Visit To Wattley's

[DarkDiscus]

Here is my photo visit to Jack Wattley's Discus Hatchery run by Gabriel Posada.  The one thing I DIDN'T remember to do was to take a pic of Gabe with the digital camera...  We do have some hard photos of him and of him with me and Jerry Baer and Bill, my father in law, however.  Here is the first pic, of my wife and her parents before we set out...

[DarkDiscus]

Here is a group of very young Blue Diamonds (or the Wattley equivalent).  If I get any breed names wrong, it's up to Gabe to correct me!

[DarkDiscus]

Here is a pic of one of the larger discus, I would estimate 6" that had not paired off and that Gabe was saving for possible future breeding.  I'm not sure what he is, but he was looking good!  I wish the pic looked as good as the fish.  It was incredibly hot in the hatchery and I estimate I took 10 pics for every one I saved.  Fortunately some came out better than this one.

[DarkDiscus]

Here is one of the pairs that was actually breeding due to the temperature.  I was really impressed by the blazing red eyes on the two of them - the reddest I have seen.  It the pic it looks like the male's eye isn't so red, but in person it was like blood.

[DarkDiscus]

Here are some pretty all white discus - I think they call them snowflakes in the mag ads.  They were good sized and robust.  Very nice in person.

[DarkDiscus]

Here is where I started to get a few good pics as my camera had reached room temp - about 150 degress - or so it seemed!  These were gorgeous fish.  There was one "Superfish" in this batch, but I couldn't get a good shot of just him.

[DarkDiscus]

Here are some more really nice leopard looking fish.  They all had such great color and were nicely shaped.  If I could have taken some, put them in my in-laws bathtub for a few days and manage to get them on the plane with me, I would have!!  They were my favorites, and, coincidentally, my best pics were of them!

[DarkDiscus]

Here is some kind of pigeon blood strain.  Red Pandas, if I remember what Gabe said.  They were very pretty and, again, robust.  Al will be happy to know that Gabe had philodendron in most of the tanks for nutrient removal.  He also had some huge plecos which did a great job on the algae, but sometimes got after the discus, too...

[DarkDiscus]

I think these were the sunsets.  They also were great looking fish.  Most impressive.  

[DarkDiscus]

Here is a group of young fish.  They were just starting to color up and were showing nice body shape and looked really alert and impressive.  I liked them a lot.

[DarkDiscus]

And that's it!  My thanks to Gabe Posada for allowing the walk through tour.  I strongly recommend it to anyone in the area, though be warned, it is VERY hot!  Also my thanks to Jerry Baer who made the trip that much more fun and helped cool us down with Italian ices after the "Wattley Sauna Experience" - great fish and great people!

John

[Willie]

Gabe is one of the nicest guys in the hobby.  He has some absolutely incredible sunshine X snakeskins.

Willie

[April]

thanks John.....nice to see. sounds like it was a great trip.  ;D

[taybelZ]

John, looks like you had a great time, i bet its one of those things you never forget. Boy those Blue Diamonds stomachs look mighty full :P
hehe did he feed them when you were over ther?

[daninthesand]

Hi John.

Cool pix. Gotta love those wattely discus. gabe is indeed a fine fellow and always most helpful. I have a few of his RSG and Marloborough sunshine cross. And also a few sunshines.

John, and anyone else who might be interested, I have quite a few pix of the Wattley hatchery myself. Lots of fish of course, but also of the hatchery itself. Gabe said it would be OK for me to post them so if there is anybody intersted I'll post a few to add to this Wattley thread... Let me know. ;)

Dan

[lkleung007]

Hey DarkDiscus!!

Cool looking pics; an awesome looking Discus.  Correct me if I am wrong but does Wattley's sell larger Discus.  It seems that they sell only younger Discus; such as in the 1.5-2 inch range.

Maybe it's time for a trip to Florida soon!!

Regards, Lester

[Ryan]

Dan,

Sure, it'd be great to see pictures of the hatchery as well! As long as Gabe doesn't mind. John, I really like those snowflakes. I'm only about a 4 hour drive, I guess I should really head down there. Maybe I'll wait until the end of the year when things cool off a bit ;D

Ryan

[Ardan]

Hi Dan,
I would love to see the pics! ;D
Thanks much
Ardan :sunshine:

John,  ........gosh I need a vacation too! just like yours!  HE HE HE HE      Nice pics!!!

