SimplyDiscus Member Introductions... The essential who we are Thread

[brewmaster15]

Hello all,
We have a very cool thread thats been running for years now called.. Tell us about yourself please .http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?46499-Tell-us-about-yourselves-Please&goto=newpost Its a place where members new to the forum introduce themselves and share their background. Its great way for new members to introduce themselves to the group. I was just there looking at it and I realized that what we could really use is the opposite. WE need a thread where our regular and long standing forum members introduce themselves to the new members. These new members come on here with out any idea about any of us. It may make it easier for them to become part of this community if we all posted about ourselves...our background, and experiences. Groups we are involved with etc.. The essential who we are thread.

Rather than ask you to do what I would not readily do..I will start. ( forgive me I may draw from other posts!)

A little about me, Brewmaster15..... My name is Al Sabetta, and I am located in Connecticut. I Guess you could say I am the head honcho here at Simplydiscus.com. I own this forum, and have been part of it since we started 12 years ago. I am immensely involved in the day to day running of this place along with a team of awesome moderators and admins. I've been keeping various critters for most of my life and I'm a biologist by education. I am a very dedicated father of two great Kids , and am happily married to an amazingly understanding woman. I've made a long term commitment to providing you all this forum to share your Discus passions in... If you still want more information about me...thats easy enough to find.... I have over 16,000 posts here on Simply that you can read, and I post asa hobbyist in the homestead section of the forum if you want a glimpse at who I am off the forum.

I currently am between hatcheries, but when I was knee deep in fish tanks they did a spot light on me here at the forum, you can read more ...http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?60206-October-2007-Spotlight-brewmaster15 Right now I have a tank of adult red turqs, keyhole cichlids, some temperate eastern dace, A colony of Red footed Tortoises, breeding colony of rat snakes, and barnyard of chickens.

About Aquaticsuppliers.com ... Thats one of my businesses..Several years ago I was looking for a way to supplement my income and to help fund the forum as needed. Times were hard, much as they are now. I was approached by Mal Davidson of Australian Black Worms about him becoming a sponsor here... and he offered me a sample of his Freeze Dried Blackworms to try. I was blown away by the novelty of the product...no one else had freeze dried blackworms before and he had the technique down perfect. The Product was excellent and the fish went crazy for it...My fish were hooked but more importantly, I was hooked. So hooked I realized that this was what I was looking for... A product I could sell thru this forum as a way to raise revenue, and something I could feel confident in for its Quality. Mal's system entailed raising the worms in a clean environment, and then flash freezing and freeze drying them by processes that he spent years developing and had total control over step by step. I approached Mal with a request to sell his Blackworms in the USA and Canada as his representative, and thankfully he agreed. That was over 5 years ago and I could not ask for a better product or a better supplier to associate my name with... So That is how Aquaticsuppliers.com came into existence and why. You can find me here...http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumd...rd-Connecticut

Academically:
Aside from the whole Forum admin and owner bit... I've been keeping fish and other critters my whole life. I have been keeping Discus for something like 25 plus years nows, ( god its been long!) I started with salt water tanks first, then discus and have raised and bred many different species of fish,reptiles and amphibians.

I have a business degree and I have a Bachelors in Biology. I have trained in both field biology and lab biology. My field work covers a broad area. I worked for the state of CT, doing field biology work...studying forest and insect pathogies and forest health issues. I have been part of field research tours in Florida,Texas,North Carolina, New Jersey,CT, Canada.. I have studied and am competent in the biology of plants, fungi, insects,birds,fish and reptiles. I have spend countless hours afield studying these things for both work and as my hobby. In a word or or two..I am a Biology geek and love the field of science with a passion.

My lab experience is pretty broad reaching as a well. After my degree I worked in the private sector for a pharmaceutical company where I was an animal care tech...I worked with mice,rats, guinea pigs,rabbits,dogs, pigs, and monkeys. Not my favorite job, but it was all hands on. I then moved to biotech for another firm in the diabetes field. There I worked at a bench doing biological assays, and quantitative analysis of tissue and drug samples using all kinds of lab equipment. I have serious microscope experience as I used this for cell culture, tissue culture, and in-vivo monitoring of white blood cells.. As a research Scientist, I had to be detail oriented, and follow stringent scientific methodology. I try and look at Discus Problems as if I was in a lab.

Basically folks, I'm a biologist..I use my education to augment my abilities to help here on the forum. I have been researching and reading about Fish pathology for years. I have also had the ability to practice much on my own stock as I have also been an importer and reseller of fish. I have given many workshops on fish health and diseases, particularly Discus.

I do consider myself very well versed in Discus health and have been helping out in the disease board for the last 12 years here and on other forums prior to Simply.

I don't have very much free time to help here like I used to. But I still try to help any Hobbyist with a problem that comes to me.

My other hobbies include years of photography and I consider myself a linux Geek. Love a good DIY project or flinging arrows. I've also been known to brew beer and ales and enjoy a cigar or two while camping.

I guess that sums me up.

-al

Whose up next?

[ericNH]

a thread where our regular and long standing forum members introduce themselves to the new members. These new members come on here with out any idea about any of us.

WAaaay cool idea brewmaster15! As a new member I can say I think many of us would like to know more about many of you folks here on Simply. You have a fantastic background brewmaster15. Knowing a little about it will help me view your posts in the proper light :) Thanks for sharing.

[discuspaul]

Here's my little bio:

---Hobbies and interests:

As mentioned in earlier threads on Simply, I've kept fish on & off, both fresh and salt water for well over 50 years, from before my teen years. At one point I had over 15 tanks, breeding several species of egg-layers, and of course, watching live-bearers do it well without any intervention from me. In the 1950's, I used to sell 3 month old fish to several LFS's for .05 or .10 each, would you believe.

Got hooked on discus while I lived in Singapore during the late 1970's, and have been keeping them on & off ever since then.

I love sports - I'm a great Toronto Blue Jays fan since their inception - along with the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, and have been a keen NFL afficionado since 1965 - 2 years before the first Super Bowl. Of course, the Seattle Seahawks have been my team for many years, and alas, it'll be many more years before I get over their stunning defeat to the Pats a few days ago !

Also love golf, having played the game for over 30 years.

---My career, life & times:

I currently live in a suburb of Vancouver, B.C., undeniably one of the most beautiful cities in the world with a climate to match. I'm married to Linda for 24 years, following my first wife's passing to cancer at a far too young age. I have 2 children, one of each from my first marriage, and Linda also has one of each from a former marriage.

I was a career banker, having started in a major Canadian bank at age seventeen following some college time - and then ran the gamut from domestic banking, to commercial, to international, to investment, and finally offshore banking. Because of these varied disciplines, I've lived in 31 different homes in 18 different cities around the world, including Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Frankfurt, New York, and Los Angeles. I ended up my career by establishing & setting up 3 offshore banks in the Caribbean, retiring early in 2000.

That's about the nuts & bolts of it.

[John_Nicholson]

I am at work so I will try and keep this somewhat short.....

I have been keeping fish since I was 7 years old....so roughly 42 years. I have been raising discus for roughly 20 or so. I have gone through the "normal" progression as a discus keeper. Started with one 55 gallon planted tank....yes planted tank.....After a few months of fighting it I went to bare bottom and saw a huge improvement in my fish. From the initial 6 I ended up with 2 pairs and I had success with both. I have learned through the years that this hobby is really very simple. Get good fish, feed good foods, keep your water clean and at 82 degrees, and you will have success. In my fish house currently I probably have between 80 and 1000 discus ( including fry ). With out counting fry I have about 30 or so. I like to raise my own fry so I have a habit of getting a pair going, keeping 20 or 30 of the fry and then selling the pair. I am to the point that I breed and keep what I like and I do not worry about selling fish ( though I do sell lots of them....LOL. ) On the personal side I have been married for the last 28 years. We have 3 daughters. The oldest is 28 and live in Greenville which is about 10 miles from us. She has 2 kids so we get to see out grand kids more than we need to...LOL. Our middle daughter is 21 and in the first semester of her senior year in college. She has been on the dean's list every semester. Our youngest is 14. She is into horses, basketball , and track. The only child that I have that really likes fish is the middle one. At the age of 12 she started breeding half moon bettas. She started showing in the IBC. In the novice class you are not require to show fish that you have bred. In all other class you have to have been the breeder of your fish. That year she never showed a fish that she had not breed and raised herself, but there were a couple of adults that wanted to win so bad that they were importing fish directly to the show in an effort to beat my 12 year old. It made the IBC so made that they eliminated the novice class and started a new class called first time breeders class. In the end it did not matter. My daughter still won the class and had roughly twice the number of points as the second place finisher.

