Back from the Peruvian Amazon

[aquatechnics]

I have just returned from Peru and I had a great time in Iquitos, in the middle of the jungle. The Amazon, as always, incredibly astonishing! My wife came along with me this time and we both enjoyed amazing sceneries, animals and rare species. The food was first class! Everyday we enjoyed delicious dishes made of a great variety of fresh fish (thank goodness, no discus!) and some exotic beverages.

I want to share my personal experience and some pictures I took during my journeys to the Nanay River with local fishermen, specialized in discus (“disqueros”).

[aquatechnics]

Starting the journey..... me and my very good friend and partner Raul...

[aquatechnics]

We went in a discus collecting expedition guided by Pedro, called “El Brujo”, in the Nanay River. Raul, my wife and two more fishermen left Iquitos at 2pm in a motor boat to come back the following day around noon.

[aquatechnics]

inside the motor boat

[aquatechnics]

We were traveling in the river for about 6 hours until we reach the “discus zone”. Every time I asked how far we were from our target, they told me two more “curves”. They measure the distance by the “curves” of the river…. (from an aerial view, you can realize why they do that).
;D

[aquatechnics]

When we got to the discus zone, everything was completely black, no moon, just a few stars, very dark night. El Brujo then grabbed his flashlight and pulled his tiny canoe from the boat and invited me to join him. I was not sure that such canoe would resist another person on it, but there was no other way to see one of the best “disqueros” in action. I had to join him, there was no other option.

[daninthesand]

Welcome back Alberto and Annabella!

I look forward to many more pictures!

Daniel

[aquatechnics]

here I go... :-\

[brewmaster15]

Hi Alberto!
Welcome back! I am glad you had a great trip and have returned safely!

Take care,
al

Ps... More Pics!

[aquatechnics]

At the beginning, I could not see a thing. El Brujo paddled and started searching for discus. His flashlight and mine barely provide any light in such darkness. However, he knew exactly where to go to find discus. He soon started spotting discus: “there are three discus sleeping under those leaves!” I swear I tried my best I could not see a thing until he pulled the net from the river with 3 big discus directly to the bucket. Once he located the discus, we had to turn off the flashlights to avoid scaring them. He also caught many spotted angels, peckoltia sp. Catfish, Severums and needlefish.

[aquatechnics]

some spotted angels... :)

[daninthesand]

Those are coool! Send 'em my way!
;D

[aquatechnics]

Brujo with a peckoltia... :o

[aquatechnics]

Nanay RSG ...... ;D

[daninthesand]

Sigh :o

[aquatechnics]

Another RSG 5-6" with a piranha bite....

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Some rare discus with 12 vertical bar

[aquatechnics]

By 3 am in the morning, my eyes were getting used to this activity and I was able to locate a sleepy discus and actually catch it! This was amazing!! Brujo started laughing a lot. He could not believe a newbie like me could catch a discus just in his first night! We went back to the boat around 5 am where my wife kept sleeping in the hammock …. and she has promised she would be awake taking pictures! ??? The daylight was showing and the discus and other fish were all gone!!

[aquatechnics]

I made it.... ;)

[aquatechnics]

We repeated this expedition for a couple of more times and even though, the season still is behind due to weather conditions (el Niño…) we found some interesting discus like a 12 vertical bar mentioned above and others.

[daninthesand]

Very nice pictures Alberto. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[aquatechnics]

We also went on a frog expedition with Raul. Same thing, he instructed us to look in the floor to locate tiny frogs. We spent 2 or maybe 3 hours wandering in the middle of the forest more concerned about the insects (since this was a Malaria zone) but we could not locate any frog except for Raul. He had already collected 5 or 6 dendrobate reticulatus frogs! These poison frogs had incredible colors!!!

[aquatechnics]

This is one of the jewels of the rainforest.....

[aquatechnics]

There is an arapaima (“paiche”) hatchery, owned by Santiago Alvez, an hour away from Iquitos city. The place is very neat: 3 big lakes (cochas) to breed “paiche”, surrounded by beautiful toucans and other exotic birds, breeding capibaras (“ronsoco”), taricaya turtles (Podocnemis unifilis) and other fish. Mr. Alvez gave us some fresh coconut to drink and we were enjoying some fish chat at his cabin. Excellent place and we took some nice pics there ….

[aquatechnics]

a lake full of adult arapaimas 8)

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a baby turtle ....

[aquatechnics]

Toucan....

[aquatechnics]

The biggest rodent in the world: capibara (locally known as ronsoco)....

