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I'm very pleased to feature the August 2015 Member Spotlight on Eric LaCroix - Carolina Discus:
Q - Please tell us all a little about yourselves, what makes You tick? What do you do for a living? Other hobbies? Any significant non-discus achievements you want to brag about?
A – Hello Simply members, my name is Eric Lacroix. I am 46 and I have lived in NC most of my life but am originally from MA. My incredible wife Cathy and I started dating when we were 12 and have now been married for 26 years. We have an awesome family that includes our son Brad (30), daughters Danielle (24), and Hannah (21) and two grandchildren who are absolute gifts, Miles (5) and Sophia (6 months). Cathy and I also have an absolutely crazy bulldog, Audrey Hepbull, who is like our 4th child to us. My Family is the most important thing to me and I look forward to spending time with them every chance I get.
I am fortunate to have a career with a company that is more like a family than an employer in the specialty fire protection chemicals industry for commercial construction. For the last 18 years I have been the Regional Sales Manager covering the Southeastern US, Caribbean, LATAM, & South America but am now the Director of Strategic Accounts covering North America.
I also enjoy music, wine, tattoos and am a DTS/Krav Maga instructor specializing in close quarter hand to hand combat.
My daughter Hannah runs the day to day operations focusing on daily feedings, maintenance, water changes, and local customer follow up. Hopefully she will also be working the website and facebook upgrades as well so we can get better information out in a timely fashion.
Q - How did you get into discus? Where was the first discus you saw? How long had you been into fish first?
A – Cathy and I got our first aquarium when we got our first apartment. As with most, 1 tank turned into several and we kept the standards: tetras, angels, live bearers, etc. I saw my first discus in a local fish shop and that was it, I have never kept anything else since then.
Q - How did you eventually get into the business of commercially importing & supplying discus ? - tell us about it.
A – N/A
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 – Personally I like them all and that tends to get me in trouble often with “The Boss”! I have always liked the classic red turquoise. It’s hard to beat a super round, fully striated red turquoise…simply amazing. For me, top of the line examples of this would be strains from Alexander Piwowarski and Forrest Teo. I have some current pairs of tiger turquoise from Forrest that always make me smile when I see them. I have a soft spot for snakeskin strains as well and often breed carnation snakeskins and pigeon snakeskins as space allows. Currently we are in search of true San Merah which are almost impossible to find lately. Years ago I had gotten a group from one of my favorite breeders Kok Eng Chan that were just amazing! I made the mistake of letting them go when we had to scale back due to travel and I should have kept them as my wife told me to! I am hoping to get some of the master Hai Khoon Tan’s Red Cover strain someday but that may never happen. Right now we are focusing on many of the newer spotted strains like Penang Eruptions and Super Eruptions and have hopes to work with and cross with albino leopard snakeskins soon.
Q - What do you feed your discus?
A – We feed a variety of foods for a number of reasons. Our discus get a special beefheart mix, Al’s FDBW, frozen bloodworms, and a mix of high quality flake food. Over the years we have tried to do away with beefheart in our quest for the cleanest water possible for our discus but there really isn’t anything that puts size on fry and conditions breeders. We tried all the seafood mixes and finely shaved steak ideas that have come and gone over the years and ran numerous trials to document growth and they all fell short compared to BH. With that said one doesn’t need to feed beefheart to have success keeping and even breeding discus. With all the developments in quality dry foods like FDBW’s and various pellets & flakes now available, it is easy to grow discus to beautiful adults without beefheart. Treat with some frozen bloodworms and all is good! With that said, we do feed beefheart so we developed 3 mixes that work best for our needs. Our “rough” breakdown is as follows:
Fry - 80% BH/20% dry foods
Juvies through adults - 40% BH/50% dry foods/10% frozen
Adults for breeding and pairs – 30% BH/40% dry foods/30% frozen
Q - What is your most exhilarating moment with discus?
A – To us there is still nothing that compares to a pair carrying fry.
Q - What is your most frustrating moment with discus?