As far as things that we do as a family my girls all love to ride horses and hunt deer. Probably need to add some more but I need to get back to work, but I also have a few more threads that I need to visit first.

-john

P.S. I really am not an arse I just am not much for sugar coating stuff....lol

[brewmaster15]

Thanks Paul and John,
Lets keep this going... If you have been on this forum for a while, open up here:) Who should post? Homesteaders, sponsors, NADA officers past and present, Participants in the several clubs on the Forum, Long time Discus keepers and breeders, (and Misunderstood "arses":bandana: sorry could not resist John...I've been labeled worse as well!)

al

[rickztahone]

Hello everyone, I am Ricardo, one of your neighborhood moderators :)

I live in sunny California and I have was born and raised right in the Downtown L.A. area.

My ultimate goal is to go back to school. I did 2 years at Cal State Los Angeles and had to drop out to help with family bills and such and have missed it so much since. I was a Bio major just like Al :)

Currently, I work in Santa Monica, right on the boardwalk and I have the luxury of being able to see the sunset almost every day :)

If you want to get to know me, you need to know that my life revolves around my kids and beautiful (and tolerant of hobbies) wife.

My daughter is about to be 8yrs old (Savannah) and she is the reason I got in to photography. Photography is a big part of my life now and I love that it is. I have thousands upon thousands of pictures of my family and it feels great to be able to give that to them a few years down the road. I've developed enough in photography that I have been able to make money from it now. Till this day, I have not looked for any jobs, but they just keep coming to me. I have not had a customer that wasn't happy with my work, so I assume I am doing something right :)

Well that is it, my family, my photography and my Dog Tonks who will chew on absolutely anything!

My kids:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7485/16015404910_46419aa4ae_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qpe8US)Savannah and Ricky 21 Month Photoshoot (https://flic.kr/p/qpe8US) by rickztahone (https://www.flickr.com/people/52571731@N05/), on Flickr

[Second Hand Pat]

So I was born and raised in Florida. My dad was in college when I was born and my parents were living in married student housing affectionately known as Fertile Row. :) I'm a third generation Floridian, a tomboy and animal lover growing up. I had all types of creatures growing up, dogs, lizards, snakes, water turtles, box turtles, ducks and crows. Some of my crows stories are buried in my homesteader. I also grew up fishing and hunting with my dad. We would go every weekend during hunting season; all bird hunting; quail, snipe and a occasional duck. I learned how to shoot, clean game...even did a little taxidermy.

I kept tanks as a kid. Your basic ten gallon but I filled it with little native fish I could catch; little black mollies, mosquito fish, tadpoles and aquatic insects. As a young adult I became scuba certificated and my family would go every summer during lobster season to the keys. We would fish, lobster and get really sunburn but man, that was the life. Fresh fish for dinner with homemade hush puppies :D:D.

School wise I went first to a community college for two years, mainly to save money and my parents went thru a divorce. I received a AA in Art and went on to a four year college to got a bachelor degree in Computer Science. I decided the staving artist life wasn't for me.

I meet my husband in school and we were married shortly after he graduated. We have been married for 33 years and have one daughter who means the life to us. She is an adult now living in Maryland and working as a test engineer on a jet which she loves. My husband and me spend our working lives as Software Engineers working in the defense industry. Both our families are engineering families and Diana is a third generation engineer on both sides. Tom and I spend our last twenty plus years working for Lockheed Martin on various simulation and training systems. It was fun work until the last five years or so when the emphasis on the work went from engineering to the bottom line. So today we are both retired and are becoming grumpy old people.

I need to go soon so well include a bit more later.

[Discus-n00b]

I'm Matt. I'm single, and like long walks on the bea....oh. ;)

I suppose I'm one of the younger "older" members. I was born and raised here in South Carolina. Been around an aquarium all of my life, or as long as I can remember. I've been keeping one myself since I was in single digits. Been through the ringer like most with fish, though when it was my own tank I jumped right into cichlids, skipped all of that boring community stuff because I had that as a child. I've kept discus on and off (currently off) for the past 12-15 or so years. Currently I keep a single tank of Tropheus and a small Saltwater Nano Reef that I am in love with. I find myself dreaming of more saltwater setups.

I attended a community college where I finally, after multiple years, received an Associate's degree in Criminal Justice and have often pondered going back for a Bachelor's but just never really wanted to. Was never big on schooling. I love teaching myself, I love learning new things but hate the school environment. After attending college originally for about a year I found it dry and unexciting so much so that I decided enough was enough and I would live a longstanding dream of becoming a US Marine. I dropped school and joined the Corps in 2007, graduated bootcamp that December and went on to do 6 years (+2 more inactive) of honorable service with a deployment to Iraq in 2009 (among many other country visits and also the only time in 15 years my tanks were dry). I finally picked school back up taking advantage of the GI Bill and that's when I got my Associate's degree. Due to budget cuts and restructuring of the military the past few years I decided that was enough for me and I got out. I miss many parts of it. I now work as an Audio Visual Tech for my father's company which provides AV equipment and services for corporate meetings and such at hotels/convention centers around the US. I'm based out of our local convention center here in town. Its not what I thought I'd be doing, and not what I want to do the rest of my life, but it pays the bills while I figure something else out and I'm grateful for that!

I'm not sure I have to many other hobbies as involved as the fish. I love collecting old rifles as well as shooting when time permits. I enjoy most DIY type of projects and working with my hands. HUGE NCAA football fan, Clemson is my team I attend every game I can. Photography may be the largest hobby after fish though. I'm a self taught ametuar photographer still trying to be better. Other than aquariums its my real passion. I like any type of landscape, cityscape, timelapse, nature type of photography. Interestingly enough I've never found people to be an interesting subject to shoot. I'm also getting into some video and teaching myself video editing. I would like to get more involved and active in Youtube so that knowledge would help. I also absolutely LOVE traveling. If I had the money I'd go somewhere every year to have an adventure. The military spoiled me taking me to and from about 7 different countries in the world for "free". Now that I have to foot the bill its not so easy, however I have a bucket list of places (in the US and outside the US) to visit written down and look at it just about daily. Its a motivation factor I suppose.

[brewmaster15]

I'm Matt. I'm single, and like long walks on the bea....oh.
lmao-rotf

Umm Matt...we can help with the fish and photography,but as far as dating. Statistically, the success rate of finding a significant other here on Simply is rather slime...historically speaking it usually hasnt worked out :)

[John_Nicholson]

I got a pm asking that I add some links to some of my past projects and to talk about my involvement with NADA....so here you go.

On NADA I was one of the original founders of the group. We started it at an ACA in Denver. I think it was 2004. I have been on the board more times than I can count, I have been the president, the vice-president, and apparently I am the show chairman for life. I am also in charge of the judging program but it does not have an official title. The one thing that I want to say about it is that it is a great group, we put on great show, we have great speakers, we have great fish shown, but regardless of all this greatness if the people don't show up and participate it is all for nothing. I would love to see NADA continue to grow but we can only do that if people chose to participate. I am hoping that many of ya'll make the next show. I have never had anyone tell me that they did not have a blast at one of our shindigs so please give a thought to attending the next one in 2016.



First up the fish house. I really did not realize that there were so many threads about it through the years.
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?70227-Fish-house-project-underway&highlight=house

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?71279-Fish-House-update&highlight=house

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?72388-A-few-new-pics-of-the-fishhouse-project&highlight=house

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?113608-Fishhouse-update&highlight=house

Also found my beef heart recipe...

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?110292-How-I-make-beef-heart&highlight=house

One of my favorite jokes....

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?92089-How-I-learned-to-mind-my-own-business&highlight=house

The Simply Discus spotlight.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?105924-2013-May-Spotlight-Member-John_Nicholson&highlight=spotlight

[brewmaster15]

See John...that wasnt so bad!?:bandana:

[John_Nicholson]

LOL.....I knew it would not be bad I was just busy earlier.....I have gotten a couple of my projects wrapped up here at work so I was glad to do it.

-john

[Larry Bugg]

My turn, My turn, My turn.

Hey Everyone, I'm Larry Bugg. I'm 61 years young and proud of it. My wife, Amanda, and I have been married for 14 years now. I have 4 kids and 3 Grand-kids. My oldest is 36 an my youngest will be 12 in two weeks. What a spread!! I worked for UPS in the Network Planning Group and retired a little over a year ago after 35 years. I stayed retired for about 2 months and then started driving a School Bus. Not a bad part time job if you like kids and more important.............they like you. Fortunately my students say I'm the best. The great thing about the job is I get home in the morning at 9:30 and don't have to leave for the afternoon routes until 1:30. Guess you can guess one of the things I am enjoying doing during this time. You got it.....water changes and feedings. It is a thrill to have a morning time and evening time to take care of these things.