[Jeff]

Great pics. Thanks ;D

[aquatechnics]

And finally, here are some pics that I have promised long ago to Al (Brewmaster): our local station in Iquitos. This is Raul’s place where he gathers all the fish until they are fully quarantined and ready to ship them to Aquatechnics here in Miami.

Alberto

[aquatechnics]

An RSG after 4 days in the tank..... it looks a lot better.... ;D

[aquatechnics]

Tanks ready waiting for more discus and stingrays...

[aquatechnics]

Thank you Dan, Al and Jeff! You guys got me in the middle of the edition.... ;D

I was so excited that I forgot to add my "watermark" in the pics...

Dan, this pic is for you... I am sure you will like it!!

:)

[daninthesand]

Oooh Alberto! Very Nice indeed. So how long before they make it to Winnipeg!LOL

Sounds like your trip was a lot of fun. On your next trip do you need a photographer? I work for fish. ;D

[aquatechnics]

Hey Dan, what about next year in August? ;)

We will get these fish by the end of July. I will keep you posted.

Alberto

[daninthesand]

Sure thing! I'll book the whole month of August off!

Great presentation. It was great to watch the pix as you posted them.

Later.

Daniel

[Jason]

awesome pics alberto!

all are the peru discus you collected nice and round like the pics?

send the turtle and the the 12 bar fish to winnipeg too!

and the rat Dan and I can have a bbq!

[crazy4discus]

I have just returned from Peru and I had a great time in Iquitos, in the middle of the jungle. The Amazon, as always, incredibly astonishing! My wife came along with me this time and we both enjoyed amazing sceneries, animals and rare species. The food was first class! Everyday we enjoyed delicious dishes made of a great variety of fresh fish (thank goodness, no discus!) and some exotic beverages.

I want to share my personal experience and some pictures I took during my journeys to the Nanay River with local fishermen, specialized in discus (“disqueros”).

great looking pixs u took there

[bikhu]

Awesome post Alberto! Thank You!!!!
When are you going to film one of your adventures for the Discovery channel? More interesting than O'shea chasing the same darn snake around for an hour!!!!!
Thanks again,
peace,
peter

[korbi_doc]

:bounce2: :bounce2: Yes Peter, I 2nd that motion!!
Wonderful bio Alberto, makes me want to give it all up & go to the Amazon! Great pics & discus, Dottie 8) 8)

[Willie]

Great thread, Alberto. What's the knife like red fish in quarantine on the bottom of the second page? Looks extremely cool.

Willie

[Carol_Roberts]

Thanks for posting photos of your trip. I really enjoyed them and wish you had more . . .

I envy you.

Great pic. and documentation. Just wish I had a opportonity to make such a trip.

Ronald :)

[Fish_Fin-atic]

Totally amazing!!! I am green with envy! One day, when I have the money set aside, I really, really want to make the same kind of trip that you did. Thank you so much for sharing, and posting all the pictures Alberto!!! It sure sounds like you had a great time.

[bryalk1]

great pics alberto :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:see you soon bryant

[chinoz]

Wow great pics !!!!

[FischAutoTechGarten]

I absolutely love those Peruvian Angels with the rust red/brown spots and distinguishing saddle shaped snout.

Will those be for sale?

[aquatechnics]

Thank you guys, I had a great time indeed!

Jason, most of the ones caught were really round. The discus that did not meet our expectations were returned to the river. Sure thing I can send you the 12 bar discus but it is too attached to the big rat..... do you still want it? Lol ;D

Carol, I do have some more pics..... :)

Willie, that fish on the bottom of second page is the Peruvian white knifefish (Orthosternarchus tamandua). It is a rare fish in the market. Here is a closeup .....

[aquatechnics]

Ronald and Fish_fin-atic it is possible and it is not that expensive...... you can go too! ;D

Peter, yes, those angels will be coming in our next shipment as well. Here is another pic of them....

[Jason]

cool Alberto send the big round yellow ones up here!

and the rat! I've eaten worse!

so how nasty is that knife? looks neat but also very mean!

[aquatechnics]

This is the everyday transportation in the river..... The economy is based on the river and the daily food comes directly from there...

[Jason]

beautiful pics Alberto I want to go next time!

what kind of shrimps and bugs do you see on the river bed?

[RAWesolowski]

Thank you, Alberto! Pics made me wish that I could have seen the whole roll, kind of like going on the trip without the loss of sleep or the bugs!