[brewmaster15]

Thanks for Sharing John!
  I'm envious that you got to see the hatchery, and meet Gabe.   Thats a must do on my list of places to visit.
Between that and meeting up with Jerry Baer, I'd say you had the makings of a great trip!
-al

[BJ]

Hi Dark Discus & Dan,

I had posted some pics a while back on another Discus Board some time ago when I decided to get back into Discus Keeping. My Fiance and I have become really attached to some of our fish.

We purchased our first batch of fish from Gabe at Wattley's and I agree, he was very helpful and knowledgable. Our fish were great and we were pleasantly surprised by our fish.

Our Blue Pandas are about 9 months old now. It would be nice to see pictures of the Hatchery, since we can't get down there ourselves.

My Fiance' and I have recently completed a tank project to accomodate more fish. There are too many outstanding breeders to choose from now, including: Cary from Great Lakes and Gabe from Wattleys -just to name a few. So, I hope to add to the family soon!!!

[DarkDiscus]

BJ,

Thanks for your pics.  I believe that Gabe said that the Blue Pandas were their best sellers!  If not they are among the most popular.  Don't quote me on that, though!

It was a lot of fun visiting.  I only had a limited number of pics left and the humidity made it very hard to get anything other than closeups to work well.  Hopefully Dan, whose pics are always great, will have some excellent ones for us.

John

[Bob_Speed]

great pictures! the blue pandas are great! Do they sell over the web, as I could not find an email address for them! I gotta have some of those BLUE Pandas!!

Any info would be appreicated


Bob

[DarkDiscus]

Bob,

www.wattleydiscus.com

I'm certain Gabe sells via e-mail:

gposada@worldnet.att.net

Check it out!

John

Glad You had fun John
THANKS for the pics
cary

[Ryan]

John and Bob,

I spoke with Gabe a few times via e-mail and he said his blue pandas had been selling like crazy. So at the time, he was out. I'm not sure if he has any ready or not. If so, let us know.

Ryan

[Bob_Speed]

Dan,
Super looking fish, thank  you for sharing!
I will email and see if he has any available.
Thanks again

Bob

[Bob_Speed]

John,
Thanks for the website. It is weird it did not come up using google.

Thanks again!

Bob

[Bob_Speed]

Ryan,
Thanks! I will send him an email!


Bob

[keno]

John, thanks for sharing the pics, I would really love to see his hatchery in person, but for now you have eased the craving.  :thumbsup:

Ken

[daninthesand]

Hi everyone.

To all who may venture this far back into the posts and might be checking to see if I've reposted the pix to this topic, well i have not and I won't. I'm sorry, but the photos I posted here were edited and shrunk for the purposes of this post. I don't have the time or HD space to save all the photos I do so unfortunately I have no copies of those I posted here.

Furthermore, out of respect for Jack Wattely and Gabe, I would rather not repost the pictures. Gabe does not post here anymore due to reasons I am sure any of you could figure out by reading his few posts (and the responses he got) a few months months back.

So, with that, sorry for the late update, but I was reminded about the loss of the pictures when simplydiscus changed servers (a few servers back) on this last server change.

Ultimately, too, the loss of pix on a server change is nobody's fault, and I hold no hard feelings to the moderaters of this forum. But this hobby is way too time consuming to be repeating work I've done in the past.

I trust you understand..... :)

Happy Discus keeping!

[daninthesand]

Next the water is distributed to 4 seperate systems. Breeders, growing adults, juveniles and babies. The established breeding pairs are on the left wall as you walk in. I'd guess there are 60 pairs(?). The growing adults also get RO mix. Here is where there is often spontaneous pairing occuring like the pair gabe and I discovered doing their own thing in a tank with many other adults. Gabe commented at the time " Daniel, this is the secret to forming breeding pairs" I took a picture.

I will continue this story. Please let me know if any of this interests you guys and gals and I'll post more pictures of the hatchery.

later... Dan

Keep the pics coming Dan.........Randy

[daninthesand]

Gotta work again today. More pix and description later. Maybe I'll post some of the fry raising info....