Like most folks here, I have been keeping aquariums since I was a kid. My parents bought me my first tank for Christmas when I was 10 years old and I have never stopped. For the first 35 years I never had more than a couple of tanks going and they were always lfs community type fish. Nothing really special but I was always mesmerized looking at a tank full of tropical fish. When Amanda and I got married I decided to push it to the next level and give planted tanks a try. I had always wanted a beautiful planted tank but had no idea what was required and could never keep plants alive for an extended period of time. So off to the internet and a lot of research. My first tank was way too much light and no Co2 so you know where that landed me. Algae city. I quickly learned about the needed balance of light, Co2 and ferts and put my first C02 system together. It was great. I could finally keep plants alive. Wasn't long before the one tank became about 7 planted tanks, 3 with pressurized C02 and 4 with low light. In 2008 the Aquatic Gardeners Association brought their Convention and Show to Atlanta. I quickly contacted some of the Show Committee members and signed up as a volunteer. It was a fantastic weekend and working the registration table I met anyone and everyone. Really cool.

Funny that it should take a National Convention coming to town to get me involved with a local group but at the Convention I met a bunch of members of the Atlanta Area Aquarium Association and they invited me to join and start attending meetings. Another big turn in my Aquatic endeavors. At my first meeting I sat next to Roger. Next thing I know I'm at Roger's house after work one afternoon checking out his fish room. I never knew people had fish rooms lol. Roger kept at lot of different fish but mainly dwarf cichlids and you guessed it Discus. Just happened that Roger had a large number of 10 gallon tanks in his basement left over from the Atlanta ACA in 2008. I found myself carrying 10 home with me and a week or so later another 10. This was the beginning of my fish room. 20 ten gallon tanks set up bare bottom in my unfinished basement. With the new tanks I quickly got active in the Breeders Awards Program in the club and climbed up the list of top breeders in the club. I'm currently in the 13th spot. Since most of my fish room is dedicated to discus my breeding of other fish is rather limited now though.

It was at Roger's fish room that I saw my first pair of discus with fry attached. I was hooked but still afraid. It took many trips to Roger's before I gained the courage to try my hand with Discus but once I started I never turned back. In early 2010 my best discus friend, Chad Adams, and I decided to start a local discus group in the Atlanta area and held some initial pre-meetings with some other local discus nuts. We set the date for our first official meeting to be right after the 2010 NADA (North American Discus Association) Convention and Show in Dallas. I have always believed if you want to grow in an endeavor then you have to really put yourself into it and find ways to be involved. I signed up for the Convention and contacted some of the Show Committee requesting to be a volunteer. John Nicholson and Jim Hall replied and said they would put me to work. LOL, little did I know...........not much later they would ask me to run for a NADA BOD position. It was during the first speaker's talk at the Show that Chad turned to me and said "we could do this". When I questioned Chad about what he meant he said we could bring the next Show to Atlanta. Well you have to get involved. We came home from the Show, held our first meeting of SEDE (Southeast Discus Enthusiast) and told them we were going to do it. We turned in a bid for the Show and the rest is history. One of my proudest accomplishments. I currently serve as a NADA BOD member and am a past VP and President of NADA. I have been a BOD member of the Atlanta Area Aquarium Association for about 6 years now.

I learned an lot over the last 5 years of keeping and breeding discus but in so many ways I still consider myself a novice. It is hard to think differently with folks like John that have been doing it for decades. My fish room now consist of 40 tanks ranging from 20 gallons to 220 gallons with about 1800 gallons total. I also have 700 gallons of stored water. All but 6 of the tanks are bare bottom and most use sponge filters. The exceptions are my 110 gallon and 220 gallon tanks. My tanks are all drilled for easy water changes and I use pond pumps in the storage containers to pump water for filling the tanks. The six planted tanks are each 20 gallons and I keep apistos and Rams in them. I also have 4 29's that I use for Angel breeding tanks. I always try to keep at least one tank for fish I have never bred before for the club awards program. Currently I am growing out a group of keyhole cichlids for this.

I'll close this out by sharing part of my passion. I really enjoy helping others get involved in the hobby. I actively seek out anyone considering Discus and offer my help and support in anyway I can. This always involves encouraging them to come out to my fish room and get a look and what Discus keeping is all about. If we want to see this hobby we love thrive then we absolutely have to get proactive in this area.

FIND A WAY TO GET INVOLVED.

[brewmaster15]

My turn, My turn, My turn.

Hey Everyone, I'm Larry Bugg. I'm 61 years young and proud of it. My wife, Amanda, and I have been married for 14 years now. I have 4 kids and 3 Grand-kids. My oldest is 36 an my youngest will be 12 in two weeks. What a spread!! I worked for UPS in the Network Planning Group and retired a little over a year ago after 35 years. I stayed retired for about 2 months and then started driving a School Bus. Not a bad part time job if you like kids and more important.............they like you. Fortunately my students say I'm the best. The great thing about the job is I get home in the morning at 9:30 and don't have to leave for the afternoon routes until 1:30. Guess you can guess one of the things I am enjoying doing during this time. You got it.....water changes and feedings. It is a thrill to have a morning time and evening time to take care of these things.

Like most folks here, I have been keeping aquariums since I was a kid. My parents bought me my first tank for Christmas when I was 10 years old and I have never stopped. For the first 35 years I never had more than a couple of tanks going and they were always lfs community type fish. Nothing really special but I was always mesmerized looking at a tank full of tropical fish. When Amanda and I got married I decided to push it to the next level and give planted tanks a try. I had always wanted a beautiful planted tank but had no idea what was required and could never keep plants alive for an extended period of time. So off to the internet and a lot of research. My first tank was way too much light and no Co2 so you know where that landed me. Algae city. I quickly learned about the needed balance of light, Co2 and ferts and put my first C02 system together. It was great. I could finally keep plants alive. Wasn't long before the one tank became about 7 planted tanks, 3 with pressurized C02 and 4 with low light. In 2008 the Aquatic Gardeners Association brought their Convention and Show to Atlanta. I quickly contacted some of the Show Committee members and signed up as a volunteer. It was a fantastic weekend and working the registration table I met anyone and everyone. Really cool.

Funny that it should take a National Convention coming to town to get me involved with a local group but at the Convention I met a bunch of members of the Atlanta Area Aquarium Association and they invited me to join and start attending meetings. Another big turn in my Aquatic endeavors. At my first meeting I sat next to Roger. Next thing I know I'm at Roger's house after work one afternoon checking out his fish room. I never knew people had fish rooms lol. Roger kept at lot of different fish but mainly dwarf cichlids and you guessed it Discus. Just happened that Roger had a large number of 10 gallon tanks in his basement left over from the Atlanta ACA in 2008. I found myself carrying 10 home with me and a week or so later another 10. This was the beginning of my fish room. 20 ten gallon tanks set up bare bottom in my unfinished basement. With the new tanks I quickly got active in the Breeders Awards Program in the club and climbed up the list of top breeders in the club. I'm currently in the 13th spot. Since most of my fish room is dedicated to discus my breeding of other fish is rather limited now though.

It was at Roger's fish room that I saw my first pair of discus with fry attached. I was hooked but still afraid. It took many trips to Roger's before I gained the courage to try my hand with Discus but once I started I never turned back. In early 2010 my best discus friend, Chad Adams, and I decided to start a local discus group in the Atlanta area and held some initial pre-meetings with some other local discus nuts. We set the date for our first official meeting to be right after the 2010 NADA (North American Discus Association) Convention and Show in Dallas. I have always believed if you want to grow in an endeavor then you have to really put yourself into it and find ways to be involved. I signed up for the Convention and contacted some of the Show Committee requesting to be a volunteer. John Nicholson and Jim Hall replied and said they would put me to work. LOL, little did I know...........not much later they would ask me to run for a NADA BOD position. It was during the first speaker's talk at the Show that Chad turned to me and said "we could do this". When I questioned Chad about what he meant he said we could bring the next Show to Atlanta. Well you have to get involved. We came home from the Show, held our first meeting of SEDE (Southeast Discus Enthusiast) and told them we were going to do it. We turned in a bid for the Show and the rest is history. One of my proudest accomplishments. I currently serve as a NADA BOD member and am a past VP and President of NADA. I have been a BOD member of the Atlanta Area Aquarium Association for about 6 years now.

