brewmaster15
09-17-2023, 08:27 AM
Today we have the pleasure of interviewing one of the aquarium hobby's most notorious Experts... Discus God George. We have been trying get an interview with this person now for a long time and finally after offering him a very steep fee for the interview, Discus God George has agreed. We are very happy to be able to share this interview of such an experienced Fish keeper and one that has amassed huge numbers of social media followers. I have agreed to personally conduct this interview for SimplyDiscus at his request.
Brew: Discus God George, Thank you for being here today to talk with us. Many of our viewers do not follow social media outside of the forum and may not be familiar with you. Can you please tell us a little about yourself?
Discus God George: Seriously Brew, no need to thank me. You paid me to be here and this exposure is going to be great for my bank account. We all do this just for the fish right? ;) So about me.. I am a 25 year old guy that has been keeping ,breeding and selling Discus now for over 26 years. I run a very successful business where I tell people what ever I want online and they believe me. I can be pretty controversial at times as I say some stuff that just goes against the things most experience hobbyists wrongly believe to be true. I sincerely believe that doing this is of great benefit to the hobby as its good to have different ideas and with all my experiences.. I know more than anyone else. I know it may be hard to believe this, but its true. Just look at all the "Likes" my posts get. Its also not well known that I was the first person to breed wilds in the USA and I have bred and sold literally thousands of discus in my life. I also worked for several major aquariums as a pathologist and I hold several doctorates. I will be retiring soon from the hobby and moving on to a new business venture, so I will share some really good info here as a thank you. My alternative advice would be worthless if not for the experienced hobbyists here harping on the importance of things like water changes, quarantine and "proper care".
Brew: Well then , I guess I can't argue there with your credentials. Appreciate the special treatment you are giving us. Can you give us an idea on what are talking about when you say you can be Controversial?
Discus God George: Why sure. For instance the other day someone was asking for advice on their Discus as they were not eating. So I told them what they were doing wrong. They had been keeping their Discus at 82-86 F. Thats just crazy! In my experience Discus do fine at 75 F. They also had never given them any antibiotics. In my hatchery we treat the Discus every month with antibiotics. We find when we do this we can save a ton on water bills.It allows us to do less water changes, if the fish start showing signs of illness , we just hit them with a round of antibiotics. So I advised the poor hobbyist to double dose what ever antibiotic they had on hand for the next month. I am sure that this advice saved that guys fish because I never heard from them again...No news is after all good news. These are the kinds of things I try to showcase in my facebook group and you tube channel.
Brew: I see. Well I certainly have been doing this all wrong according to you. What other advice do you give that would be considered controversial?
Discus God George: I have a pet peeve about people harping on whats good for the long term care of their Discus. Are you really looking to have that fish that long? Seeing the same fish day in and out is boring. I don't get that mindset. Here at our hatchery we are focused on quick fixes.. make the fish look good, then dump it on a hobbyist. Most of the time they kill it anyway in short order. For instance, we want those fish to glow..so we pump them with hormones and hormone mimics, then massive amounts of pigments. What happens down the road is really not my prob. Besides its bad for business if fish live a long time.
Brew: I definitely don't agree with that point of view, but I am experienced enough to know its a dirty secret of the aquarium industry, I am really amazed that you openly admit it.
Discus God George: Brew, I am all about the numbers. If I think something I post will get me traffic, hits on my sites, and generate ad revenue...its a go. I make a living off this stuff. I really don't care about anything else.
Brew: I see. Hmmm. Okay then lets move on to your views on Quarantine. What do you do when you get new fish in?
Discus God George: I probably will stir up some hate here but I honestly don't QT. I get them in and ship them out. If they look good, thats good enough for me. If I am asked by a customer, well of Course I lie. I tell them they have been dewormed, treated for all protozoans and have been trained to eat anything over a comprehensive months long Quarantine Process.