Dan

[DarkDiscus]

Dan,

I agree, more pics when you get a chance!  I wasn't sure, but I counted more than 60 pairs, too.  Plus some more in the group tanks for larger fish.  It was very cool and there were great fish.  Hopefully Gabe reads this thread and posts some additional tidbits!

John

[Don_Lee]

Great pics and very informative.  I would be interested in any further posts on this topic for sure.  Thanks Dan,

Don

[daninthesand]

Hi everyone. Glad it has interested some of you. I personally find all the automation and plumbing very interesting.

I've just checked out this thread at work and realize the pictures are quite dark, using the cheap monitor we have here.  At home they are fine. I'll keep this in mind with future posts. I'll try and lighten up the scans before I post. These pix were just one time rough scans without any touchups. The rest will be better.

I'm very busy the next few days, but I'll do my best to find time....


Daniel

[Bob_Speed]

Ryan,
Just received an email from Gabe, and he does have Blue Pandas available.

Man, it seems he has some nice fish. It's just too hard to make up my mind, but I think I am going with the Blue Pandas, Ocean greens, Platinum golds, and either red spotted greens, or a snakeskin.
I guess I need to sleep on it!

Bob

[DarkDiscus]

Bob,

If I had to make a suggestion, I'd ask him about the leopards or the spotted guys.  Of the fish I saw, those were the ones I liked the best.  

John

[Bob_Speed]

John,
Thanks, I will contact him now!

Bob

[JacKWattleyDiscus]

Hello Guy's
It's my pleasure to join this very informative forum. I truely appreciate the visit from DarkDiscus (John) and his family. Thank God for those Italian Ice's, or we would have melted. Jerry Baer they were the CPR we all needed. ;D
I wish I had more time to offer more pictures.
So I would like to thank Daninthesand for chatting with me these long nights to place some words along with the magnificent pictures he captured.
I want to take this time to thank Dan personally, for taking a day out of his vacation this year to spend taking pictures at the hatchery and really sweating his rump off.
Getting down to busssiness, I have joined this forum to help hobbyists in need. I will do my best to post as frequently as time permits. So let's all help eachother in making this hobby a heck of a lot more enjoyable for all.

Welcome Game!   ;D ;D ;D  

[Goldfish_in_a_bowl]

THANKS!! for the Great Pictures and INFO!
I just have one Question... imagine that! argh argh.....

WHY!! WHY WHY!!!! am I NEVER INVITED!!? I can be nice!! REALLY, HONEST! I CAN BE NICE and Even behave for..... well.... a half hour if need be!  ;D I was even told I don't  clean up HALF bad for a hick Country girl! WAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa :waaa:
THANKS for sharing!
and John..... You're wife is Way too beautiful for the Mental picture I have of you! ;)HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Ha ha haaaa Just kidden! .... about the picture of you...NOT about you're wife being beautiful!......
Where was I? OH YAH.......
THANKS GABRIEL for letting us take a tour!
Take care
Karen :gorgeous:

[DarkDiscus]

Karen,

You're not the first person who has said that!  There's a pic of me in the thread Visit From the Brewmaster in the Library section, if you really want to break your computer!

John

Hello Gabe,
  Thanks for joining the forum.  If possible, could you posts some more pictures of your hatchery setup and tanks of fry that you currently have available?  Also how is Jack doing?  He's such a nice man.

I too thought the prettiest photo so far was of John's wife.  The lucky dog married up!  ;D

Regards,
David

[Goldfish_in_a_bowl]

Yah Gabe PLEASE PLEASE join in and Post Pictures! (I am sure you have TONS of spare time! ;))
We would Love to have you Join!
and PLeeeeeease take me on a Tour! My vacation this year as usual...is a trip to let my boys play in *the sample kiddie pools while I lay on the Lawn furniture diplay at Walmart! ::)
Great to see you here!

John John John....... You know I was ONLY KIDDING! :-* :-* :-* :-*
Not to worry... People often asked me the same thing about my husband!......
Must be my Sponge bob Boxers and Pony tail!? :-/
:gorgeous:

[DarkDiscus]

Gabe,

Welcome!  I thought you would like it here!  Obviously you are a very busy man, but we all appreciate any help you can offer the rest of us discus junkies!

Thanks!

John

YOU SPAZ!!!! DID YOU ACTUALLY SAY YOU COULD BEHAVE YOURSELF!!!!! :spit:HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAhahaaaaaaaaahhhhaaaaaaaaaaaa aa LMAOROTFPIMP!!!