I learned an lot over the last 5 years of keeping and breeding discus but in so many ways I still consider myself a novice. It is hard to think differently with folks like John that have been doing it for decades. My fish room now consist of 40 tanks ranging from 20 gallons to 220 gallons with about 1800 gallons total. I also have 700 gallons of stored water. All but 6 of the tanks are bare bottom and most use sponge filters. The exceptions are my 110 gallon and 220 gallon tanks. My tanks are all drilled for easy water changes and I use pond pumps in the storage containers to pump water for filling the tanks. The six planted tanks are each 20 gallons and I keep apistos and Rams in them. I also have 4 29's that I use for Angel breeding tanks. I always try to keep at least one tank for fish I have never bred before for the club awards program. Currently I am growing out a group of keyhole cichlids for this.

I'll close this out by sharing part of my passion. I really enjoy helping others get involved in the hobby. I actively seek out anyone considering Discus and offer my help and support in anyway I can. This always involves encouraging them to come out to my fish room and get a look and what Discus keeping is all about. If we want to see this hobby we love thrive then we absolutely have to get proactive in this area.

FIND A WAY TO GET INVOLVED.Nice! Thanks Larry!

[timmy82]

Hi All SD comunity,
I just got hit with the "Tag inbox" so here is a bit on me.

Well I'm in Queesnsland Australia on the Sunshine Coast which is about an hour north of Rod in Brisbane. I been into discus since after the wife had her 1st brain surgery for a tumour around 2011 she was stuck at home not being able to drive and wanted something to relax with. We started with a 2 1/2ft tank as planted comunity tank which ended up with discus in it also. From there it sparked my intrest so we up graded to a 4ft and then a 6ft, some discus paired and spawned in the comunity tank so got a breeding tank. Then it continued to 8 tanks some adult discus and pairs, then to 38 tanks and other varieties of fish.
Now I have around 75 tanks and register Australian Bussiness Number.
Things haven't progressed too fast lately as we moved down here early last year and had to bring our wedding forward due to the changes of the tumour. The wife underwent the second round of brain surgery September 15 and has been through radiotheroapy and still on chemo. All in all the 2nd surgery results were better than expected and the treatment has proven less harsh than expected too.
I've work for Cummins Engine Company as a diesel tech for last 16 year, with the last half dozen or more on a fly in fly out roster of 7 on 7 off. Soon I will be setting up all my discus better as planned and L catfish also to fill the spaces close to the floor. So onece things settle down later in the year I should hopefully have a steady production of young available on a regular basis.

Thankyou all on SD for the great site and info.

[brewmaster15]

Thanks Timmy! And speedy recovery to your wife!

al
ps..no i dea about this"Tag inbox" :bandana:lol

[Altum Nut]

:)Lets see here...where to start...

My name is Ralph Ciardullo...yes another Italian just like Al. I am 50 yrs.old married 25 years to wife Teresa and together for 32 years with two daughters Stephanie 18 and Claudia 12 who are my pride and joy. Born and raised in Toronto Canada and work for the City of Toronto as a Transportation Roads Inspector.
Hobbies....Aquarium Fish, Steelhead Fishing, Camping, Wood working and Renovations, Gardening....

Kept and bred Guppies as a kid with my older brother and entered a couple of shows until I showed interest in girls when the hobby stopped. I started again after I got married at age 25 and kept African Cichlids. It was not a challenge for me and later turned to Angels which I had for a number of years. In 2006 I attended a seminar on Altum Angels and fell in love.
I acquired my first group from Frank Agguire who was know as very few to have bred them back in Mexico. Over the years I added to my collection acquiring more from Oliver at Below-Water and tried everything under the sun to breed them without any luck. I have also kept and to date still have a variety of Plecos.
I eventually met some discus hobbyist Joe (Moon) and breeder Barb Newell and seen the beauty of Discus Fish and have been hooked since. Became a SD member and to date have acquired enough knowledge to give it a shot.

There has been some hit and misses with grow-outs and sub-adults that would just not grow. Eventually I understood the importance of acquiring Discus from reputable sources from the start and has taken off from there.

Today I don't have to many tanks running being scattered in different rooms but am working on building my fish room hopefully ready for NADA 2016. I hoping I can bring home some quality stock from the show and fill some empty tanks.

Over the years all you guys and gals on SD have welcomed me and am truly grateful. I can't wait to finally meet you all.

That's it for me...I'm a very simple guy and don't need much to make me happy.:)

...Ralph

[timmy82]

Thanks Timmy! And speedy recovery to your wife!

al
ps..no i dea about this"Tag inbox" :bandana:lol


Thanks Al ;)

[brewmaster15]

:)Lets see here...where to start...

My name is Ralph Ciardullo...yes another Italian just like Al. I am 50 yrs.old married 25 years to wife Teresa and together for 32 years with two daughters Stephanie 18 and Claudia 12 who are my pride and joy. Born and raised in Toronto Canada and work for the City of Toronto as a Transportation Roads Inspector.
Hobbies....Aquarium Fish, Steelhead Fishing, Camping, Wood working and Renovations, Gardening....

Kept and bred Guppies as a kid with my older brother and entered a couple of shows until I showed interest in girls when the hobby stopped. I started again after I got married at age 25 and kept African Cichlids. It was not a challenge for me and later turned to Angels which I had for a number of years. In 2006 I attended a seminar on Altum Angels and fell in love.
I acquired my first group from Frank Agguire who was know as very few to have bred them back in Mexico. Over the years I added to my collection acquiring more from Oliver at Below-Water and tried everything under the sun to breed them without any luck. I have also kept and to date still have a variety of Plecos.
I eventually met some discus hobbyist Joe (Moon) and breeder Barb Newell and seen the beauty of Discus Fish and have been hooked since. Became a SD member and to date have acquired enough knowledge to give it a shot.

There has been some hit and misses with grow-outs and sub-adults that would just not grow. Eventually I understood the importance of acquiring Discus from reputable sources from the start and has taken off from there.

Today I don't have to many tanks running being scattered in different rooms but am working on building my fish room hopefully ready for NADA 2016. I hoping I can bring home some quality stock from the show and fill some empty tanks.

Over the years all you guys and gals on SD have welcomed me and am truly grateful. I can't wait to finally meet you all.

That's it for me...I'm a very simple guy and don't need much to make me happy.:)

...Ralph

Ralph when I make it up there we have to time it for the steelhead...:)

[limige]

ok, my name is mike, I have a problem. i'm a discus-holic and have been sober for 7 years now....but I gave in, I got bit again...

lol, seriously, brew and john know me from the beginning days here. I used to live in the metro Detroit area, had some wilds, some PB's from cary at GLD who was a terrific mentor and enabler, had some turk's that bred very well for me. sold some to brew back in the day and an old member tony1313 that seems to have left us as well. I suspect he'll be back, lol.

anyhow, business in Detroit when downhill (im a machinist by trade), of course you all know about the auto industry tanking in Detroit. so I had to give up the hatchery, I kept my angels and weathered the economic storm at my brothers in the thumb near where I grew up. water at his place was horrid. 550 tds, sometimes came out orange. angels did ok in it. took them a while to adjust. unfortunately my tank crashed one day and I lost all my angels. so I hit the store bought a handful, later on I ordered some marbles off aquabid. raised them for a year before a pair formed and hatched some fry in the community tank. I pulled them but they no longer seemed interested. female would spawn but the male wouldn't participate.

anyhow, my brother and his wife had a baby, my niece peityn. once peityn got to be about 4 I decided it would be a great time to hatch some fish out. the angels weren't cooperating so I bought some killifish eggs off aquabid from a fellow in texas. killifish are also quite unique I learned. they are shipped in peat moss, you keep it damp for awhile then weeks later hit them with a few inches of water and they start hatching. peityn would get up in the morning and run to the bowl to see if any hatched, we would then suck them out with a dropper and put them into a container for feeding. well I had them in a 10 gallon tank when I left there and made the move further north for a new job at a great company. hated to move away from my brother and parents but this part of the state is a breath of fresh air from where I've been so far.
last spring I bought a house and ten acres, started cleaning out the old orchard and get a plan together to make it better deer hunting habitat.
one of the things that sold me on the house was the terrific well water. a few months ago I brought my pair of angels up, now I purchased a discus pair from Chicago discus to work with.
plenty on my plate but im eager to start doing some breeding again.
as you learned I deer hunt, I duck hunt, groundhog hunt and just love the shooting sports. I like to build rifles and shoot longrange (hence 10 acres) reload and shoot.
I also fish, I have a few boats, and now I live where lake Michigan isn't far for steelhead salmon and lake trout fishing. lots of lakes nearby for walleye smelt perch crappie and bass.
also do some snowmobiling, trail butts up to the back of the property, done a little buying selling and fixing on sleds this year.
I work nightshift, for a long time we were working 7 days a week 78 hrs or so a week, we've slowed and just got the word today we are moving to 40 hrs. i'm not too concerned though, it won't last.
I do oil and gas work, so the low prices are killing the industry right now. once it goes back up things will pick up again, we all know this won't last.

so hopefully Ill have some discus and angelfish fry soon!
screened a batch of eggs today, so we will soon see!