Brew: wow... I know quite a few excellent sellers out there that would be a bit upset with you. They take pride in selling Healthy Fish.
Discus God George: Who cares, do they have the following I have? Amateurs, really. They probably also work with one vendor and only order in small batches? Thats just crazy...maximize your profits! I order my stock from whoever has the lowest price and dump it anywhere I can as fast as I can.
Brew: Don't you worry about cross contamination and disease issues?
Discus God George: Nope. I will let you and everyone in on a secret. Its called "Discus Exfoliation" Its what we do in our facility. Most disease organisms attack the fish from the outside first, so we learned long ago that if we strip off the slime coat and top layers of tissue with a caustic chemical, it removes the disease organisms. We use this stuff all the time. Its a very dangerous solution, but we are pros, we don't even measure it, just dump it in the tank and look for a nice color violet/purple. Its a trade secret so I can't tell you what its name is but we dump this in anytime the fish seem off. Its really amazing stuff, and over time with alot of uses it even beneficially causes the Gills to flare out more, which obviously is good thing because the fish are taking the equivalent of deep breaths.
Brew: "Discus Exfoliation" Never heard it called that. But I'm pretty sure those flaring gills are not a good thing.. more likely it is that scar tissue has formed and they are laboring to breath. If I had a guess I would think you used Potassium Permanganate?
Discus God George: Really? well thats news to me, but then again we only have these fish for a few weeks to a month. Scar tissue like that wouldn't show up right away...probably not until they were adult fish , So thats not my concern.
Brew: So can we see some images of your fish in your facility?
Discus God George: Sure , These are some that we have currently in Stock and they should be ready to ship out next week. A few obviously are ready to go now.
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Brew: I can't say I see now why you have such a following. I am truly speechless. I think its about time we wrap this up. I would not want to take anymore of your valuable time. Thank you so much for re-enforcing my views on the usefulness of Social media.
Discus God George: Thank you Brew, I would just like to remind your viewers to click the "Like" button on my Social sites and please feel free to take my advice and regurgitate it as your own. Link backs always welcome and we do accept checks, donations, and gift cards, crypt funds etc if you would like to reserve any of the discus you see in this interview. I can ship as early as tomorrow.
Brew: Discus God George, Thank you for being here today to talk with us. Many of our viewers do not follow social media outside of the forum and may not be familiar with you. Can you please tell us a little about yourself?
Discus God George: Seriously Brew, no need to thank me. You paid me to be here and this exposure is going to be great for my bank account. We all do this just for the fish right? ;) So about me.. I am a 25 year old guy that has been keeping ,breeding and selling Discus now for over 26 years. I run a very successful business where I tell people what ever I want online and they believe me. I can be pretty controversial at times as I say some stuff that just goes against the things most experience hobbyists wrongly believe to be true. I sincerely believe that doing this is of great benefit to the hobby as its good to have different ideas and with all my experiences.. I know more than anyone else. I know it may be hard to believe this, but its true. Just look at all the "Likes" my posts get. Its also not well known that I was the first person to breed wilds in the USA and I have bred and sold literally thousands of discus in my life. I also worked for several major aquariums as a pathologist and I hold several doctorates. I will be retiring soon from the hobby and moving on to a new business venture, so I will share some really good info here as a thank you. My alternative advice would be worthless if not for the experienced hobbyists here harping on the importance of things like water changes, quarantine and "proper care".
Brew: Well then , I guess I can't argue there with your credentials. Appreciate the special treatment you are giving us. Can you give us an idea on what are talking about when you say you can be Controversial?
Discus God George: Why sure. For instance the other day someone was asking for advice on their Discus as they were not eating. So I told them what they were doing wrong. They had been keeping their Discus at 82-86 F. Thats just crazy! In my experience Discus do fine at 75 F. They also had never given them any antibiotics. In my hatchery we treat the Discus every month with antibiotics. We find when we do this we can save a ton on water bills.It allows us to do less water changes, if the fish start showing signs of illness , we just hit them with a round of antibiotics. So I advised the poor hobbyist to double dose what ever antibiotic they had on hand for the next month. I am sure that this advice saved that guys fish because I never heard from them again...No news is after all good news. These are the kinds of things I try to showcase in my facebook group and you tube channel.
