New to the Discus Hobby

[farebox]

I was just wondering out of the blue why do so many people buy sick/stunned discus from their local fish store and then inquire to SD for help? I admit I made the same mistake also when I got started, but I told all whom were thinking about getting discus on what to do and not to waste their money, time, on poor quality fish. Also read all the info available to them on SD. I hate to see so many people spend their hard earned cash and then in a few days or weeks the fish expire on them and they quite the hobby from this bad experience. Please take the time and just read all the info on discus at SD folks. Support the local fish store by buying basic aquarium supplies from then.

[Filip]

The worst thing for me with buying sick ,stunded or runted discus is not the money we spend , but the time , hard work and patience we spend on them just to end up with poor results, dissapointment or at worst case waste our precious time dealing with deseases.

[warblad79]

They should start charging people for support is like this forum some sort of call center.

[MKD]

Very thoughtfull of you Roland. I wish everyone patience and research before jump in hobby.

[rickztahone]

Very thoughtfull of you Roland. I wish everyone patience and research before jump in hobby.

You know, this is a big factor in my opinion. Typically (read it again, I said typically) people jump in to a fish purchase. Not just discus, but fish in general and then do the research. I am not saying I am the best fish caretaker, but one thing I have learned over the years is to pace yourself with builds. Really think about them and what it is you want from it and build to your heart's desire. Fish are always the last part of the equation. The problem is when people place the fish in the first part of it and deal with the repercussions later. These people typically walk away after a bad exprience and sell of their equipment/tank.

This forum is here to alliviate that problem, but there are people that need to fail in order to learn.

Spike recently mentioned that he much rather live vicariously through all of our mistakes and do things proper the first time. That philosophy is one that is difficult to ignore. Why make the same mistakes that so many before you have made?

[White Worm]

Someone wants some colorful fish in a glass box. They look on the web and see discus. Go down to LFS and buy some not knowing what they are buying and then they listen to advice from the 18 year old kid selling the discus who knows nothing about them. They quickly get sick because they probably were to begin with and then they die. This person now does some research online and hopefully they come across simply where you get the real deal scoop on how to buy and care for discus. Then this person still thinks they know it all and tries to cut corners and buys cheaper (which usually means lower quality) which again, ends in tragedy. They finally learn that they don't know it all and get advice from some quality breeders/sponsors here and become successful after some trial and error. Its funny because people end up spending more money trying to save money.... Just save your penny's and buy top quality to begin with. Research is always good before you begin any new adventure or hobby.

[rickztahone]

Someone wants some colorful fish in a glass box. They look on the web and see discus. Go down to LFS and buy some not knowing what they are buying and then they listen to advice from the 18 year old kid selling the discus who knows nothing about them. They quickly get sick because they probably were to begin with and then they die. This person now does some research online and hopefully they come across simply where you get the real deal scoop on how to buy and care for discus. Then this person still thinks they know it all and tries to cut corners and buys cheaper (which usually means lower quality) which again, ends in tragedy. They finally learn that they don't know it all and get advice from some quality breeders/sponsors here and become successful after some trial and error. Its funny because people end up spending more money trying to save money.... Just save your penny's and buy top quality to begin with. Research is always good before you begin any new adventure or hobby.

I'm almost tempted to use that line in my signature :laugh:

[White Worm]

I'm almost tempted to use that line in my signature :laugh:

Its so true and I do it all the time, lol.

[Jack L]

Someone wants some colorful fish in a glass box. They look on the web and see discus. Go down to LFS and buy some not knowing what they are buying and then they listen to advice from the 18 year old kid selling the discus who knows nothing about them. They quickly get sick because they probably were to begin with and then they die. This person now does some research online and hopefully they come across simply where you get the real deal scoop on how to buy and care for discus. Then this person still thinks they know it all and tries to cut corners and buys cheaper (which usually means lower quality) which again, ends in tragedy. They finally learn that they don't know it all and get advice from some quality breeders/sponsors here and become successful after some trial and error. Its funny because people end up spending more money trying to save money.... Just save your penny's and buy top quality to begin with. Research is always good before you begin any new adventure or hobby.

agreed with white worms reasoning.
i probably would have done that, that's how it got piranha, snake-heads, gars and other things way back when, of course THEN there was NO internet and you learned that a needlenose gar will EAT ALL YOUR FISH the 1st day the hard way....

no stores had discus so i couldn't make that easy mistake, and i found some forum (20yrs ago now gone) that i read up on Ds and bought dimesize from a hobbyist, went of w/o a hitch w/ just a little homework.