[discuspaul]

As Eric said in the first post to this thread, it was a great idea Al, to turn the introduction tables around so that newer folks to the forum could get to know what the 'loud-mouthed longer-timers' were all about. - lol.

So far, I've really enjoyed learning a little more about members with whom I've been back & forth with many times in numerous threads over the past few years, like Al, Pat, John, Larry, Ralph, Ricardo and Matt.

Have had much less interplay, if any, with Timmy & Limige, but I'm sure we'll get to know you both better as time goes on.
Anyway, it would be great to see this thread expanded a ton more - so I hope you folks keep the intros coming !

[limige]

hello paul! I've been out since 2005-06 era, its been awhile for me. simply got its start in 02 so theres a few ppl to the family that have come and gone. I reckon for many they will come back at some point and time.

at this point I only plan on working with maybe two pairs at a time. I will eventually setup a show tank and hope to trade fry to get some different strains.

I was playing around with planted tanks, now im in different water I may try once again, for my angels, actually I may just do a plant only tank for a while first and go from there. right now I have way too much carpet in the house and the basement isn't setup for heat yet. I run an outdoor wood stove and the pipes keep it moderately warm down there. i'm debating about adding a register to do grow out tanks down stairs.

[rickztahone]

Full circle with discus right? Lol. Great to read about all of you. Great thread and it is great to see people in different walks of life merge together in such a great hobby, with the king of freshwater fish ;-)

[DonMD]

OK, Al, I'll give it a shot, although in no way do I consider myself very knowledgeable about discus! Old timer, well, SURE. In fact, I'm RETIRING NOV. 1 ~ HOT DAMN!

I joined this forum in 2006, and that was the best thing I've done to improve my ability to keep discus. Probably like a lot of people I began with discus because I saw some at a local fish store and thought, WOW, what a fish, I want it. Since then I've learned a few things. First, buy from a reputable source. Second, quarantine your fish. Third, change water a lot. After that it's easy.

I'm sorry to say that I learned these things the hard way. Brought home discus, them added to them, and then they started dying. Read up, found this forum, tried meds, eventually sent sick fish to Virginia Tech's Aquatic Veterinary School, where they diagnosed flukes and spironucleus vortens (hex). So, I killed the rest of my fish in the tank with an OD of potassium permanganate. Sigh.

Next, I sterilized my entire system and bought new nets, etc., but infected my new fish AGAIN by not quarantining properly. This time they got cryptobia, and that's a death sentence. Euthanized my entire stock, sterilized everything AGAIN, and started AGAIN. Don't ask me how much money I've burned doing this LOL! Arrrg. But I have learned my lessons, as indicated above. I think one of the most sobering comments I've read on Simply was from John Nicholson when he admitted he wasn't an expert on medicines because his fish didn't get sick much (well, he said something like that). So, that's been my goal, to get a healthy population of discus going. Knock on wood, I've been having some fairly good success, both with avoiding health issues with my fish, and now breeding! I'm having a blast. Here's some pics of my breeding setup: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?114941-Small-but-BUSY-Discus-Hatchery&highlight=

As for health; clean stock, clean tank, lots of w/c's, and I've gotten to this point: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?118042-One-way-of-doing-a-Bare-Bottom-Display-Tank-125-gallon&p=1138903&highlight=#post1138903.

Lots of great advice from the old-timers here, it's a great community, Al, you deserve a lot of credit for putting it together and keeping it going. -Don

[Second Hand Pat]

Don, what an experience you have had. Glad all is going so well for you now.
Pat

[Second Hand Pat]

So to continue from the old, grumpy people post (had a hot date with my old man :o)

I am a relatively new comer to SimplyDiscus. I spend the first four months on the forum researching, trying to decide whether to go with domestics or wilds. Finally at the tail end of 2010 I got my first group of wilds from John (snookn21) and they did very well. Setup another tank and bought some more wilds and March of 2011 disaster stuck. It started in one tank with the Alenquers; the fish would madly dart around the tank, as fast as they could go. Hitting the tank walls, wood and finally do tight little circles until the fish was exhausted...it was heart wrenching to watch. The first time I witnessed this the fish died within two hours.

I started a disease thread and with the help of Eddie and the more experienced disease guys they tried to help me figure out what was happening with the fish. Had another fish do the same time and die within short order. After several weeks and losing fish one by one, Francis took pity on me and asked his friend Andrew Soh to step in and after a few trying different meds finally tried a prescription med that I got from another member who was a vet. Slowly things got better and after a few re-treatments and losing quite a few fish I was symbol free. It was a five month ordeal I would not wish on anyone.

I was left with a core group of Tefe which I raised out the rest of 2011 and February 2012 I had my first wild pair form and with the help of Larry Bugg who provided me with a divider for the main tank I was able to pull eight week old F1 Tefe fry from the tank. :D:D. Talk about disaster to elation my first year of wilds keeping. Early 2013 I had my second wild pair form and got fry from them also. I have had the normal misadventures with fry rearing and learned a lot. I did manage to raise some to young adults but honestly I was not truly happy with the results.

2014 was not a good year for me. I had a beautiful pair form, they spawned and in my attempts to get them to spawn again I subjected them and the tank to a low temperature experiment resulting in the dreaded white poop and some with bacteria infections. Some of the fish do not resume eating so I placed them in a separate tank for further treatment but ended up culling them as they were simply staving to death. Pricey lesson :(

Today I have a great group of Tefes, a new group of Cuipeua and hope to be breeding wilds in the near future. :D:D

[brewmaster15]

"Older" gets a bad rap often, but older can often mean "wiser":)
al

[Ryan]

My name is Ryan. I've been at Simply since day one. Actually, I was here many days before that, helping Al build this place. I wouldn't have guessed at 19 that we'd all still be here now. Simply is ancient in internet years!

I was born and raised in a rural town in central Florida. I'm a fifth generation Floridian. My dad's family originally came from Georgia, my mom's from West Virginia. I grew up farming and gardening, and my dad and his parents were in the fern business. Central Florida used to be the "Fern Capital of the World," growing decorative ferns and cut greens for the florist industry. We shipped fern around the globe, especially to Germany and the Scandinavian countries. It was hard work for my grandparents and my dad, but it was also a lucrative business in the 70s and 80s. In addition to hundreds of acres of greenery, we also had horses, cattle, and pigs. Caring for living things is probably in my blood. Fish were a natural extension of that -- it was a chance to apply what I knew about animal care and husbandry to one of the few living things my family didn't keep and raise.

I wanted a puppy or a kitten, but neither of my parents wanted me to have a pet at home. They'd each had enough of caring for animals growing up. Their compromise was allowing me to keep a few fish, which they probably thought would be a phase I'd grow out of. It started at 4 or 5 with comet goldfish from the fair, then led to a 10 gallon tank with mollies and some silver angelfish. By the time I was 13, I was obsessed with angelfish and had tankfuls of them all over my house. They were the first cichlid I successfully bred and raised. I would spend an hour every Saturday at my local fish store, asking questions and looking around. I found books about South American cichlids and started trying my hand at other species. That led me to discus. I made all the typical newbie mistakes -- keeping a single fish in a community tank, no quarantine, no attention to water parameters or temperature, etc. At that age, it took a few weeks of allowance money to save for even one discus. I started writing letters to discus breeders in the back of fish magazines, asking for help. Some were nice enough to send back care sheets. Then my parents bought a computer and I used those free AOL discs (remember those? lol) to research discus online. It's what eventually put me in touch with April, and then Al.

Not much has changed in almost 20 years. I still have a soft spot for angels and discus, and I still find myself working with rare and uncommon South American cichlids. I usually buy groups of wild fish to grow out, spawn, raise, and then I move on to something else. The best way to become knowledgeable about something is to experience it, and so that's what I've applied to my aquarium hobby. At any given time I usually have 10 or so tanks running, mostly large setups (150 - 220 gallons) with a handful of 40 breeder and 55 gallon tanks for grow-outs or dwarf species.

As for my life outside the fish hobby, I have spent the last 10 years in underground construction with my dad. I started working at a company he co-owned in my early 20s as a helper on a field crew. In 2009 he made the decision to split from his business partner and we started our own business. I now run our small business. My dad has always been and will always be a worker; he's not much for paperwork, accounting, or banking. He handles everything in the field and I do the rest. It has been rewarding, educational, and frustrating. If any of you have worked in a family business, you'll understand what I mean by frustrating. LOL. I'm also a bit of a computer nerd; I've been using one since my grandma bought her first Tandy PC in the 80s. I have spent a lot of time on the creative end of it (building websites, for instance) but I do tinker around with hardware from time to time. Simply is where both of those worlds collided for me, I guess.

