Singapore three years ago

[Per]

Hi Fellows!

Today it is exactly three years ago I got the chance to visit some Singaporean discus breeders. I guess that’s a good enough reason to post a report and some pictures from that great experience.

Well, I had joined a study excursion to East Asia and was transiting in Singapore for some days before the flight back to Norway. Rune, a co student of mine who also take a great interest in fish-keeping, had arranged a meeting with Lee Tong Juan. Back then his snakeskins had given him a good reputation among discus knowers, but later he got really famous (well-deserved) for his leopard snakeskins (Singapore Fireworks). We met him at his house and he kept his discus in the backyard. His fish was really stunning, but I’m afraid my pictures don’t give them credit. I had only owned my digital camera (Olympus C-2000Z) for one(!) day, so please forgive me.

The first picture is of some of his Rose Reds.

[Per]

Spotted fish

[Per]

Healthy young discus

[Per]

A pair of Red Spotted Greens

[Per]

Mr. Lee is a retired teacher and he had set aside this whole Friday for our visit, and he made the day totally unforgettable. After admiring his fish he took us to a friend of his, Ho Wi Fang. Mr. Ho lived in a flat that wasn’t too roomy, but with inventiveness and an understanding wife, he had managed to stow quite a few tanks in the living room and kitchen. And he bred fantastic discus. I have not yet figured out how he managed to keep his seemingly overstocked tanks spotless! Rune and I had only planned to buy some few fish from Mr. Lee, but we couldn’t resist some of Ho’s Rose Reds.

Ho Wi Fang in the middle, Rune to the right and me:

[Per]

Beautiful!!!

[Per]

Look at that color! Remember this is three years ago, and yellows were quite rare.

[Per]

I would trade one of my kidneys with that male! (and the other with the female) ;)

[Per]

After saying good bye to Mrs. and Mr. Ho, Mr. Lee drove us to Ahkai Discus Farm, one of the many commercial fish farms in Singapore. The number of tanks and discus was breathtaking. And needless to say, quality was top-notch.

[Per]

Sigh…

[Per]

Repeat

[Per]

Look at that nicely curved forehead!

[Per]

Just had to buy some of these. Blue Diamonds with red eyes were not very common back then.

[Per]

We also visited Gan Aquarium Fish Farm, and it was a pleasure to be guided trough the farm by one of the happy Gan-brothers (sorry, don’t know who). He was absolutely charming and told us many tricks of the trade. I was also glad to see that they made the effort to add imported wild discus to the breeding stock. The farm also traded with other fish than discus.

[Per]

After an eventful day Mr. Lee insisted on treating us lunch. Pork and ginger, really delicious!

[Per]

The day we left Singapore, Lee Tong Juan picked up our discus at the various breeders and brought them to our hotel. He also helped us packing the fish as hand baggage. The fish arrived at Norway in good condition almost 48 hours later.
I don’t like to generalize, but I must say that Singaporeans are the most friendly, helpful and unselfish people I have ever met.

Lastly I will thank Mr. Lee for spending so much of his time with us and making the experience so special. We didn’t have the chance to buy quantities of discus, and he knew that all the time. He was simply proud to show us the discus of Singapore, and that with good reason. Quality was the mantra.

Per

Very interesting stuff. And nice pictures. I'd be wanting to back up a truck to the hatcheries, maybe buy a house out there to cut down on transport...

Dave

Excellent post..thanks for taking the time to do this..Great!!!

cool shots, thanks for shareing

[goldengatediscus]

Thanks for sharing. Mr Lee is such a generous and knowledgeable gentleman. I love Singapore for the fish and for the food!
Brigitte

I agree 100% about sing sing!


Thanks
Cary Gld!

[DarkDiscus]

Per,

Great pics and info. Please feel free to contribute more if you have it!

John

[DREW]

Thanks for sharing your pics it was enjoyable to see discus from sing. I love to hear about people being treated fairly and in your case way more than fairly when going overseas.

Thanks
Drew

[Pick]

Wow! What a day! Sing is definately on my short list of places to go. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your story and photos. Any pictures of your Singaporean discus immigrants?

TC

[EthanCote.com]

Wow indeed. That sounded like one great trip.

Thanks for sharing. Got pics of those fishes you purchased from Mr. Sing 3 yrs ago? Wonder how they turned out.