[April]

Alberto thanks for sharing. that is really really amazing and what an experience!!!
even makes me want to go scary snakes and bugs aside.

[aquatechnics]

Jason, do you really want to see bugs??? here is a pic in a Malaria zone where we were looking for frogs.....

At this time of the year, there are no visible shrimps in the river. The water is too deep still. But insects on the river bed, tell me about it!!! I took some pics but did not turn out well, too dark! We saw some real weird spiders walking on top of the water, 2-2.5" very long legs and also huge ants! I was bitten by one of these monsters in my hand. :-\ Lucky me! The ant bite was very painful and I had a swollen hand and wrist for two days. However, that happened when I caught my first discus so the pain went away!! :-X

[Steve_Warner]

Hi all,
Alberto, really nice pictorial. I would like to see the great rainforest someday, too! By the way, that last pic................................can you say "OUTBREAK!" :o

Steve

[Rod]

Thanks alberto for the great pictorial :) One day i'd like to travel to discus country to have a look. Be a dream come true for me.


Rod

[jim_shedden]

Thanks Alberto...............I could read this stuff all day.

jim

[Sketchy]

...WOW! I am stunned by this entire thread! The photos are great, the narrative is awesome! Thank you so much for posting this!

[Lacrosseman]

That sounds like it was a really great trip. Those Peruvian white knifefish are really cool! Maybe I will have one of those someday...... Thanks for the pictures. I am going to go on a amazonia trip some day before college on a program.......Yay! ;D

I have to say what great shots of the trip, being a pleco lover, i think a trip there would be great, i would love to make a trip to the Rift lakes in africa and some exploreing of my own.....ps how can i get my hands on some of them plecos?? lol tc Joe ;D

[Fish Freak]

Man Alberto every time I see your wild discus and angles it makes me wanna buy buy buy. Musta been a great trip wish I coulda been there fishing discus. That twelve bar discus was sweet.

Josh

[trusty]

Que suave alberto gracias por los fotos 8)

[vinson]

These are the pair of wild green from peruvian amazon that I just acquired. Are they caught by you guys? ;D

[vinson]

another pix.

Can you guys tell me whether these are the real stuff? I am inexperience with wilds.

[aquatechnics]

Hi Vinson,

Yep! Those are coming from us. I can see the trademark, lol! ;) No discus leave our facilities without a record. Here is a pic of your discus in our tanks a few weeks ago. ;D

Alberto

[aquatechnics]

Here is a pic of a very special RSG which is going to a breeder in Singapore. Look at the tiny spots!

[aquatechnics]

Same fish with a better view of the spots.... ;)

Alberto

[SLY]

wow alberto do u still have those? send an extra to me in singapore..I am really interested..gorgeous fish. :o

[April]

Sly.....theres a 50 percent tax.....on top of those..charged by me!! whats good for the goose is good for the gander. lol.
karma and all that stuff.
ok Alberto send Sly the fish!! he needs one real bad!!

[aquatechnics]

Hi Sly,

Which one are you referring to? The one with the tiny spots?? They are just a few of them, very rare.
Here is a pic of another unique discus from Peru, a "high body" RSG. This is the second time we are getting this kind of discus from the Nanay River.

Let me know since I might be able to deliver your wilds personally to you... of course, with 50% tax for April ;) .... I have an invitation to go to Singapore in January! ;D

Alberto

[vinson]

Dear Alberto

Thank you for the confirmation. It was a pleasure to own those fishes. They have given me much delight and joy. The quality and condition are superb. Congrats on your good work.

The special RSG from Peru is majestic. Love to have those, do let me know - vinson@asiadiskus.com

If you don't mind, I would like to know more about the biotope of the fishes in my tank now.

Cheers,

[SLY]

Alberto I am certainly interested you can email me at sly@aquarealms.com

[aquatechnics]

Vinson,

Thank you for your kind words. We are glad to hear that you are enjoying your discus. :)
We do take seriously the quality of our wilds and we apply strict quarantine procedures with every shipment.

About the biotope, I think you would find interesting the photos and information I provided in an interview conducted by Ralph Cote here at Simply at the beginning of this year: http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=22;action=display;threadid=6935

As to the RSGs with tiny spots, we receive just a few of them in every shipment but we will keep you and Sly posted once we have them available again.

Best regards,
Alberto

PS: Looking forward to meeting you guys soon in Singapore.... ;)

[roclement]

Great thread!!!! By the way...Capivara are good eating! We have lots of them back in the farm in Brasil! Not bad for a "rat".

Thanks for the pictures!

Rodrigo