[discuspaul]

Real nice to know more of your background, Ryan.
Your knowledge of fish-keeping and computers has shown up very well here at Simply over the years, right up to date, and no doubt Al and the forum has significantly benefited from it, as well as have many members here, including myself.
Many thanks for your unflagging efforts to help make this site the great place that it is.

[Bill63SG]

Ok Ill give it a go.My brothers and I were always into animals.Growing up in Chicago I was lucky enough to have a forest preserve near by.Used to catch snakes on the train tracks and go dip netting the hidden pond.What ever we caught was put into a 15gal we had in our living room.I used to breed convicts and feed them to a baby northern I ket in a garbage can.

One of my first full time jobs was working in the warehouse of a large family chain of pets stores called Noah's Ark and that's where I learned how to drive a truck and basically its what I still do today.I operate a small crane for a roofing supplier.

I kept discus on and off,and I had a group of browns that I got from a guy I worked with,6 in a 30gal,and eventually I got what might have been a pair and they would spawn for me.We had a large fish room in the warehouse,they had 18-19 stores and we would supply our own,so when those guys heard I have discus spawning they wanted to come over and see.This would have been around 35yrs ago,so was still a rarity.I then saved my money and bought some Wattley blue turks,and manged to keep them alive for around 9 months.Probably got out of it a for quite a few years, then,and set up a tank in our bathroom in our old house when my son was around 2.When we moved to this house set up a 75 gal with discus and killed them.Then a few years later set up a 150 with Africans.Had that for many years.After a bunch of cross breeding,the fish were looking lousy,and decided to give discus another try.Bought 13 juvies and killed 12.
All I had done was get rid of the Africans and get the discus 2 days later.I don't know what kind of spikes I had,but I never saw the ammonia test turn that color of red before.Once I got it down,I went and bought 6 discus from William Palumbo,2 cobalt,2 flachen,and 2 turks,of which I still have 1 flachen and 1 cobalt.I learned a lot from Bill,got turned onto Simply,and started to read.

Met a lot of great people on here,too many to name for the help,but Cozy Keith also helped me out a lot,and thru him I met many who I now,including him,consider close friends.Ive metioned it before,but at some point my wife said,"Boy,this is the longest you've ever kept discus alive".Ive got a fish room where the average person thinks Im nuts and people here consider normal.I actually manage to breed the occasional discus,and help form a little group that started out just for bbq and beer and in 2 years we'll be hosting NADA.All that from dip-netting sunfish.

[Keith Perkins]

Okay, well, I've been here for over 5 years and have kept discus on and off over 20 years. If you want to read my original "Tell us about yourselves" here's a link.

Post 293

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?46499-Tell-us-about-yourselves-Please/page20

I don't feel like I'm any expert, I prefer John's method of keeping them healthy so you don't have to know a lot about medications. I'm trying to learn about them though so I can be more helpful; but good husbandry, breeding, water chemistry, and other basics or perhaps advanced basics I'm happy to help with. One person appreciated the help enough that she nominated me for the member spotlight section. Be danged if I didn't randomly end up being the first one picked on it's resurrection.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?103825-March-SpotLighted-Member-is-CozyKeith

Going back and reading some of the older member spotlights is really a hoot. I particularly liked Kenny's.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?59786-September-spotlighT-Kenny-Cheung

I really appreciate the history of the hobby, folks like Jack Wattley and Old Man Glut's (see first link above(rumor has it Old Man Glut's thought Jack Wattley some things))

Oh, and I know most of what I know because I already screwed it up. I don't know if that qualifies as wiser Al, perhaps just more experienced? Okay, old dang it.

Met some great people here, and some knowledgeable one's. Some times there even both.

Last item, a last sales pitch. As you can see by my red name CozyKeith I'm a Homesteader. It's a great way to get more mailbox space. A place to save pictures for reference. And last but not least a great way to give a little back to this forum you freely enjoy the use of. Just sayin.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?104050

[discuspaul]

A big thanks for posting those links, Keith !
Got me to reminiscing about my time here, and the great group of members who in my mind have contributed so much to this forum during that time, and still do............

I'm just a little shy of 5 years here myself, but thinking back through those years, I just wanted to say what a pleasure it has been to hear from, on a regular basis through their posts right up to this day, and get to know, the so many 'Simply' stalwarts like the following persons, in no particular order of importance:

(My apologies for inadvertently omitting so many of you whose names have slipped my mind at the moment.)

- Brewmaster Al
- John Nicholson
- Second Hand Pat
- CozyKeith
- DiscusLoverJeff
- Chicago Discus (Josie)
- Don in Virginia
- Disgirl (Barb)
- Bill63SG
- Rickztahone (Ricardo)
- Moon
- William Palumbo
- Skip
- Yim11 (Jim)
- a volar (Ismael)

Oh, and the list goes on....

And in another vein, I wanted to mention some others that have somewhat influenced me, in one way or another, who used to regularly post during my early years here, but we so seldom hear from lately and I for one miss their presence - wish we would hear more often from them:
(Again, apologies to those that have not come to mind at the moment.)

- Eddie
- April
- Chad Hughes
- Turq64 (Gary)
- Strawberry Blonde (Toni)
- DiscusBR (Mauro)
- Joanstone
- Jennie
- Trier20 (Brandon)
- Vera
- ericatdallas
- David Rose

I`m missing many more of these too - sorry.

Just enjoyed remembering, and had to get it out - thanks for reading.

[rickztahone]

A big thanks for posting those links, Keith !
Got me to reminiscing about my time here, and the great group of members who in my mind have contributed so much to this forum during that time, and still do............

I'm just a little shy of 5 years here myself, but thinking back through those years, I just wanted to say what a pleasure it has been to hear from, on a regular basis through their posts right up to this day, and get to know, the so many 'Simply' stalwarts like the following persons, in no particular order of importance:

(My apologies for inadvertently omitting so many of you whose names have slipped my mind at the moment.)

- Brewmaster Al
- John Nicholson
- Second Hand Pat
- CozyKeith
- DiscusLoverJeff
- Chicago Discus (Josie)
- Don in Virginia
- Disgirl (Barb)- Bill63SG
- Rickztahone (Ricardo)
- Moon
- William Palumbo
- Skip
- Yim11 (Jim)
- a volar (Ismael)

Oh, and the list goes on....

And in another vein, I wanted to mention some others that have somewhat influenced me, in one way or another, who used to regularly post during my early years here, but we so seldom hear from lately and I for one miss their presence - wish we would hear more often from them:
(Again, apologies to those that have not come to mind at the moment.)

- Eddie
- April
- Chad Hughes
- Turq64 (Gary)
- Strawberry Blonde (Toni)
- DiscusBR (Mauro)
- Joanstone
- Jennie
- Trier20 (Brandon)
- Vera
- ericatdallas
- David Rose

I`m missing many more of these too - sorry.

Just enjoyed remembering, and had to get it out - thanks for reading.

I miss Eddie so much here. I hope he comes back soon.

[Second Hand Pat]

I had a little FB chat with Eddie the other day and he has about completed his deployment. He may be getting back into discus in his next assignment so may be we will hear from him soon. I miss him too.

[rickztahone]

I had a little FB chat with Eddie the other day and he has about completed his deployment. He may be getting back into discus in his next assignment so may be we will hear from him soon. I miss him too.

:D

[discuspaul]

I had a little FB chat with Eddie the other day and he has about completed his deployment. He may be getting back into discus in his next assignment so may be we will hear from him soon. I miss him too.

That's real good to hear Pat - I'll bet many people miss not having & reading Eddie's (previously frequent) posts.

[Second Hand Pat]

Eddie is definitely Simply's champion poster Paul and has a whole year of members who do not know him.
Pat

[discuspaul]

Yes, true, and sad they don't know him. If he was active on the forum today, I'm sure a lot of new members would get more enjoyment and feel better about having joined the forum. His personality would shine through.
That's my feeling anyway.

[Kimberline]

Hiya I'm Kim Reese from Spacebook and a passionate discus owner. They have ruled my life for about 6 years now lol

I'm originally from Los Angeles but have lived in the mountains of Virginia for about 35 years, where you can't find anything for fish, let alone discus so I'm an avid online shopper for discus and supplies.

I won my first fish at a carnival when I was 9 and have had a fish ever since, and I am now 56. I made a bucket list when I was 50 and owning discus was on that list. So, I got rid of all my salt water fish and took the plunge and I must say it's been an awesome adventure.

I have approximately 40 discus and my latest venture is 8 wild heckels that I just adore. I do believe I see more wilds in my near future.....they are totally awesome! I might even venture into wild altums down the road, we will see.

