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I`m very pleased`to present the November, 2015 Spotlight on MKD - Tony
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 - My name is Tony. I just passed the 40 year old hill and am married to a wonderful woman for 14 years. We have 2 beautiful daughters, they're turning 12 and 13 end of the year. They’re doing great in school and the younger one is in Gate program. They both want to be a veterinarian.
My parents let me to escape from VietNam for a better life by boat in 1989 with 119 other people and this was a result of the VietNam war. They stayed back just in case I got caught. After 9 nights and 8 days crossing the ocean, we reached Palawan, Philippines. They put all of us in refugee camp and I lived there for 14 months. After having interviewed with United States ambassadors, I was accepted to the United States because my dad was a U.S soldier during the Vietnam War. Plus I was a minor without parents or guardian. Came to United States in 1991, I went to school to be a computer technician and worked as a computer tech until it crashed in late 90's-2000. In 1997, I took time went back to my country Vietnam that I thought I could never be able to go back to because they did not allow anyone to return. It was a first time to see my parents, family members and friends since I left as teenager. After a month, I came back to the US to reality, and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, but did not find anything in the technology field. Then I moved back to California & decided to switch to the Mortgage industry and went thru another crash in 2007. I realize everything has its up and down sides, so I stick with the mortgage business until now.
Q - How did you get into discus? Where was the first discus you saw? How long had you been into fish first?
A - I think, because I crossed the ocean and it's in my blood, anything with water/fish always relaxed me. I kept a Beta when I was young, even though my parents didn't let me. I sneaked it into the house by placing it under my shirt. When i came here, i kept Arowona, Aranda on and off. Until we bought our first home, the wife and i went to local fish stores looking for some fish. She pointed to discus and I told her, it's hard to keep them - I don’t think I can do it. Got home, searched around forums and found SimplyDiscus. First thread that I read was "What not to buy". I looked at those pictures and compared them to the discus at the local fish store. After 2 months or so doing that, I could not find any good ones around my area and I decided to buy from sponsors. We both fell in love with Discus when we got them the first time by mail. It’s a total surprise to me that they ‘re so different from what we saw - from size to color, and healthier. It’s the best experience and I keep telling people about it. It seems like it costs a dollar or 2 more for shipping costs but If you sit down and calculate time/gas driving around checking/picking up fish, it’s worth it to buy from sponsors. Since then, i started from a 100 gallon tank with substrate, plants, driftwood… everything - you name it. After upgrade and upgrade - KAABOOM, here you go - a whole bunch of Bare Bottom tanks. Best decision ever and I'm not turning back, unless I reduce to 1 tank ONLY.
here is my first 100g tank and see what end up that many tanks. Totally different.
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 - Spotted and Alex Turquoise are my favorite strains. I'm far from an expert, and not trying to improve anything. I just want to enjoy breeding and select the best ones for my display tank. Showing off their true beauty to family and friends, not like they saw somewhere else.
Q - What do you feed your discus?
A - I feed my discus mainly BH mixed, Al's FDBW, Forest pellet, sometimes red wigglers. I tried so many different ways to make BH mixed and no batch turned out exactly the same. At the end, i just do basic, BH, shrimp, salmon, spinach, vitamins, banana, garlic, and flake foods.
Q - What is your most exhilarating moment with discus?
A - The most amazing moment/sight is when fry attach to parents and BOTH parents are side by side feeding fry. It reminds me that as parents we try to be there for our kids and provide them with as much as we can. I also enjoy raising them and watching them develop their color & pattern.
Q - What is your most frustrating moment with discus?
A -My most frustrating moment is when i tried to breed my two beautiful favorite discus but could never get Wigglers. Also, I always try to figure out ways to increase water changes and add more tanks.
Q - Do you have any future discus plans that you would like to share with us?
A - I hope I'll have more healthy, beautiful discus that i can show off, so people have a better vision of discus, also to participate in Simplydiscus challenges, help out and guide newbies more.
Q - How do those in your life feel about discus? We hear you're a devoted family man that spends a lot of time with your kids. Do they participate at all with you in your discus activities, or do you do other specific activities with them, eg. sports, games, outdoor fun, or other ?
A - I'm very lucky to have my beautiful and understanding wife by my side for 19 years (5years dating and 14 years married). She loves discus too but does not want to do water changes. Her memory is so amazing, she can tell if i move out or add any discus to the tank. Kids only try to help a little bit when they want something. That's ok because i love doing water changes. She drops the kids off at school in the morning, i pick them up in the evening. As soon as we get home, i prepare the dinner that she made or prepared half way the night before. After dinner, We both look at kids homework except Friday and Saturday. She works 6 days a week and sometimes Sunday too. I take the kids to skating practice, bible classes and mass every weekend. 24 hours a day is not enough but I'm trying my best.