Brew: I see. Well I certainly have been doing this all wrong according to you. What other advice do you give that would be considered controversial?
Discus God George: I have a pet peeve about people harping on whats good for the long term care of their Discus. Are you really looking to have that fish that long? Seeing the same fish day in and out is boring. I don't get that mindset. Here at our hatchery we are focused on quick fixes.. make the fish look good, then dump it on a hobbyist. Most of the time they kill it anyway in short order. For instance, we want those fish to glow..so we pump them with hormones and hormone mimics, then massive amounts of pigments. What happens down the road is really not my prob. Besides its bad for business if fish live a long time.
Brew: I definitely don't agree with that point of view, but I am experienced enough to know its a dirty secret of the aquarium industry, I am really amazed that you openly admit it.
Discus God George: Brew, I am all about the numbers. If I think something I post will get me traffic, hits on my sites, and generate ad revenue...its a go. I make a living off this stuff. I really don't care about anything else.
Brew: I see. Hmmm. Okay then lets move on to your views on Quarantine. What do you do when you get new fish in?
Discus God George: I probably will stir up some hate here but I honestly don't QT. I get them in and ship them out. If they look good, thats good enough for me. If I am asked by a customer, well of Course I lie. I tell them they have been dewormed, treated for all protozoans and have been trained to eat anything over a comprehensive months long Quarantine Process.
Brew: wow... I know quite a few excellent sellers out there that would be a bit upset with you. They take pride in selling Healthy Fish.
Discus God George: Who cares, do they have the following I have? Amateurs, really. They probably also work with one vendor and only order in small batches? Thats just crazy...maximize your profits! I order my stock from whoever has the lowest price and dump it anywhere I can as fast as I can.
Brew: Don't you worry about cross contamination and disease issues?
Discus God George: Nope. I will let you and everyone in on a secret. Its called "Discus Exfoliation" Its what we do in our facility. Most disease organisms attack the fish from the outside first, so we learned long ago that if we strip off the slime coat and top layers of tissue with a caustic chemical, it removes the disease organisms. We use this stuff all the time. Its a very dangerous solution, but we are pros, we don't even measure it, just dump it in the tank and look for a nice color violet/purple. Its a trade secret so I can't tell you what its name is but we dump this in anytime the fish seem off. Its really amazing stuff, and over time with alot of uses it even beneficially causes the Gills to flare out more, which obviously is good thing because the fish are taking the equivalent of deep breaths.
Brew: "Discus Exfoliation" Never heard it called that. But I'm pretty sure those flaring gills are not a good thing.. more likely it is that scar tissue has formed and they are laboring to breath. If I had a guess I would think you used Potassium Permanganate?
Discus God George: Really? well thats news to me, but then again we only have these fish for a few weeks to a month. Scar tissue like that wouldn't show up right away...probably not until they were adult fish , So thats not my concern.
Brew: So can we see some images of your fish in your facility?
Discus God George: Sure , These are some that we have currently in Stock and they should be ready to ship out next week. A few obviously are ready to go now.
136440
136441
136442
136443
136444
136445
136446
Brew: I can't say I see now why you have such a following. I am truly speechless. I think its about time we wrap this up. I would not want to take anymore of your valuable time. Thank you so much for re-enforcing my views on the usefulness of Social media.
Discus God George: Thank you Brew, I would just like to remind your viewers to click the "Like" button on my Social sites and please feel free to take my advice and regurgitate it as your own. Link backs always welcome and we do accept checks, donations, and gift cards, crypt funds etc if you would like to reserve any of the discus you see in this interview. I can ship as early as tomorrow.