A – Personally, the BS politics and in fighting that surround the discus community has always been an issue for me. I remember a great quote from the great Jack Wattley when Dr. Axelrod asked him to address the subject of possible jealously among the many discus breeders internationally and Jack replied “he could write an entire chapter about the petty jealously that exists”. This should also apply to importers and hobbyists. We must remember that there is no “one way to keep discus”. There are no absolutes, there are dozens of ways to keep discus and it frustrates me when I see people beating each other up because they feel they know more than anyone else. The constant fighting between suppliers and breeders and the arrogance of some of the importers to steal customers and bad mouth their competition needs to stop at some point. It really is ok to look at a fish from another breeder or supplier that you don’t work with and say” man that is great quality, keep up the good work” but instead the opposite happens. There are a few suppliers that I often recommend customers to because I don’t have what they want and I know they will be well taken care of…our hope is by helping people out they will give us a chance in the future when we have a strain they are looking for.
Also, we (Simply Members) as what I would consider advanced discus keepers for the most part, need to be more patient with newer members as they struggle to learn about this amazing hobby. How many times have we seen comments that are negative and even condescending on basic topics only to have that person never return again? You are not an expert on discus, I am not an expert on discus…no one is...if I were, then we would never have ph issues, disease issues, breeding issues, etc….just when I think we have it all figured out these fish can humble us fast! We are committed to keeping an open mind and learning from our customers, suppliers, and competition. The goal should always be what is best for the discus.
I do think it is critical that as advanced discus keepers we must do what we can at all times to stop the spread of misinformation on many topics as that does more damage than most realize. We see a lot of misinformation in many of the facebook groups that should have been put to rest ages ago. Most of it is by people who are trying to protect their business by spreading rumors and lies or by the “key board experts” that just started keeping discus 2 years ago but can’t keep their fish alive. This is where a lot of future Simply members will come from and we must do what we can to try to stop the misinformation that hurts us in the long run.
Q - Do you have any future discus plans that you would like to share with us?
A – One thing we have plans for is to begin working with wild discus. At the rate the Amazon is disappearing, I believe we need to save the wild strains or they will be gone forever at some point. For me, it would be a personal tribute to the greatest discus breeder ever Dr. Schmidt Focke who always had a special place in his heart for maintaining the wild bloodlines. We would like to offer f1and f2 fry born and raised in the US. Our limitation at this point is space but that will change someday.
Q - How do those others in your life feel about discus?
A – My family has always helped out as needed. Without them all at some point I wouldn’t be able to do what I love. As mentioned, Hannah has taken over most of the day to day operations of what we do, she basically has taken over daily requirements as I travel…I focus on breeding when I am home. She is learning more and more about the ins and outs of the discus world and is getting quite an eye for quality.
Q - Do you have any funny, amusing or interesting discus stories to share with us?
A – N/A
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 – There are many people that have helped along the way. Al has always helped me and keeps me in line and focused when I get frustrated about numerous issues I can’t imagine all the work and expense it takes to run Simply and turn it into the premier discus site that is has become. He has a great team but he still has the headaches when the politics start. I am hoping the day will come that Al gets back into the hobby he loves so much and we can pay him back for everything he has done for us with some great fish to grow out. I think he is doing something very awesome by putting all the time he can into his family right now…kids grow up so fast and you can’t put a dollar value on parents spending time with their kids. Another special thanks goes out to Kenny. The quality of the stock that I am able to access without importing directly has been great but the trust level I have for him is by far more important to me. Kenny has provided guidance in many areas including customer service. I consider him a friend and try to help him out any way we can by referring customers to him as we know they will be well taken care of. Kenny also keeps me in line when I have one of my “***** sessions”. There are many others that I have always respected including Cary, Hans, Jack, Tim, Carol and Pat plus a few new friends like James and Pete.
Q - What do you see as the future of discus keeping? More/less people? Any cool ideas for strains?
A – People will come and go but discus will always be popular. I believe we are on the edge of seeing new and exciting strains being set and released into the discus world. Many great breeders in Asia and Germany have been working crosses for years and we are starting to see new things being introduced, I think the future is bright for discus keepers.