Here are couple pictures of places that we went to this past summer
Westin Lake, Nevada
Maui, Hawaii
Q - Do you have any funny, amusing or interesting discus stories to share with us?
A - One day, my manager came to me for reports and saw me on the phone talking to someone with discus poop showing on all three 21" screen monitors side by side. She asked, what are looking at? I replied, discus poop. She just left without asking for the reports
.
Q - What do you see as the future of discus keeping? More/less people? Any cool ideas for strains?
A - I see some drop out of the hobby due to work schedules and lifestyle. We’ll work harder and harder for a living trying to compete with smart machines. Everything is instant this and instant that, some don’t have time for water changes. Plus basic expenses and cost of living will stop new discus keepers. I hope I can stick around to show off my collection and witness more new strains from US.
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? Any one member of the forum that has helped you the most?
A - Special thanks to my friends Derrick, Tan, David, & Trung who helped me build a 300g tank stand when I was down. My back lower discs were messed up and I could not even walk. I almost gave up. After months of physical therapy, its better. I also want to thank you Al for SimplyDiscus.com, Mod/Admin, those who posted progress here, and my friends Al, Derrick, Tan, David, Trung, Kevin, Tony.
Q - If you were to give an aspiring discus keeper one piece of advice, what would it be?
A- - Patience, try not to rush it and finish 1 thing at the time.
- Take time and plan ahead.
- Quarantine and quarantine. It’s very easy to break it but you have to force yourself, no one else. It’s a must to me.
- Be open minded and try it out. Sometimes, we just do it based on what we saw or dream for. Bare bottom is not bad at all. Advices are given on SD to provide discus the best environment as possible. Don’t take it so personal if you are not able to do it. Lot of people as soon as they hear daily water change, they freak out. Best is to give yourself sometime to do lot of water change, then cut back/adjust to discus and your need. They are pets to me, not just fish and they need attention just like having a dog but instead walking, bathing and picking up poop. Discus needs water changes and picking up poop too. This also depends on your goal or how discus look like in your head, but 6.5-7+” discus look really nice.
- I know lot of us jump into this hobby with nice picture of discus tanks in our head and want to follow that or try to make your tank like that. At the beginning, we’re so motivated, we want to do all in one that we're not able to see down the road. Believe me, we are going to hit THAT wall and need to choose between discus, plants, or other fish.
For example, heat treatment will help discus (not all cases), but not plants and/or other tank mates. Or use meds to treat tank with substrate/sand, there is lot of organic built up. Most of medicine label recommended dose not enough or won’t see improvement right away, are you adding more meds or switching to different meds? Bottom line, you have to decide which one you want to save - plants, discus or other tank mates. Please keep in mind, it’s my experience.
- Most of the advices & suggestions on the forum are for the best for keeping discus and having success at getting pretty nice discus. If you don’t feel like following those advices, just ignore them.
Q - How has Simply Discus helped influence you in the hobby?
A - I can’t say enough about SimplyDiscus experts and Mod/Admin. It's an incredible community, with great advices and awesome members. I'm learning a lot from here and still learning. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it well without SimplyDiscus.
MKD stands for Monster Keeps Discus. People/movies usually make fun of monsters which have small brain (knowledge). I did not know anything about discus and that's how I was. If I can do it, everyone can do it.
Q - How did you decide to take the plunge into breeding as a significant part of your fishkeeping?
A – I visit Simplydiscus site everyday to watch the beautiful videos and pictures. I admire those breeders showing off parents & fry. Those fry are so cute. Also discus parenting and fry attaching to parents is so amazing. I wanted it so much and decided to bring it to my home. So I can enjoy, relax and share it with family/friends.
Q - What were the major obstacles involved in setting up as a breeder? Any advice for aspiring breeders?
A – Like most of us, I started in my garage with 6 tanks, then added more and more tanks (sound familiar ?. There you go - see picture below, that’s what I end up with. Water change was my big problem -, trying to do water changes daily - so I ended up drilling a quick drain and lumping them to central sump. Try to give them your best care, let them do their own things, and you just enjoy the hobby. Don’t give up, again have patience and patience.
Figure out the way to perform quick water changes. This will save your energy and you last longer in hobby, and witness more beautiful discus than what have seen in most places. It also helps on those busy, sick, lazy, or vacation days.
Q - Any tips on breeding or raising discus? Tricks or methods you use to encourage pairs to breed?
A – There are great advices here on Simplydiscus on how to encourage a pair to breed. I learned a lot from here on SimplyDiscus so it’s nothing new. Keep reading and reading as much as you can. For me, clean water will help them to breed. Prepare for more tanks and select your own discus. Two mistakes that I made when raising fry was to overfeed them and switch foods too fast. Try not to over feed them but try to feed them what you can easily clean up with water changes. Give them time to try new food. As long as one of them takes a new food, soon the rest will do the same.
