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nc0gnet0 or Rick is our spotlight member for July 2013. Congrats Rick and please forgive me for posting this a bit late. Definitely a nice read...
Q - Please tell us all a little about yourself, what makes You tick? Single, married, attached? What do you do for a living? Other hobbies? Any significant non-discus achievements you want to brag about?
A – Lets see, if I answer this question, I really wouldn't be incognito now would I? I have two kids, one works for an avionics developer in Cedar Springs Iowa, the other is a diesel mechanic here locally. Been divorced now for over 25 years, have a significant other girlfriend, not married but we are both on the mortgage for the house we live in. I have had a range of hobbies over the years, from computers, to owning harness race horses, fishing, golf, and my dogs. I don’t know if it counts as a significant achievement, but I did hit a royal flush on the card tables last year for over 80K.
Q - How did you get into discus? Where was the first discus you saw? How long had you been into fish first?
A – I remember my dad having some blue turqs years ago when I was a child. It had to be over 40 years ago. They died after a time, but they left an impression. Myself I dabbled in Koi for several years, before opting to get into discus. It became obvious to me that breeding koi was going to take far more real estate and time then I had available.
Q - What strains are you the most happy with? Which do you think need some work? Are you working on anything new and exciting now? What strain/s do you like best, personally?
A – This might be one of the hardest questions to answer, as I can’t say I really have a favorite to speak of. Right now, I really like snakeskin’s and spotteds, but ask me this question in a few months and you might get a different answer. I can appreciate a quality fish regardless of strain, but what often catches my eye are the new unique varieties, not necessarily because I like them over the others, but I want to see what they are made of. And I am always working on something new, as to whether or not it is exciting, well that is often up for debate
Q - What do you feed your discus?
A – Al’s FDBW’s, Super Beefheart flake, an occasional treat of frozen bloodworms, blackworm pellets from Dan, and Dainichi veggie deluxe pellets.
Q - What is your most exhilarating moment with discus?
A - That one is easy, my first successful spawn, in which I raised them to full adulthood and then had them successfully raise their own fry.
Q What is your most frustrating moment with discus?
A – One particular massive basement flood comes to mind (finished basement).
Q - Do you have any future discus plans that you would like to share with us?
A – I think that is pretty much common knowledge, all one has to do is check out my homesteader section. In a nutshell, I want to eventually develop a strain/variety/phenotype that is unique and my own.
Q - How do those in your life feel about discus?
A – As long as my dogs still get their walk at night, they are perfectly fine with them. Now my GF, well, let’s just say she tolerates them.
Q - Do you have any funny, amusing or interesting discus stories to share with us?
A – Let’s see, how I came to acquire some of the parents of the contest fish I have entered is kind of funny. I wasn’t able to get off work to make it to NADA 2012, but was offered a chance to buy some of the stendker show fish by my good friend Jim Hall. When I told Jim I was interested, he directed me to a group of photos taken by Hans and I picked out three. I told Jim I would take the fish in picture number 3,8, and 14 ( I don’t remember the actual numbers). Well as luck would have it, Hans had inadvertently posted a few pictures that didn’t belong there and upon their discovery, removed them. Neither I nor Jim caught this or gave it a second thought, but needless to say, the fish that correlated to numbers I gave Jim now belonged to totally different fish. I was quite surprised when I opened those box’s needless to say.
Q - Do you have any thanks or credit to give for your success with discus? Any mentors or colleagues who you think deserve some applause?
A – Al, John N, Rod, and Jim have seen more than thier fare share of Pm’s from me with questions.
Q - What do you see as the future of discus keeping? More/less people? Any cool ideas for strains?
A - As for the future of discus keeping I really don’t know, my guess is it will continue go through periods of growth as well as periods of relative quiet. And yes I have a few ideas for a few cool new strains, but any such accomplishment would be several years off.
Q - Can you think of anything I left out you would like to bring up - either personally or discus related?
A – I find the recent influx of heckle cross’s rather interesting. I think within the next few years they will be able to stabilize the bar and get it to carry on to future generations. At the surface this seems kind of neat, but once a domestic “heckel type is perfect that reproduces offspring with the bar, I think it may actually be a bad thing.
Breeding
Q - How did you decide to take the plunge into breeding as a significant part of your fishkeeping?
A – I had intended to try my hand at breeding even before I got my first Discus. Quite honestly I think I would get bored with it if I didn’t breed.
Q - What were the major obstacles involved in setting up as a breeder? Any advice for aspiring breeders?
A – Ask questions, do some research into those that are consistently successfully at it, and most importantly have patience. If you have the room, time and money, just don’t get one pair, get a couple, this will increase your odds
Q - How many pairs do you currently have producing? How many tanks?
A – Well the tank part is easily quantified (27). As to how many pairs I have i a realy hard questio. If I have 20 adult females and 20 adult males, how many different combinations is that’l
Q - Any tips on breeding or raising discus? Tricks or methods you use to encourage pairs to breed?