Q - Can you think of anything I left out you would like to bring up - either personally or discus related?
A – Regardless of who your supplier is, please insist on quality. Keeping discus will be much more enjoyable if you start with healthy quality fish. With discus you absolutely get what you pay for. We get called all the time by people wanting to buy grade “B” discus from us and we refuse…to us grade “B” discus are culls and we treat them as such. Quality over quantity.
Q - Did you begin your discus enterprise by starting to breed discus?
A – Yes. Breeding for the most part came pretty naturally to me, but it’s something that always presents new challenges. I needed something to do that offered a break from the stress of my career and was nonviolent lol.
Q - If so, what were the major obstacles involved in setting up as a breeder? Any advice for aspiring breeders?
A – Wow, we could be here for a while. The biggest thing I would offer is to do it because it is what you love and not for the money….because there isn’t much money left over at the end of each month if at all. I have had so many people call me over the years and ask for advice on starting a business and they all start with “ well we have done the math and if you get 300 fry per spawn and you can sell them for $50 each and you have 10 pairs going”….bla, bla, bla. It doesn’t work that way…you don’t get 300 fry per spawn and pairs aren’t consistent…and the amount of tank space and water needed goes far beyond having a few tanks in the basement. It is almost impossible to compete with the farms in Asia due to labor costs, electricity, water, etc, etc, etc….a true US breeder cannot cover costs selling a 2” discus for $10. Our expenses just to run the hatchery is over $1000 per month and that is just the start (electricity is over $500 alone)….there is shipping materials costs and the outrageous FED Ex rates we are all subjected to that quite often can make a real dent in any money being left over at the end. There are almost no true breeders in the US….they may list themselves as breeders but they are importing all their fish…the hard truth is they make way more money with less headaches and time spent importing rather than breeding.
So with that said, breed because you love it and have a goal. The goal should always be quality and not quantity, focus on what you are doing and don’t get caught up in the politics of other people and you will have success.
Q - Do you have any pairs currently producing?
A – yes, we normally have 6-10 pairs going at all times. We do about 80% parent raised and 20% artificially. At the moment we have Tiger Turquoise, Royal Blue, Super eruptions, penang eruptions, brilliant heckle crosses, and standing egg red turquoise heckle crosses carrying fry…we currently have 2 batches of albino strains we are raising artificially as well. We are currently growing out breeding stock of neon sapphires, cobalt, rose reds, and several other strains for future use.
Q - Any tips on breeding or raising discus? Tricks or methods you use to encourage pairs to breed?
A – For breeding, my #1 tip is always start with quality. To us it is all about the shapes. Discus are supposed to be round not football shaped. Have a goal for what you want to do. It’s ok to breed anything to anything to get experience but that should not be the norm. Give them clean water, good foods, and TLC and Mother Nature will take its course and they will spawn. The rest is up to you.
For raising, lots of great food and water changes…..
Q - How many tanks do you have in operation for your discus business?
A – 30 with plans to increase that as we are always lacking tank space. We use 50 breeders and 75’s for growouts and 20H and 30g cube tanks for breeders and fry.
Q - What are your near future plans for bringing in more discus for potential sale to SD members and others ? Timing, frequency, etc.?
A – We are trying to find our “nitch” for simply members as many still don’t know what we do. We are looking at offering our fish to members starting at quarter to .50 cent size which no one is offering. This would allow people to obtain excellent quality at a much more reasonable price. One could have access to albino strains and top grade spotted strains from select grade breeders for a fraction of the cost. Discus at that size are easier to ship and acclimate easily so there generally no issues…clean water, great foods and TLC and they will be 6” in no time at all.
Q - When is your next shipment expected and what strains do you expect it will contain?
A – We always have something available we are working on. We are targeting august to release new batches of albino red melon w/white halo, tiger turquoise, royal blue F3, and super eruption. We also have some new pairs of spotted face penang eruptions that just carrier their first batch of fry so that will follow shortly.
Q - Anything else you'd like to mention, or talk about?