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 - My name is Tony. I just passed the 40 year old hill and am married to a wonderful woman for 14 years. We have 2 beautiful daughters, they're turning 12 and 13 end of the year. They’re doing great in school and the younger one is in Gate program. They both want to be a veterinarian.
My parents let me to escape from VietNam for a better life by boat in 1989 with 119 other people and this was a result of the VietNam war. They stayed back just in case I got caught. After 9 nights and 8 days crossing the ocean, we reached Palawan, Philippines. They put all of us in refugee camp and I lived there for 14 months. After having interviewed with United States ambassadors, I was accepted to the United States because my dad was a U.S soldier during the Vietnam War. Plus I was a minor without parents or guardian. Came to United States in 1991, I went to school to be a computer technician and worked as a computer tech until it crashed in late 90's-2000. In 1997, I took time went back to my country Vietnam that I thought I could never be able to go back to because they did not allow anyone to return. It was a first time to see my parents, family members and friends since I left as teenager. After a month, I came back to the US to reality, and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, but did not find anything in the technology field. Then I moved back to California & decided to switch to the Mortgage industry and went thru another crash in 2007. I realize everything has its up and down sides, so I stick with the mortgage business until now.
Q - How did you get into discus? Where was the first discus you saw? How long had you been into fish first?
A - I think, because I crossed the ocean and it's in my blood, anything with water/fish always relaxed me. I kept a Beta when I was young, even though my parents didn't let me. I sneaked it into the house by placing it under my shirt. When i came here, i kept Arowona, Aranda on and off. Until we bought our first home, the wife and i went to local fish stores looking for some fish. She pointed to discus and I told her, it's hard to keep them - I don’t think I can do it. Got home, searched around forums and found SimplyDiscus. First thread that I read was "What not to buy". I looked at those pictures and compared them to the discus at the local fish store. After 2 months or so doing that, I could not find any good ones around my area and I decided to buy from sponsors. We both fell in love with Discus when we got them the first time by mail. It’s a total surprise to me that they ‘re so different from what we saw - from size to color, and healthier. It’s the best experience and I keep telling people about it. It seems like it costs a dollar or 2 more for shipping costs but If you sit down and calculate time/gas driving around checking/picking up fish, it’s worth it to buy from sponsors. Since then, i started from a 100 gallon tank with substrate, plants, driftwood… everything - you name it. After upgrade and upgrade - KAABOOM, here you go - a whole bunch of Bare Bottom tanks. Best decision ever and I'm not turning back, unless I reduce to 1 tank ONLY.
here is my first 100g tank and see what end up that many tanks. Totally different.
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 - Spotted and Alex Turquoise are my favorite strains. I'm far from an expert, and not trying to improve anything. I just want to enjoy breeding and select the best ones for my display tank. Showing off their true beauty to family and friends, not like they saw somewhere else.
Q - What do you feed your discus?
A - I feed my discus mainly BH mixed, Al's FDBW, Forest pellet, sometimes red wigglers. I tried so many different ways to make BH mixed and no batch turned out exactly the same. At the end, i just do basic, BH, shrimp, salmon, spinach, vitamins, banana, garlic, and flake foods.
Q - What is your most exhilarating moment with discus?
A - The most amazing moment/sight is when fry attach to parents and BOTH parents are side by side feeding fry. It reminds me that as parents we try to be there for our kids and provide them with as much as we can. I also enjoy raising them and watching them develop their color & pattern.
Q - What is your most frustrating moment with discus?
A -My most frustrating moment is when i tried to breed my two beautiful favorite discus but could never get Wigglers. Also, I always try to figure out ways to increase water changes and add more tanks.
Q - Do you have any future discus plans that you would like to share with us?
A - I hope I'll have more healthy, beautiful discus that i can show off, so people have a better vision of discus, also to participate in Simplydiscus challenges, help out and guide newbies more.
Q - How do those in your life feel about discus? We hear you're a devoted family man that spends a lot of time with your kids. Do they participate at all with you in your discus activities, or do you do other specific activities with them, eg. sports, games, outdoor fun, or other ?
A - I'm very lucky to have my beautiful and understanding wife by my side for 19 years (5years dating and 14 years married). She loves discus too but does not want to do water changes. Her memory is so amazing, she can tell if i move out or add any discus to the tank. Kids only try to help a little bit when they want something. That's ok because i love doing water changes. She drops the kids off at school in the morning, i pick them up in the evening. As soon as we get home, i prepare the dinner that she made or prepared half way the night before. After dinner, We both look at kids homework except Friday and Saturday. She works 6 days a week and sometimes Sunday too. I take the kids to skating practice, bible classes and mass every weekend. 24 hours a day is not enough but I'm trying my best.