Tony ;D

[April]

Gabe welcome to the simply forum! we're very pleased to have you. I'll try and keep that goldfish or sponge bob person under control!!!
it wont be easy!!
great pics.....and we'd love to see more. and any info we can learn from.  ;D

[brewmaster15]

Welcome  to our Forum Gabe!

Its an honor and a pleasure  to have you and  our other great breeders  here, sharing the knowledge  that years of experience has brought you.

Please post as often as your time allows, you are very welcome here!

take care,
al

[Ryan]

I've been a little behind today, but it was such a nice surprise to come home and see Gabe as our newest member. It's certainly wonderful to have you here! There's not much to say that others haven't already said, but I wanted to welcome you aboard anyway. We know you're a busy guy, and we appreciate any time you spend here, helping folks out and sharing your experiences and opinions. By the way, Dan and John, thanks for the pictures!

Ryan

[DarkDiscus]

Ryan,

You don't live too far - you should make arrangements to sweat your a$$ off...  I mean go visit Gabe and see the great fish he has over there.  If I lived in Florida, I would make regular pilgrimages!

That said, my in-laws already invited Jerry and Gabe to their house for supper next time Sandra and I are down visiting...  Maybe we'll make it a party!  

John

PS.  My father in law spent 75% of their recent visit staring at discus...  I think he might have made a great discus keeper if we'd gotten to him sooner!

[daninthesand]

GABE!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

WOOHOOOOO!!!! So glad you finally joined. Lurking is not nearly as much fun..

I will try and keep my promise to post more pix from the Wattely hatchery. Gabe, feel free to send me your own digital pics and I'll edit them for ya.  Meanwhile I will continue to go through the Wattely hatchery pix I have and give some kind of description. Thank goodness Gabe will be able to have his watchful eye on my posts and correct me when I'm wrong !!!!!

More pix tomorrow> I PROMISE!!!!

Dan

[JacKWattleyDiscus]

Hey Guys and Gal's
Thanks for the welcome mat. I can see how Jack and I both are going to feel right at home here.
If all goes as well as we all expect from this new relationship,  this will become the only forum Jack Wattley Discus calls home.
Once again it's our pleasure to be here sharing info. and pics.
Gabe

Not to take anything away from my friends Cary Strong, Mike Wells, and Cha Cha Szelesi, Jack Wattley is the MAN. I have taken all he has ever said about discus to heart. I still remember how he took time and talked with me on Long Island back in the mid 90's after his informative slide presentation. I am looking forward to Wattley Discus contributing to this forum. Welcome Gabe, and Jack if you drop by. It's a great day.

Larry E Matincheck  aka Bad Dog

Gabe, Welcome from Mike Wells @ A Discus Dream.  Brew and all of the moderators have created one heck of a forum.  A very friendly environment and great community of discus keepers. I look forward to your posts and sharing information with you and other hobbyist.


Again,  Welcome To The Board  ;)


Mike

[daninthesand]

Hi. All yous guyz and galz.

I'm interviewing Gabe tonight and will try and get more details for the fry rasing routine they use.  More pics and info to follow.

Dan

[daninthesand]

Just finished the interview with Gabe. Phew :P

I will type up the info and add a few more pics from the hatchery. Gabe is always willing to help, even at midnight! ;D

More info and pix tomorrow. Time for bed. :sleep:

Daniel

[JacKWattleyDiscus]

Hey Guy's
Every picture being posted on this thread of the Wattley hatchery is thanks to Dan. As I type these words I'am also answering the montage of questions he is asking
through Instant Messenger. These questions and answers will accompany more pictures which he is planning to post. Let's hear it for Dan ;D ;D ;D
Both Jack and I are honored to be amongst all of you as well. There's plenty of talent already present on this forum. Where here to copliment that talent. Together we can make the hobby more understandable and therefore more enjoyable.

[Lynn]

Gabe,
Welcome! Glad to see you here!
I love your quote...."its a hobby, help others enjoy it"

Keep drinking your fluids, you need 'em in that steam box!!!!! ;D
Lynn

Welcome Gabe,
to SIMPLY! the best Discus Forum in town!
WE WANT JACK! WE WANT JACK! WE WANT JACK! ;D ;D
The master and the creator of Color! And the begining God of the discus hobby.
THANKS Jack + gabe
TakeCare
Cary Gld!
P.S see ya! in Hotlanta!!!!!