A – Please consider giving a true US breeder a chance….we are confident you won’t be disappointed!
Q - Please tell us all a little about yourselves, what makes You tick? What do you do for a living? Other hobbies? Any significant non-discus achievements you want to brag about?
A – Hello Simply members, my name is Eric Lacroix. I am 46 and I have lived in NC most of my life but am originally from MA. My incredible wife Cathy and I started dating when we were 12 and have now been married for 26 years. We have an awesome family that includes our son Brad (30), daughters Danielle (24), and Hannah (21) and two grandchildren who are absolute gifts, Miles (5) and Sophia (6 months). Cathy and I also have an absolutely crazy bulldog, Audrey Hepbull, who is like our 4th child to us. My Family is the most important thing to me and I look forward to spending time with them every chance I get.
I am fortunate to have a career with a company that is more like a family than an employer in the specialty fire protection chemicals industry for commercial construction. For the last 18 years I have been the Regional Sales Manager covering the Southeastern US, Caribbean, LATAM, & South America but am now the Director of Strategic Accounts covering North America.
I also enjoy music, wine, tattoos and am a DTS/Krav Maga instructor specializing in close quarter hand to hand combat.
My daughter Hannah runs the day to day operations focusing on daily feedings, maintenance, water changes, and local customer follow up. Hopefully she will also be working the website and facebook upgrades as well so we can get better information out in a timely fashion.
Q - How did you get into discus? Where was the first discus you saw? How long had you been into fish first?
A – Cathy and I got our first aquarium when we got our first apartment. As with most, 1 tank turned into several and we kept the standards: tetras, angels, live bearers, etc. I saw my first discus in a local fish shop and that was it, I have never kept anything else since then.
Q - How did you eventually get into the business of commercially importing & supplying discus ? - tell us about it.
A – N/A
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 – Personally I like them all and that tends to get me in trouble often with “The Boss”! I have always liked the classic red turquoise. It’s hard to beat a super round, fully striated red turquoise…simply amazing. For me, top of the line examples of this would be strains from Alexander Piwowarski and Forrest Teo. I have some current pairs of tiger turquoise from Forrest that always make me smile when I see them. I have a soft spot for snakeskin strains as well and often breed carnation snakeskins and pigeon snakeskins as space allows. Currently we are in search of true San Merah which are almost impossible to find lately. Years ago I had gotten a group from one of my favorite breeders Kok Eng Chan that were just amazing! I made the mistake of letting them go when we had to scale back due to travel and I should have kept them as my wife told me to! I am hoping to get some of the master Hai Khoon Tan’s Red Cover strain someday but that may never happen. Right now we are focusing on many of the newer spotted strains like Penang Eruptions and Super Eruptions and have hopes to work with and cross with albino leopard snakeskins soon.
Q - What do you feed your discus?
A – We feed a variety of foods for a number of reasons. Our discus get a special beefheart mix, Al’s FDBW, frozen bloodworms, and a mix of high quality flake food. Over the years we have tried to do away with beefheart in our quest for the cleanest water possible for our discus but there really isn’t anything that puts size on fry and conditions breeders. We tried all the seafood mixes and finely shaved steak ideas that have come and gone over the years and ran numerous trials to document growth and they all fell short compared to BH. With that said one doesn’t need to feed beefheart to have success keeping and even breeding discus. With all the developments in quality dry foods like FDBW’s and various pellets & flakes now available, it is easy to grow discus to beautiful adults without beefheart. Treat with some frozen bloodworms and all is good! With that said, we do feed beefheart so we developed 3 mixes that work best for our needs. Our “rough” breakdown is as follows:
Fry - 80% BH/20% dry foods
Juvies through adults - 40% BH/50% dry foods/10% frozen
Adults for breeding and pairs – 30% BH/40% dry foods/30% frozen
Q - What is your most exhilarating moment with discus?
A – To us there is still nothing that compares to a pair carrying fry.
Q - What is your most frustrating moment with discus?