I'm not an old timer of the forum but I am older and wiser from reading everything I've read on Simply so if your a newbee, take the time to read everything you can about discus because you will need the knowledge to keep them happy and healthy.

I started a discus group about a year in a half ago on Facebook called, it's...All About Discus because in my life, it really is All About Discus :)

[MKD]

I'm Anthony Nguyen. (Tony in short). I, Boat People escaped from Vietnam on New Year Eve 1988 to Philippines with 119 other people. I was lucky that US accepted and brought me to America in 1990.

I was in Computer industry, I'm sure most of you know about dinosaur 286....486 Intel DOS computers, super heavy dot matrix printers, typewriters :). 1997 computer industry crashed, I changed career to mortgage until now. Im married with 2 daughters age of 11 & 12 to a beautiful wife for 19 years (including 5 years dating).

I kept beta at 10 years old but hid from my family because it could create/ spread diseases from mosquitos. I kept them in glass jars and bred them in big ceramic vase with clay at bottom and some plants. Came to America, I kept Arowona, Oranda, Koi and other Cichlid couple years then quitted. Then one day, my wife told me her sister family give away 60 acrylic gallon tank if i want it. I told her no. Suddenly weeks later, it showed up in front of my house and my discus journal started from there. I repainted stand , buffed the tank and ready for fish. We went to several lfs but could not find any, then next thing we knew we went all surrounding lfs still couldn't find any that can compare to hobbyist's discus on SD except those in "What Not to Buy" sticky. It was my thread that i read. It gave me better picture of sick unhealthy discus.
SimplyDiscus is the best community and helps me keeping discus. I still have lot more to learn from all of you.

[DonMD]

Then one day, my wife told me her sister family give away 60 acrylic gallon tank if i want it. I told her no. Suddenly weeks later, it showed up in front of my house

Hahaha! Your wife is like my wife. You say no, but you might as well just surrender. What she wants is what happens! So, she made you get the tank against your wishes. Good start! LOL.

[MKD]

I was not ready at the time. She know i had multiple tanks before and 100G tank ended up at her parent's house when i left hobby. Now i have a reason to add more tanks hahahah. I'll blame on her if she says something :) J/K.

[brewmaster15]

Awesome Reads everyone!

Lets keep them going! Don't be shy.

al

[Rod]

Hi, my name is Rod Lewis. I have been at Simplydiscus since the first day, introduced by my good friend April. I have a lot of discus and have been around them for a long time. The discus have occupied a large part of my life, and been the reason to go out and see the world. I have been to discus shows and visited breeders from Malaysia, Singapore and Germany, and traveled hundreds/thousands of kilometers in Australia, for a discus deal. I have imported them, bred them, and exported them at various times. Currently i am breeding them. My main focus has always been on breeding them, i want to understand the mechanics of inheritance, and learn how to solve problems in breeding. Also trying to learn how best to grow them up so that i can have the best discus possible.

Personally, i have been married for 26 years. We have 2 children, and 3 grandchildren. We live in a beautiful part of our planet on the east coast of Australia. I love nature and enjoy reading. I am political, somewhat opinionated, and can be argumentative when i have a point to make. Al will be happy to know that this tendency is curbed as much as possible on Simply :D I enjoy playing golf and play most weeks. I build things, and i make just about everything for my fish by myself.

I have kept all sorts of fishes since i was 12 years old, and i have never been without them. In addition to discus i also have a pond full of wild type endlers guppies and cherry shrimps, along with several varieties of water and marginal plants.

[rickztahone]

Hi, my name is Rod Lewis. I have been at Simplydiscus since the first day, introduced by my good friend April. I have a lot of discus and have been around them for a long time. The discus have occupied a large part of my life, and been the reason to go out and see the world. I have been to discus shows and visited breeders from Malaysia, Singapore and Germany, and traveled hundreds/thousands of kilometers in Australia, for a discus deal. I have imported them, bred them, and exported them at various times. Currently i am breeding them. My main focus has always been on breeding them, i want to understand the mechanics of inheritance, and learn how to solve problems in breeding. Also trying to learn how best to grow them up so that i can have the best discus possible.

Personally, i have been married for 26 years. We have 2 children, and 3 grandchildren. We live in a beautiful part of our planet on the east coast of Australia. I love nature and enjoy reading. I am political, somewhat opinionated, and can be argumentative when i have a point to make. Al will be happy to know that this tendency is curbed as much as possible on Simply :D I enjoy playing golf and play most weeks. I build things, and i make just about everything for my fish by myself.

I have kept all sorts of fishes since i was 12 years old, and i have never been without them. In addition to discus i also have a pond full of wild type endlers guppies and cherry shrimps, along with several varieties of water and marginal plants.

Well, i'm sure you know this already but you are the go to person for genetics :)

[nc0gnet0]

My name is Mud.

I live in Grand Rapids Michigan, with my Girlfriend and 3 very spoiled dogs. I am an Environmental Specialist and have a degree in Electronic Engineering. I have had an array of hobbies including building computers, owning harness race horses, fishing, golf, and of course my fish and dogs.

I was introduced into discus by my dad, who had some blue turqs years ago when I was a child. It had to be over 40 years ago but they left a lasting impression as a truly beautiful fish. About that same time I was breeding and selling various strains of Beta’s and establishing community tanks around the house. I’ve been fortunate that fish have been a part of my life for a very long time. One of my first passions was Koi, which I kept for many years. Doing so, I learned a lot about advanced fish diagnosis and treatments.

A move several years ago had me leaving my Koi ponds, and left me searching for a new hobby. It all started with one 90 gallon fish tank, and a trip to the LFS. There I seen some discus, and was reminded of 40 years ago. Shortly after that I stumbled on Simply Discus….. I now hold Al personally responsible for the 28 tanks of discus I know own.
Al, just be warned, if your ever in the area and pop in, expect a few less than approving glances from the GF :)

I have always had a fascination with genetics, going as far as to participate in an online genetics class offered by Duke University. Currently, I have been working with several different strains, doing crosses with the intention of developing a new or different discus. I log a lot of these “experiments” in my homesteader section “The Mutt Motel” right here on Simply. Which reminds me, I am long overdue to do some updates…….

Here on Simply, I like to spend time assisting other discus keepers with various health and breeding issues in addition to promoting the best conditions and environment for these great fish we love so much. I am an active member of the Grand Valley Aquarium Society, and an active member of the board of directors over at NADA.


Rick

[brewmaster15]

Shortly after that I stumbled on Simply Discus….. I now hold Al personally responsible for the 28 tanks of discus I know own.
Al, just be warned, if your ever in the area and pop in, expect a few less than approving glances from the GF  They always blame me! No worries, I'm used to it!:)
al

[brewmaster15]

bump

[AquariumAdventuresLarry]

HI Al:

this is Larry from Denver. we spoke on the phone a little while ago today. my user name is AquariumAdventureslarry.

please send me the link to the Brazil places I might go to next month while in Brazil. also what is the link for the silica for my tank.

thanks

Larry

[brewmaster15]

HI Al:

this is Larry from Denver. we spoke on the phone a little while ago today. my user name is AquariumAdventureslarry.

please send me the link to the Brazil places I might go to next month while in Brazil. also what is the link for the silica for my tank.

thanks

Larry

sent you a Pm Larry ..upper right hand corner of the screen.
al

[farebox]

Okay folks, Roland, farebox on SD. I'm going on 66, after HS graduation in 1967 joined the US Air Force, June 1968 and stayed for 21 years. After military retirement, got an job as bus operator for VIA Metropolitan Transit here in San Antonio TX for 19 years. Fully retired in 2009 and that was my start with keeping discus fish, although been in the freshwater hobby since 1970 at Vandenberg AFB, Lompoc, Calif. Married to my filipina lady 46 years with three chilren, Roland Jr, 42, (also just retired from USAF. 21 yrs), Rhonda, 38, and James, 30. Also have five grandchildren. Remember getting my very first 10 gallon tank from the local K-mart in Lompoc, Calif. Got home with tank, filled with tap water and added the fish. Well you all know the outcome of this story...sorry poor fishes. Next day found the local fish store and got new start the right way. All I can say is that 29 gallon tank was the best tank I ever had. In the year of 2008 I was into high tech planted tanks, with the lights,CO2, etc. One day my oldest son said to me," dad you ought to do discus". Well I went out to all the LFS and found some discus fish and came home with five. Little did I know at the time I acquired some of the most sickly fish in the world. OMG all dead in an week. Next adventure came with online purchase with Something Phishy. second horror story, finally found SD and got on the right track on keeping discus fish. I owe a lot to all the kind folks on the forum for all their valuable knowledge. I admit to some of my own blunders on the way, but now I listen to the good guys. I really love this hobby and found to keep things simple and you will have healthy fish. I have 125G, 55G, and two 40G breeder tank. Firm follower of the bare bottom tank for discus fish. Right now have the 55G with 6 juvies growing out from an spawn and 40G waiting for 4-5" Fire Reds from Mr. Hans. The 125G I have 12 adults doing just great! That's all folks.....