[yogi]

Gabe, I just want to say welcome aboard simply discus. Glad to see you here.

[daninthesand]

Hi everybody.

Gabe graciously allowed me to keep him up to almost 1 AM (Florida time) with questions for this post. He was very candid in his answers and I've tried to quote him as best I can with the details in what will follow. A few new pictures and lots of details should give a nice representation of how some things are done at the Wattley hatchery.

So here goes . . . . :)

The first picture (red tower.jpg) is taken with me standing just to the right of the big 500 gallon blue RO water bin I showed previously. The photo is a shot pointing the camera down one of four rows of tanks of the long hatchery. I call this the "RED TOWER" for obvious reasons. Its one of three (at least) huge bio towers used in the hatchery. I have no idea of the details of the plumbing of this thing. Looks kinda like an Alien movie set! You can see a long row of tanks behind the tower . These are the breeders....

[daninthesand]

These are the breeder tanks (b35 breeders F.jpg) looking from the opposite end of the tank row. Gabe says there are about 60 pairs with another 200 on the way ( I didn't ask!).
:fish: :fish: :fish: :fish: :fish: :fish:
These tanks are filtered in two ways. Each one has a little tap above it that is fed from the red tower system. This is also how the daily H2O changes are done. Each tank has an overflow drilled into the bottom. When Gabe siphons each tank (yes he still has to siphon just like the rest of us!)the water level is lowered quite quickly with the powerful suction pump he uses attached to the 1 1/2 inch diameter hose (approx). (BTW, the little step ladder in the picture below is what Gabe uses to reach into the upper rows of tanks. The top edge of the tank was over my head, and I'm about 6 feet tall.) The water level is refilled as the red tower system does its thing. There is also a Hydrosponge in each tank. You can see the little valve to control air flow above each tank.This water is roughtly pH 5.5 to 6.0 (I don't recall the exact TDS but I think he said around 150ms)

Gabe is a firm believer in keeping young fry and growing juveniles away from adult fish (except parents). He feels adults secrete hormones and /or toxins that impede the growth of young fish. So if the pair have fry on their sides, Gabe shuts off the water supply from the red tower system to that tank and relies on the hydrosponge alone for filtration. It makes sense that the parents don't have the same effect on growth retardation as do other adult fish.

[daninthesand]

Depending on how fast orders are coming in, some fry are raised naturally by the parents. When business is booming they do about 80% artificial rearing.

At the far back of the hatchery, in one corner, is the fry raising station. It consists of 12 twenty gallon tanks. Here is a picture. (C12 20's.jpg) There are two layers (systems) of 6 tanks each. Each system has a micron cartridge along with an 8 watt UV bulb.

Each tank has an overflow and a water supply from another biotower. Again there is a shutoff tap for each tank. This water is well water that is around 450ms TDS and ph reduced to around 6.5 with muriatic (remember the large 500 gal holding tanks?) Gabe feels the high TDS content holds key essential minerals and trace elements for the proper growth of young discus (indeed ANY growing animal!)

[daninthesand]

This is a detailed shot of one of the 20 gallon fry-rearing tanks. This little tupperware container is about 5 inches by 5 inches (C13 tray.jpg) and has a large hole (almost the entire bottom) cut in it, with a fine-mesh nylon cloth siliconed to cover the hole. The whole idea behind this tray is the fry are placed into this small area so they can find the food easier than trying to wander aound the whole 20 gallon tank. But the 20 gallons reduces the need for ridiculously frequent water changes, and food (and of course fry) stays in the small container.

Any ammonia produced/excreted flows out the tray through the mesh. To help maintain a constant flow of fresh water into the tray, out the mesh, and finally into the 20 gallon tank, Gabe places tiny water feed tubes (the light green tubing in the picture that looks like airline) into the tray and adjusts for a gentle flow from the main water system with the tiny "airvalves". However it is not air that flows, but fresh water.

So the water gets changed in three ways. Filtered water flows gently from the main system to the tray, and the whole 20 gallon tank also gets continuous water flow (at a higher rate) to maintain cleanliness in the entire tank. This water is recirculated back to the huge biotower. Finally the water in the entire system is changed at least 50% daily with fresh clean water.

