly me? But I can understand your point of view, you and Bob breed some very nice Discus.

[yim11]

He mentioned other qualities, why did you ignore those and try to focus on just breeding?

"how to best maintain them, breed them, a place for dicussion on what are the best methods that make the best possible environment for our beloved fish"

Rod,

I didn't realize this forum was for breeding Discus only. All this time I figured it was for ALL discus enthusiasts, silly me? But I can understand your point of view, you and Bob breed some very nice Discus.

[shawnhu]

He mentioned other qualities, why did you ignore those and try to focus on just breeding?

"how to best maintain them, breed them, a place for dicussion on what are the best methods that make the best possible environment for our beloved fish"

Might have had something to do with the word "breed" occurring 4 times in the same post, I don't know.

[Larry Bugg]

Might have had something to do with the word "breed" occurring 4 times in the same post, I don't know.

LOL, you need to re-read his comment. He used the word breed not in the context of breeding but rather Discus are one "breed" of fish. He was referring to the fact that this forum is dedicated to Discus and not all other "breeds" of fish.

[roclement]

Rod,

I didn't realize this forum was for breeding Discus only. All this time I figured it was for ALL discus enthusiasts, silly me? But I can understand your point of view, you and Bob breed some very nice Discus.

Hey Shawn,

Please re-read my post, I never focused on breeding. Like I said, I have no horse in this race, so please feel free to raise your discus as you see fit.
I have some respecet for the fish and the hobby that surrounds it, and the people involved in it, so I choose to act to the best of my ability, and not to what I can fit in my schedule. Let me add one more example if I may...

I always wanted a dog, and untill recently I never got one since I did not have the means (time, space, financial) to maintain one to the best of my ability, and knowing that I was providing it with the best possible life.

When you deal with living things, some basics have to be taken into account, like what is best for them to thrive, not simply survive. If your lifestyle (congratulations on the bby by the way!) does not allow you to provide theproper care for discus, I don't believe you should try to keep them. There are numeorous other types of fish out there that are perfect for your situation, and equally as prized by their enthusiasts, like bettas, and other less demanding fish. I am not trying to be funny, I am being honest. Skip, who is a member here, moved mainly into bettas since it fits his current lifestyle better, that's all.

Now I honestly fail to see how you can call yourself an enthusiast, and post here, while providing such poor conditions for your fish to thrive, notice I said thrive, not survive.

Thanks on the complimets, but to be clear, Bob and I currenlty don't breed fish, we import them for resale.

Stay well,

Rodrigo

[Chicago Discus]

I dont know I was under the impression that this contest was about breeding, wasn't that the point of the contest or at least partially and to see them grow out.....Josie