Here are couple pictures of places that we went to this past summer
Westin Lake, Nevada
Maui, Hawaii
Q - Do you have any funny, amusing or interesting discus stories to share with us?
A - One day, my manager came to me for reports and saw me on the phone talking to someone with discus poop showing on all three 21" screen monitors side by side. She asked, what are looking at? I replied, discus poop. She just left without asking for the reports
. Q - What do you see as the future of discus keeping? More/less people? Any cool ideas for strains?
A - I see some drop out of the hobby due to work schedules and lifestyle. We’ll work harder and harder for a living trying to compete with smart machines. Everything is instant this and instant that, some don’t have time for water changes. Plus basic expenses and cost of living will stop new discus keepers. I hope I can stick around to show off my collection and witness more new strains from US.
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? Any one member of the forum that has helped you the most?
A - Special thanks to my friends Derrick, Tan, David, & Trung who helped me build a 300g tank stand when I was down. My back lower discs were messed up and I could not even walk. I almost gave up. After months of physical therapy, its better. I also want to thank you Al for SimplyDiscus.com, Mod/Admin, those who posted progress here, and my friends Al, Derrick, Tan, David, Trung, Kevin, Tony.
Q - If you were to give an aspiring discus keeper one piece of advice, what would it be?
A- - Patience, try not to rush it and finish 1 thing at the time.
- Take time and plan ahead.
- Quarantine and quarantine. It’s very easy to break it but you have to force yourself, no one else. It’s a must to me.
- Be open minded and try it out. Sometimes, we just do it based on what we saw or dream for. Bare bottom is not bad at all. Advices are given on SD to provide discus the best environment as possible. Don’t take it so personal if you are not able to do it. Lot of people as soon as they hear daily water change, they freak out. Best is to give yourself sometime to do lot of water change, then cut back/adjust to discus and your need. They are pets to me, not just fish and they need attention just like having a dog but instead walking, bathing and picking up poop. Discus needs water changes and picking up poop too. This also depends on your goal or how discus look like in your head, but 6.5-7+” discus look really nice.
- I know lot of us jump into this hobby with nice picture of discus tanks in our head and want to follow that or try to make your tank like that. At the beginning, we’re so motivated, we want to do all in one that we're not able to see down the road. Believe me, we are going to hit THAT wall and need to choose between discus, plants, or other fish.
For example, heat treatment will help discus (not all cases), but not plants and/or other tank mates. Or use meds to treat tank with substrate/sand, there is lot of organic built up. Most of medicine label recommended dose not enough or won’t see improvement right away, are you adding more meds or switching to different meds? Bottom line, you have to decide which one you want to save - plants, discus or other tank mates. Please keep in mind, it’s my experience.
- Most of the advices & suggestions on the forum are for the best for keeping discus and having success at getting pretty nice discus. If you don’t feel like following those advices, just ignore them.
Q - How has Simply Discus helped influence you in the hobby?
A - I can’t say enough about SimplyDiscus experts and Mod/Admin. It's an incredible community, with great advices and awesome members. I'm learning a lot from here and still learning. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it well without SimplyDiscus.
MKD stands for Monster Keeps Discus. People/movies usually make fun of monsters which have small brain (knowledge). I did not know anything about discus and that's how I was. If I can do it, everyone can do it.
Q - How did you decide to take the plunge into breeding as a significant part of your fishkeeping?
A – I visit Simplydiscus site everyday to watch the beautiful videos and pictures. I admire those breeders showing off parents & fry. Those fry are so cute. Also discus parenting and fry attaching to parents is so amazing. I wanted it so much and decided to bring it to my home. So I can enjoy, relax and share it with family/friends.
Q - What were the major obstacles involved in setting up as a breeder? Any advice for aspiring breeders?
A – Like most of us, I started in my garage with 6 tanks, then added more and more tanks (sound familiar ?
. There you go - see picture below, that’s what I end up with. Water change was my big problem -, trying to do water changes daily - so I ended up drilling a quick drain and lumping them to central sump. Try to give them your best care, let them do their own things, and you just enjoy the hobby. Don’t give up, again have patience and patience. Figure out the way to perform quick water changes. This will save your energy and you last longer in hobby, and witness more beautiful discus than what have seen in most places. It also helps on those busy, sick, lazy, or vacation days.
Q - Any tips on breeding or raising discus? Tricks or methods you use to encourage pairs to breed?
A – There are great advices here on Simplydiscus on how to encourage a pair to breed. I learned a lot from here on SimplyDiscus so it’s nothing new. Keep reading and reading as much as you can. For me, clean water will help them to breed. Prepare for more tanks
and select your own discus. Two mistakes that I made when raising fry was to overfeed them and switch foods too fast. Try not to over feed them but try to feed them what you can easily clean up with water changes. Give them time to try new food. As long as one of them takes a new food, soon the rest will do the same.
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