What type of food? I thought you'd never ask! Gabe confided in me that they have not used artemia for almost two years! (woohoo! :) ;D I HATE raising those little pink bu@@ers) *Once the eggs have hatched (back in the breeder tanks of course) *and the wigglers are ready to start feeding, (around 3-5 days) Gabe sucks them from the parents' tank with a turkey baster and squirts them into the tupperware containers. Here the fry are fed egg yolk by smearing a TINY amount of the cooked yolk to the side of the tray. This is done several time a day.

Incidentely, the removal of the eggs/fry from the breeding tank usually stimulates the pair to lay another batch of eggs. *Gabe said some of his pairs lay viable eggs every week this way!

The fry get about 3 days of egg and then they are switched to MIKE REED'S "NO BS" fry food (small size). Gabe basically feels there is no need for the larger size no BS food, because after around 14 to 21 days on the small no BS food, the growing babies are switched to beefheart. Frozen beefheart cubes are scraped with a razor to make very fine shavings to feed the small fry. They remain on the beefheart until sold, or raised to adult to become breeders.

The babies stay in the 20 gallon feeding system for around 1 to 1 1/2 months at which point they are around dime to nickle size according to Gabe. I'm not sure at what point they are taken out of the trays and placed directly into the 20 gallon tank itself. (Gabe?) Then they are moved to another set of "planted" tanks. or wherever they have room for them all! :P :P

[daninthesand]

Here's one place the 1 1/2 month old babies go.(philodendron grow out tanks.jpg) Gabe tells me these "planted tanks" were used a while ago before they had a biotower for this system. The plants are philodendrons. They are excellent for removing nitrites from the water. These plants used to fluorish, but now that the biotowers take up the biological load, the plants are suffering. Gabe has never bothered to get rid of them. Here the babies are grown out further until ready for sale. Gabe sells fish as small as "half dollar size" (quote). If fish don't sell they are sold as they get larger as well, depending on how the demand for discus is going.

I asked Gabe at what stage he starts culling fish and he said he can usually get a good idea of bad fish at around 7 days old. GULP. YIKES! I thought that was pretty early, but I guess with Gabe's trained eye he can pick out the culls easily. Any discus that pass this stage can get culled at any time therafter after their poor quality comes through as they grow.

Well there you have it! I hope it has been as informative for you as it was for me. I had the advantage of seeing the hatchery in person , but I hope the description and pictures gives you an idea of the setup. Seems to work because there are thousands of fish in that place. Makes me dizzy just thinking about it. And I only spent one day there....I lost probably 10 pounds in that sweat box. Gabe does it every day. Gotta hand it to him. It is a lot of work! I've seen him do it! siphon clean siphon clean siphon clean, feed feed feed feed package fish answer phone answer dumb questions from Dan etc etc.!

Thanks again Gabe for the midnight interview! Be sure to correct me on anything I might have missquoted you on.

hmmmmmm so what's next? Maybe I'll work on a floor plan of the hatchery (as I remember it) so everyone can see what the layout looks like. We'll see... anyone interested?


Dan

[DarkDiscus]

Dan,

Great job with the pics and the update!  I had hoped this thread would take off and, thanks to you, it sure has!

Gabe,

Thanks again for all the great information!

John

[brewmaster15]

Thanks Dan and Gabe!
  That hatchery is how I would love mine to be!  (on a mega-smaller scale  of course)
     

 I owe  the success I have had  with artificial  rearing of discus  to an article by Jack. It  became  my bible  in process...
 I would not have these fry without the experiences shared in that paper.  So few people share what they learn.  I always   wanted  to thank  you,  and now I have   the chance publically...

http://a2.cpimg.com/image/CA/0E/9595082-00ce-028001E0-.jpg
http://a3.cpimg.com/image/2F/12/9595183-af2a-021C0195-.jpg
http://a7.cpimg.com/image/3B/0A/10055227-50c3-021C0195-.jpg

  Thank You!
-Al  Sabetta

[Mike_T]

Nice shape on those fry already Al.