[brewmaster15]

Thanks for Posting Roland! Glad you are here on SD!

al

[Ardan]

Hi,
My name is Ardan. I have been a member of Simply Discus since the first year it started. I have learned a lot here! That is an understatement. I really have enjoyed learning about discus, water chemistry, diseases and learning about people from all over the country and the world. I was a moderator on Simply Discus for quite a few years and I really enjoyed trying to help people with informative articles and information. Fishkeeping started in my early teens, late 1960’s, early 1970’s.
I grew up in Montana, joined the army for 4 years, met my wife during that time, and settled down in Wisconsin. We have lived here for 35 years now. We have 3 wonderful children, 2 sons and a daughter.
I am a welder/metal fabricator by trade. I make things for customers primarily out of steel, working from blueprints from start to finish. The items can be small or large parts for larger assemblies. I usually work on the larger items, probably weighing 1 to 2 tons by time I am finished with that particular part.
I have too many hobbies. Woodworking, fishkeeping, pen making, repairing cars and others. Recently I have been working to turn the hobby into a small business. It is found in the Sponsor Section here at Simply Discus as Ardans Creations and also online at Ardanscreations.com . It is a real challenge for me.

[ericNH]

I'm still reading all these, and I still think it's a great idea. Thanks Al for coming up with it and making it happen.

[brewmaster15]

Lets keep these introductions coming everyone.. Its been great so far!


I'm still reading all these, and I still think it's a great idea. Thanks Al for coming up with it and making it happen. Thanks Eric!!!

al

[brewmaster15]

Hey how about a bump up for this thread. Lots of new members here the last year! Lets see if we can keep it going.

al

[nova98cobra]

Hey everyone, my name is Beau and I just joined this forum yesterday. I have already been humbled by the amount of quality information on here. I've been kicking my self in the butt for not doing days of research on here before venturing into my first (current) discus tank. To show how much I already goofed I have a planted tank...enough said.

A little about me: I am 26 and have been keeping fish for only 3 years. I live in Northern Virginia and work as a school counselor at a local middle school. My undergraduate degree is in Neuropsychology and my masters is in School Counseling. I have another 40g tank in my office at school and the students love it. My co-counselors are shocked, but you all my not be at how well the tank works as a therapy tool. Students seem to just stare at the fish and forget I'm there before just talking about whatever is bothering them. It is unbelievable how much students open up while interacting with the fish.

Other hobbies: my other interest in life are anything that goes boom or vroom. I have two race cars and go to the track as often as I can. I am also passionate about collecting antique and modern firearms. I consider my self a do-it-yourself-er, and spend a lot of time in the garage.

[Debow]

Hello everyone,
I think this is my first introduction. My name is Devon and I have been loving the forum and the members for almost 2 years and value all the information I have learned along the way. I am a husband, a father, homeowner, and a hobbyist. I Work in the automotive industry working as a Audi service consultant and have been with the brand for 6 years. I have had a lot of exciting experiences including driving all of the Audi line up and getting the chance to drive the Audi R8, RS7, and many other models that I would otherwise never get to drive. I enjoy building and fabricating metal and wood and have a nicely equipped garage with all one could want. I have an amazing wife that puts up with all my fish tanks, buckets and water changes. My daughter is 4 months and already she loves the fish! I love to read and learn new things about every subject or process I don't think I can ever learn too much. Besides the discus I am a avid shooter and gun owner. I love to cook and value quality equipment pans, knifes, ext... I also have been working on a criminal justice degree for a while and trying to get myself into a local police departments in my area. I think that I have a great ability to help people and feel that I can help others around me in my community and have the chance to change people's lives for the better. I enjoy cold beer after a hard day's work and a sperited discussion about pretty much anything. I love all types of humor and don't mind laughing at myself when necessary. I know there is more to say but don't want to ramble. Oh and I have the great opportunity of being only 45 minutes from Al! Hopefully we meet one day !
102897

[RogueDiscus]

Thanks Devon and Welcome! Cute pic :)

[RogueDiscus]

Hey everyone, my name is Beau and I just joined this forum yesterday. I have already been humbled by the amount of quality information on here. I've been kicking my self in the butt for not doing days of research on here before venturing into my first (current) discus tank. To show how much I already goofed I have a planted tank...enough said.

A little about me: I am 26 and have been keeping fish for only 3 years. I live in Northern Virginia and work as a school counselor at a local middle school. My undergraduate degree is in Neuropsychology and my masters is in School Counseling. I have another 40g tank in my office at school and the students love it. My co-counselors are shocked, but you all my not be at how well the tank works as a therapy tool. Students seem to just stare at the fish and forget I'm there before just talking about whatever is bothering them. It is unbelievable how much students open up while interacting with the fish.

Other hobbies: my other interest in life are anything that goes boom or vroom. I have two race cars and go to the track as often as I can. I am also passionate about collecting antique and modern firearms. I consider my self a do-it-yourself-er, and spend a lot of time in the garage.

Welcome to SD Beau and thanks for sharing about your students. Another great reason to enjoy the hobby!

[brewmaster15]

Hello everyone,
I think this is my first introduction. My name is Devon and I have been loving the forum and the members for almost 2 years and value all the information I have learned along the way. I am a husband, a father, homeowner, and a hobbyist. I Work in the automotive industry working as a Audi service consultant and have been with the brand for 6 years. I have had a lot of exciting experiences including driving all of the Audi line up and getting the chance to drive the Audi R8, RS7, and many other models that I would otherwise never get to drive. I enjoy building and fabricating metal and wood and have a nicely equipped garage with all one could want. I have an amazing wife that puts up with all my fish tanks, buckets and water changes. My daughter is 4 months and already she loves the fish! I love to read and learn new things about every subject or process I don't think I can ever learn too much. Besides the discus I am a avid shooter and gun owner. I love to cook and value quality equipment pans, knifes, ext... I also have been working on a criminal justice degree for a while and trying to get myself into a local police departments in my area. I think that I have a great ability to help people and feel that I can help others around me in my community and have the chance to change people's lives for the better. I enjoy cold beer after a hard day's work and a sperited discussion about pretty much anything. I love all types of humor and don't mind laughing at myself when necessary. I know there is more to say but don't want to ramble. Oh and I have the great opportunity of being only 45 minutes from Al! Hopefully we meet one day !
102897

I'd say the odds of us meeting Devon are pretty darn good! Your Daughter is a real cutie in the pic.. hard to believe its been 4 months already huh?


al

[brewmaster15]

Hey everyone, my name is Beau and I just joined this forum yesterday. I have already been humbled by the amount of quality information on here. I've been kicking my self in the butt for not doing days of research on here before venturing into my first (current) discus tank. To show how much I already goofed I have a planted tank...enough said.

A little about me: I am 26 and have been keeping fish for only 3 years. I live in Northern Virginia and work as a school counselor at a local middle school. My undergraduate degree is in Neuropsychology and my masters is in School Counseling. I have another 40g tank in my office at school and the students love it. My co-counselors are shocked, but you all my not be at how well the tank works as a therapy tool. Students seem to just stare at the fish and forget I'm there before just talking about whatever is bothering them. It is unbelievable how much students open up while interacting with the fish.

Other hobbies: my other interest in life are anything that goes boom or vroom. I have two race cars and go to the track as often as I can. I am also passionate about collecting antique and modern firearms. I consider my self a do-it-yourself-er, and spend a lot of time in the garage.

Beau ,Welcome to SimplyDiscus! I wish you had found us before you did, but am glad that you did!.
al

[Debow]

I'd say the odds of us meeting Devon are pretty darn good! Your Daughter is a real cutie in the pic.. hard to believe its been 4 months already huh?


al

Your telling me! I feel like I just brought her home. Its amazing how quick they grow as you know.

[bikerdude1]

I'm fairly new here,but have been around other forums for years. My first job was at a pet store when I was 15. have had them ever since. currently a 175 gal. planted community tank with 3 discus and 5 more from Kenny on Thursday. Will post some pics later. hobbies are aquariums, woodworking and fast motorcycles. I will be 60 this week, but put me on a bike, I act like a teenager. Hope to make some friends here. Have always like discus but until lately haven"t keep them.

[rickztahone]

Welcome Conae! Do you have a pic of your setup?