Cheers,

Chi.

[BLUEKNIGHT]

Hey per thanks for sharing such nice pics of the fish. Man some of the fish are awesome. You still have the fish you bought if you yes u got any yellows. :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

[SLY]

glad u enjoy your trip..hope to see you around during aquarama next may. ;)

[david34]

Thanks for shareing. Good to know, what is real down there!

[Per]

Hi again and thank you all!

Should really wish I could tell you that the discus i brought home still are swimming around in my tanks. But I didn't have much experience with discus back then, and all discus from the various breeders went in the same tank as soon as I came home. Learned my lesson the hard way, as I always do. QUARANTINE!!!

Some discus I had for a longer period, but killed them because of copper in my tap water. Didn't figure out the metal poisoning before I almost killed my next batch of discus. Changed water-source, and problems disappeared.

Hope I soon get the chance to import from Singapore again :)

Per

[shootingstar]

Per,

thanks for sharing your very interesting report with us. I will definitely stop in Singapore for couple days next year on my trip back to Vietnam......hopefully I'll have some nice discus pictures in Saigon and Singapore.

[Discusgeo]

Very nice article Per, thank you for sharing your experience with the rest of us and the pictures were wonderful. Looks like you and your friend had a very enjoyable time. Thanks again!
George

[Wahter]

Thanks for sharing the photos and the commentary! I am really regretting that I couldn't make it to Singapore for the 2nd year (last year, I was told by my boss' boss NOT to take vacation or 'heads will roll' - ie. layoff and this year, I had to get back to the US from Taipei, Taiwan for my black belt test in taekwondo! Next year, I'm going to try again!!!! I have about 10 penpals in Singapore and I'm really looking forward to getting over there (from where I live in the East Coast of USA, it's about the same flying west or east and takes over 24 hours to get there!).

Walter

[Per]

Everyone that has the chance should visit Singapore. You won’t regret it. But I would plan to stay a little longer than just a couple of days. Even though Singapore is a tiny country there’s a lot of things to see and do there, and also many courses to taste (Chinese, Indian and Malay to mention a few, mmmmm...).

Aquarama next May! Hmmm…That would be a nice excuse, especially since I couldn’t make it to Duisburg this year. Will consider it seriously. Are a lot of you going there?

And Walter, you have a BLACK belt in taekwondo. Your boss should be afraid of YOU, not the other way round!! ;)

Per

[Al_M.]

Great photos,very interesting but I know that can't be all the pics. that you took lets see some more. :D ;) ;) ;)

[vinson]

Hi Per,

Great pix, very delighted to know that you have enjoyed Singapore.

Hope to have more discus friends around the world to visit this insland city and experience its unique charms. May 2003 is a great time to come for people interested to visit. This is when the Aquarama 2003 is being held.

Cheers,

[Jeffery_Doty]

Per,

Thank you, I really enjoyed that story and the pictures! Sure makes me want to go there and experience it all. And, take home some gorgeous discus!

Jeff
Oregon

[west]

you will probably be disappointed as singapore is hit by the "louhan"aka flowerhorn craze and most breeder have followed suit :-[

[SLY]

that was then now flowerhorn craze has slowly die off and discus is back again..trust me there are still folks like me that's doing our part for discus during this trying period. ;D ;)

[April]

good sly...id be devastated if i heard you or roy turned into flowerhorn breeders. ::) :o

[Willie]

SLY: How trying can this be? Didn't Singapore walk away with most of the medals in Duisburg? You guys get to drive to world champion hatcheries. We just have to hope and pray that the unseen fish survived the long flight! Gosh, we should be tried like that! :D :D

Willie

[EHT]

What has happened to all the pictures?

[greyhoundfan]

What has happened to all the pictures?

Post is over 5yrs old. User probably removed links from another host server or it got wiped out when Simply got hacked end of last year.

I would have liked to see them too.

[mandisc]

hey guys, AQUARAMA 2007 is just around the corner tis MAY at suntec city(just a stone trow away frm our bustling shopping paradise-orchard rd,bugis,marina south-just to name u some).anyone planing to visit or participating in the event? i bet there are a lot of new strains n new breeders joining tis show. we ,like myself will be more than HAPPY to show u guys around esp DISCUS LOVER.
P.S maybe after tat we can replace the missing pic with new one's in this thread.