Hey Gabe, when I was first starting out I bought six Ocean Greens from the hatchery. It was actually the one and only time I got to talk discus with Jack. I called, and someone picked up, said "hello?" I thought I had the wrong number, so I said I was trying to reach Jack Wattley Discus. I gruff voice said, "this is Jack." So we talked discus for a few minutes, very cool experience for me.

Anyway Gabe, you helped me through a nasty ammonia spike shortly after I got them. You answered everything thoroughly without making me feel small, and didn't seem to be in any hurry to get off the phone, even though ('m sure)you were busy. Well, now I have a pair of them spawning, just not raising fry yet. So thanks VERY much!! And welcome!

-Mike T

[JacKWattleyDiscus]

Mike T,
I have never turned down anyone in need of advise. The biggest compliment that you could ever pay Jack or myself is to let us know that your fish are spawning. ;D
Great job! If you need help you know where to ask or just call me.
As for Dan, my hat is off to you my friend now everyone knows that you are an exellent photogropher  and also a great comentator  ;). Man for a second, I wish I had that hatchery you were describing ;)
Whenever I get down to writing a book with Jack, I want you to do all the writing.
Gabe

[keno]

What an honor to have Gabe and Jack here on our little forum. Gabe the fish i got from u in dec are getting fat and big, I also have my 1st discus a Jack Wattley red Panda who is 6 years old now and still lays eggs!


Here is one of my favorites at 5" head to base of tail. I would like to get him to 7"

Ken

Wow, did this thread really turn into something special or WHAT? :thumbsup:

After reading everything, I just had to sit back and think how wonderful the pictures and the narratives were. *Great job and so well done.

I have had a very nice group of Wattley discus now for almost two years and they are beautiful, big, thick and healthy! *

I like the others Gabe, would like to offer you a great big welcome and a thank you for sharing with us. *And a big thanks to all of you at Wattley discus for sharing such wonderful, truthful *information with the hobbiest, making successful discus keeping a reality for many of us. And last but not least, thanks to you and Jack for the wonderful grouping of turq. striated that I have in my tank right now...I love them!


Terri

[JacKWattleyDiscus]

Terry thank you and congrat's on that brand new breeding pair.  :thumbsup:
Ken great picture of the Blue Panda, I have  two males from that same strain that are about 9" easily. So I hope that one grows to be 10"
Thank you all.
Gabe

[Ardan]

Dan and Gabe,
Thank you very much for the "online tour" with all the pictures and information!! :) I really enjoyed it! Welcome Gabe, and thank you for sharing!
 The hatchery looks like it has made great advancements over the years. I have a "Handbook of Discus" by Jack Wattley, and in it it shows the hatchery. It looks much smaller+ the baby fry are being raised in small "bowls" with the egg yolk smeared on the sides. So some things have changed, but it looks like the egg yolk method still lives on. Also the holding tank in the old photo appears to be only 3 or 4 feet in diameter and 3 or 4 feet high and is open on top.  Your new holding tanks are huge in comparison.
Anyway I found it very interesting to see the excellent pictures of Dans, and to take a look at the "old ways" in my book.
Thanks much!!
Ardan

[daninthesand]

Thanks, Gabe and Ardan and everyone for the kind words. Gabe, the photos are OK but they are not THAT great! But I appreciate the compliment anyway ;D

I hope the tour was enjoyable. That hatchery has come a long way since the little shack Jack used to have on his front lawn. I visited Jack in Fort Lauderdale in Dec. 1994. I sort of just drove up to the address I saw in the Wattely Discus ad. in TFH magazine and was expecting to find a huge hatchery. My sister kept telling me we must have been in the wrong place. *But as we were ready to give up our search, there he was. "That's HIM!" I said.

Jack was working in his garden on the front lawn. He was very gracious and patient with this stranger who just dropped in on him unannounced. We chatted a bit about discus, but he seemed more excited to talk about his collection of rare tropical frogs. WOW! talk about colours! The discus paled in comparison! (Well almost.. ;D) Anyway I bought "Discus for the Perfectionist" from him. He signed my copy! *:) I bought a few discus of course too!

Incidentally Ardan, I remember those same storage bins (the 500 gallon brutes in the hatchery today) tucked away behind the shack. A ton of water for that little shack. But OH the miracles that occured in that little shack....awesome fish! Jack said the main hatchery was off limits to the public. This past winter I found out from Gabe that the "hatchery" was actually Gabes apartment! I feel sorry for the neighbours. Especially those that lived under him. Must have had a lot of free showers from W/C overflows. Right Gabe! ;)

Jack showed me the bowl method for feeding the fry and I remember thinking "What a PAIN!"