A – Personally, the BS politics and in fighting that surround the discus community has always been an issue for me. I remember a great quote from the great Jack Wattley when Dr. Axelrod asked him to address the subject of possible jealously among the many discus breeders internationally and Jack replied “he could write an entire chapter about the petty jealously that exists”. This should also apply to importers and hobbyists. We must remember that there is no “one way to keep discus”. There are no absolutes, there are dozens of ways to keep discus and it frustrates me when I see people beating each other up because they feel they know more than anyone else. The constant fighting between suppliers and breeders and the arrogance of some of the importers to steal customers and bad mouth their competition needs to stop at some point. It really is ok to look at a fish from another breeder or supplier that you don’t work with and say” man that is great quality, keep up the good work” but instead the opposite happens. There are a few suppliers that I often recommend customers to because I don’t have what they want and I know they will be well taken care of…our hope is by helping people out they will give us a chance in the future when we have a strain they are looking for.
Also, we (Simply Members) as what I would consider advanced discus keepers for the most part, need to be more patient with newer members as they struggle to learn about this amazing hobby. How many times have we seen comments that are negative and even condescending on basic topics only to have that person never return again? You are not an expert on discus, I am not an expert on discus…no one is...if I were, then we would never have ph issues, disease issues, breeding issues, etc….just when I think we have it all figured out these fish can humble us fast! We are committed to keeping an open mind and learning from our customers, suppliers, and competition. The goal should always be what is best for the discus.
I do think it is critical that as advanced discus keepers we must do what we can at all times to stop the spread of misinformation on many topics as that does more damage than most realize. We see a lot of misinformation in many of the facebook groups that should have been put to rest ages ago. Most of it is by people who are trying to protect their business by spreading rumors and lies or by the “key board experts” that just started keeping discus 2 years ago but can’t keep their fish alive. This is where a lot of future Simply members will come from and we must do what we can to try to stop the misinformation that hurts us in the long run.
Q - Do you have any future discus plans that you would like to share with us?
A – One thing we have plans for is to begin working with wild discus. At the rate the Amazon is disappearing, I believe we need to save the wild strains or they will be gone forever at some point. For me, it would be a personal tribute to the greatest discus breeder ever Dr. Schmidt Focke who always had a special place in his heart for maintaining the wild bloodlines. We would like to offer f1and f2 fry born and raised in the US. Our limitation at this point is space but that will change someday.
Q - How do those others in your life feel about discus?
A – My family has always helped out as needed. Without them all at some point I wouldn’t be able to do what I love. As mentioned, Hannah has taken over most of the day to day operations of what we do, she basically has taken over daily requirements as I travel…I focus on breeding when I am home. She is learning more and more about the ins and outs of the discus world and is getting quite an eye for quality.
Q - Do you have any funny, amusing or interesting discus stories to share with us?
A – N/A
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 – There are many people that have helped along the way. Al has always helped me and keeps me in line and focused when I get frustrated about numerous issues I can’t imagine all the work and expense it takes to run Simply and turn it into the premier discus site that is has become. He has a great team but he still has the headaches when the politics start. I am hoping the day will come that Al gets back into the hobby he loves so much and we can pay him back for everything he has done for us with some great fish to grow out. I think he is doing something very awesome by putting all the time he can into his family right now…kids grow up so fast and you can’t put a dollar value on parents spending time with their kids. Another special thanks goes out to Kenny. The quality of the stock that I am able to access without importing directly has been great but the trust level I have for him is by far more important to me. Kenny has provided guidance in many areas including customer service. I consider him a friend and try to help him out any way we can by referring customers to him as we know they will be well taken care of. Kenny also keeps me in line when I have one of my “***** sessions”. There are many others that I have always respected including Cary, Hans, Jack, Tim, Carol and Pat plus a few new friends like James and Pete.
Q - What do you see as the future of discus keeping? More/less people? Any cool ideas for strains?
A – People will come and go but discus will always be popular. I believe we are on the edge of seeing new and exciting strains being set and released into the discus world. Many great breeders in Asia and Germany have been working crosses for years and we are starting to see new things being introduced, I think the future is bright for discus keepers.