A – The biggest trick to breeding is patience. Breeding discus is no longer hard, but it is hard work. Having more than one pair to work with helps.
Q - Please tell us all a little about yourself, what makes You tick? Single, married, attached? What do you do for a living? Other hobbies? Any significant non-discus achievements you want to brag about?
A – Lets see, if I answer this question, I really wouldn't be incognito now would I? I have two kids, one works for an avionics developer in Cedar Springs Iowa, the other is a diesel mechanic here locally. Been divorced now for over 25 years, have a significant other girlfriend, not married but we are both on the mortgage for the house we live in. I have had a range of hobbies over the years, from computers, to owning harness race horses, fishing, golf, and my dogs. I don’t know if it counts as a significant achievement, but I did hit a royal flush on the card tables last year for over 80K.
Q - How did you get into discus? Where was the first discus you saw? How long had you been into fish first?
A – I remember my dad having some blue turqs years ago when I was a child. It had to be over 40 years ago. They died after a time, but they left an impression. Myself I dabbled in Koi for several years, before opting to get into discus. It became obvious to me that breeding koi was going to take far more real estate and time then I had available.
Q - What strains are you the most happy with? Which do you think need some work? Are you working on anything new and exciting now? What strain/s do you like best, personally?
A – This might be one of the hardest questions to answer, as I can’t say I really have a favorite to speak of. Right now, I really like snakeskin’s and spotteds, but ask me this question in a few months and you might get a different answer. I can appreciate a quality fish regardless of strain, but what often catches my eye are the new unique varieties, not necessarily because I like them over the others, but I want to see what they are made of. And I am always working on something new, as to whether or not it is exciting, well that is often up for debate
Q - What do you feed your discus?
A – Al’s FDBW’s, Super Beefheart flake, an occasional treat of frozen bloodworms, blackworm pellets from Dan, and Dainichi veggie deluxe pellets.
Q - What is your most exhilarating moment with discus?
A - That one is easy, my first successful spawn, in which I raised them to full adulthood and then had them successfully raise their own fry.
Q What is your most frustrating moment with discus?
A – One particular massive basement flood comes to mind (finished basement).
Q - Do you have any future discus plans that you would like to share with us?
A – I think that is pretty much common knowledge, all one has to do is check out my homesteader section. In a nutshell, I want to eventually develop a strain/variety/phenotype that is unique and my own.
Q - How do those in your life feel about discus?
A – As long as my dogs still get their walk at night, they are perfectly fine with them. Now my GF, well, let’s just say she tolerates them.
Q - Do you have any funny, amusing or interesting discus stories to share with us?
A – Let’s see, how I came to acquire some of the parents of the contest fish I have entered is kind of funny. I wasn’t able to get off work to make it to NADA 2012, but was offered a chance to buy some of the stendker show fish by my good friend Jim Hall. When I told Jim I was interested, he directed me to a group of photos taken by Hans and I picked out three. I told Jim I would take the fish in picture number 3,8, and 14 ( I don’t remember the actual numbers). Well as luck would have it, Hans had inadvertently posted a few pictures that didn’t belong there and upon their discovery, removed them. Neither I nor Jim caught this or gave it a second thought, but needless to say, the fish that correlated to numbers I gave Jim now belonged to totally different fish. I was quite surprised when I opened those box’s needless to say.
Q - Do you have any thanks or credit to give for your success with discus? Any mentors or colleagues who you think deserve some applause?
A – Al, John N, Rod, and Jim have seen more than thier fare share of Pm’s from me with questions.
Q - What do you see as the future of discus keeping? More/less people? Any cool ideas for strains?
A - As for the future of discus keeping I really don’t know, my guess is it will continue go through periods of growth as well as periods of relative quiet. And yes I have a few ideas for a few cool new strains, but any such accomplishment would be several years off.
Q - Can you think of anything I left out you would like to bring up - either personally or discus related?
A – I find the recent influx of heckle cross’s rather interesting. I think within the next few years they will be able to stabilize the bar and get it to carry on to future generations. At the surface this seems kind of neat, but once a domestic “heckel type is perfect that reproduces offspring with the bar, I think it may actually be a bad thing.
Breeding
Q - How did you decide to take the plunge into breeding as a significant part of your fishkeeping?
A – I had intended to try my hand at breeding even before I got my first Discus. Quite honestly I think I would get bored with it if I didn’t breed.
Q - What were the major obstacles involved in setting up as a breeder? Any advice for aspiring breeders?
A – Ask questions, do some research into those that are consistently successfully at it, and most importantly have patience. If you have the room, time and money, just don’t get one pair, get a couple, this will increase your odds
Q - How many pairs do you currently have producing? How many tanks?
A – Well the tank part is easily quantified (27). As to how many pairs I have i a realy hard questio. If I have 20 adult females and 20 adult males, how many different combinations is that’l
Q - Any tips on breeding or raising discus? Tricks or methods you use to encourage pairs to breed?
A – The biggest trick to breeding is patience. Breeding discus is no longer hard, but it is hard work. Having more than one pair to work with helps.
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