Glad to see things have improved a bit, and become a little less labour intensive. :o Gabe tells me he and Jack are planning on expanding to an even bigger hatchery. YIKES!!!

Dan

PS. The next time I am in Florida, Jack, I'd love to shoot photos of them frogs!

[DarkDiscus]

Dan,

Stop being modest, the pics ARE great, especially in that sauna!

As for expansion, that is too cool!  Maybe this time Gabe will get a nice, air conditioned office where he can possibly take a quick break on occasion!

John

[daninthesand]

Thanks, John.

Yep that hatchery sure is a hothouse. It took at least 2 hours for my lenses and camera to equillibrate with the humidity and heat before they would stop fogging up. I'm glad Gabe warned me ahead of time. I brought a change of clothes and lots of paper towels, on his advice. :P

I don't know how he does it day in and day out. He must need as many water changes as the fish do! ;D

Sure hope that someday that I might be able  to tour the Wattley hatchery.  Very nices pics and good info. Welcome Gabe and Jack.
Miles

[daninthesand]

Hi.

I'm working on a sketch of the hatchery floor plan for Gabe's approval. And more pictures ;D I hope to have it ready in the next couple or three days. Working a lot to pay for more tanks!


And BTW, Gabe, if you and Jack do decide to do a book, I'll take you up on that offer to write it! And of course offer some photography work to accompany it!

Dan

[lub0]

What happend to the pictures? Not able to see any!

Thanks!

[DarkDiscus]

Unfortunately when we switched servers the pics were deleted and I had just purchased a new computer and don't have my originals anymore to re-load. Sorry!

John

[daninthesand]

Hi everyone.

To all who may venture this far back into the posts and might be checking to see if I've reposted the pix to this topic, well i have not and I won't. I'm sorry, but the photos I posted here were edited and shrunk for the purposes of this post. I don't have the time or HD space to save all the photos I do so unfortunately I have no copies of those I posted here.

Furthermore, out of respect for Jack Wattely and Gabe, I would rather not repost the pictures. Gabe does not post here anymore due to reasons I am sure any of you could figure out by reading his few posts (and the responses he got) a few months months back.

So, with that, sorry for the late update, but I was reminded about the loss of the pictures when simplydiscus changed servers (a few servers back) on this last server change.

Ultimately, too, the loss of pix on a server change is nobody's fault, and I hold no hard feelings to the moderaters of this forum. But this hobby is way too time consuming to be repeating work I've done in the past.

I trust you understand.....

Happy Discus keeping

[EthanCote.com]

Hey Dan,

Who exactly is Gabe? I have seen his name a few times and was never sure who he was. Is he related to Jack Wattley??

Sorry to hear Gabe won't be contributing his vast experience no longer on Simply.

Best of wish to him.


Cheers,

Chi.

[DarkDiscus]

Chi,

Gabe is Jack's partner and he runs the hatchery in Miami. He is a genuinely nice guy and knows a ton about discus. Unfortunately some folks decided to press some political issues with him and he decided that he would stop posting a while back.

It's too bad, beacause he has a ton to contribute.

John

[daninthesand]

Chi.

Gabe Posada is Jack Wattley's right hand man. He basically runs the hatchery. If you go to the wattley website you will see that the contact e-mail is Gposada@...

Gabe was breeding discus long before most people were. This is how he met Jack. Jack used to bring fish to Gabe for him to breed, because Jack felt Gabe knew what he was doing. And you gotta respect Gabe for that.

Yes, it is a shame Gabe will not be posting anymore. Our loss. Gabe is far too busy running the hatchery. It is his full time job. That along with answering e-mails from all over the world from people who buy his fish and ask for advice.

Daniel

[EthanCote.com]

Thanks Daniel.


Cheers,

Chi.

[jeep]

That's too bad. I went back through all of Gabe's posts and didn't see a problem working out. Maybe it's gone by now.

I got my first fish from Gabe and he was a big help every time I asked for assistance.

I reall would have likde to have seen the "Jack Wattley" section become a reality!