Q - Can you think of anything I left out you would like to bring up - either personally or discus related?
A – Regardless of who your supplier is, please insist on quality. Keeping discus will be much more enjoyable if you start with healthy quality fish. With discus you absolutely get what you pay for. We get called all the time by people wanting to buy grade “B” discus from us and we refuse…to us grade “B” discus are culls and we treat them as such. Quality over quantity.
Q - Did you begin your discus enterprise by starting to breed discus?
A – Yes. Breeding for the most part came pretty naturally to me, but it’s something that always presents new challenges. I needed something to do that offered a break from the stress of my career and was nonviolent lol.
Q - If so, what were the major obstacles involved in setting up as a breeder? Any advice for aspiring breeders?
A – Wow, we could be here for a while. The biggest thing I would offer is to do it because it is what you love and not for the money….because there isn’t much money left over at the end of each month if at all. I have had so many people call me over the years and ask for advice on starting a business and they all start with “ well we have done the math and if you get 300 fry per spawn and you can sell them for $50 each and you have 10 pairs going”….bla, bla, bla. It doesn’t work that way…you don’t get 300 fry per spawn and pairs aren’t consistent…and the amount of tank space and water needed goes far beyond having a few tanks in the basement. It is almost impossible to compete with the farms in Asia due to labor costs, electricity, water, etc, etc, etc….a true US breeder cannot cover costs selling a 2” discus for $10. Our expenses just to run the hatchery is over $1000 per month and that is just the start (electricity is over $500 alone)….there is shipping materials costs and the outrageous FED Ex rates we are all subjected to that quite often can make a real dent in any money being left over at the end. There are almost no true breeders in the US….they may list themselves as breeders but they are importing all their fish…the hard truth is they make way more money with less headaches and time spent importing rather than breeding.
So with that said, breed because you love it and have a goal. The goal should always be quality and not quantity, focus on what you are doing and don’t get caught up in the politics of other people and you will have success.
Q - Do you have any pairs currently producing?
A – yes, we normally have 6-10 pairs going at all times. We do about 80% parent raised and 20% artificially. At the moment we have Tiger Turquoise, Royal Blue, Super eruptions, penang eruptions, brilliant heckle crosses, and standing egg red turquoise heckle crosses carrying fry…we currently have 2 batches of albino strains we are raising artificially as well. We are currently growing out breeding stock of neon sapphires, cobalt, rose reds, and several other strains for future use.
Q - Any tips on breeding or raising discus? Tricks or methods you use to encourage pairs to breed?
A – For breeding, my #1 tip is always start with quality. To us it is all about the shapes. Discus are supposed to be round not football shaped. Have a goal for what you want to do. It’s ok to breed anything to anything to get experience but that should not be the norm. Give them clean water, good foods, and TLC and Mother Nature will take its course and they will spawn. The rest is up to you.
For raising, lots of great food and water changes…..
Q - How many tanks do you have in operation for your discus business?
A – 30 with plans to increase that as we are always lacking tank space. We use 50 breeders and 75’s for growouts and 20H and 30g cube tanks for breeders and fry.
Q - What are your near future plans for bringing in more discus for potential sale to SD members and others ? Timing, frequency, etc.?
A – We are trying to find our “nitch” for simply members as many still don’t know what we do. We are looking at offering our fish to members starting at quarter to .50 cent size which no one is offering. This would allow people to obtain excellent quality at a much more reasonable price. One could have access to albino strains and top grade spotted strains from select grade breeders for a fraction of the cost. Discus at that size are easier to ship and acclimate easily so there generally no issues…clean water, great foods and TLC and they will be 6” in no time at all.
Q - When is your next shipment expected and what strains do you expect it will contain?
A – We always have something available we are working on. We are targeting august to release new batches of albino red melon w/white halo, tiger turquoise, royal blue F3, and super eruption. We also have some new pairs of spotted face penang eruptions that just carrier their first batch of fry so that will follow shortly.
Q - Anything else you'd like to mention, or talk about?
A – Please consider giving a true US breeder a chance….we are confident you won’t be disappointed!
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