Advanced Search

Library > Miscellaneous > Member Spotlight > Ron Menchey
		Ron Menchey
		Page 3 of 3	Pages: 1 . 2 . 3
		JE: After you got in, you said you made some local friends. RM: I think there are 5 of us in the Rochester area, and we swap fish back and forth and hang out some. It's a lot of fun. There are no good local LFS for discus. The closest is in Tanawanda, just outside of Buffalo - but he gets most of his fish from the guys here in Rochester, and I can get them from the source. JE: So the discus fever took over and you started up and you bought how many fish? RM: I started with some Green Diamonds from my friend here in town and ordered some red turqs and pigeon bloods from Mac Discus. I set them up in a 90 gallon. I kept them alive for a year before the bride finally admitted that maybe this time I did know what I was doing. JE: What's your stock like right now? RM: Currently I have 11 tanks totalling 600 gallons. I have 4 breeding tanks set up, but only one pair is doing much. A snakeskin and a red turq. I have some fry from them that I am growing out and they are looking good. I have another 3 pairs that are still trying to get it right. Right now I am keeping red and blue snakeskins, various types of pigeon bloods, red turqs, oriental leopards, blue diamonds, green diamonds, RSGs, Jewel of the Nile and I just got some Red Dolls and Red Melons from Cary. Some of my favorite fish were from Mike Wells. JE: Wow. Which do you like the best? The least? RM: My least favorite are the common browns and plain white fish. I really love the red fish. Spotted reds, bright reds. I really like the Red Dolls and Red Melons - they are going to be great fish. JE: What are your plans for the future? RM: Right now I am really getting into the breeding aspect and hope to improve on my productivity. Though I don't have a clue as to what I would do with all the fry! My original goal was to keep the suckers alive for more than a month - now I want to breed them. I like to cross the strains and grow them up to see how they turn out. That will be a lot of fun. I have cleared a place in the basement, so I have room to set up a fishroom. I am thinking about setting up an automatic drip system for my tanks. But I want it to stay a hobby and not be like a job. Right now it only takes me about an hour to do my fish chores in the morning. I wipe down and change water on half my tanks each day, to rotate the work. I use a pump to drain and fill the tanks, so it's fairly easy. I do have 4 55 gallon tanks I haven't used yet! JE: Sounds like you have a lot of plans. Just for comparison sake, what are your parameters and what are you feeding your fish at the moment? RM: The water straight from the tap is 7.2 after aging, so I don't play with that. The conductivity is 150-200 ms. I do sometimes use RO water for my breeders to encourage them, but my first pair does fine with regular tap water and has bred in it - in fact my friend from down the road who has a ton of breeding pairs now just uses tap water for all his fish. They breed fine. I'm feeding blackworms, they are a great food! I also just got whiteworms and I'm going to try to culture them. I give some frozen bloodworms. And a lot of really good flake foods. I used to make my own beefheart, but now I just buy it from Fish King. I've been lucky and other than some fungus and a few gill fluke problems, my fish have been very healthy. JE: Do you have any suggestions for fellow hobbyists or for the people on the board? RM: I'd like to see a chatroom on the forum. It would be a lot of fun and people can talk live. That would be my one suggestion. It's a great board. As for in general, there are a few basics: Don't get discouraged. Problems happen, but if you research and work hard at them, you'll overcome them. Ask LOTS of questions. People get intimidated but they shouldn't. There's always someone willing to help. Buy the books and surf the sites. You will be okay. JE: Any credit you would like to give to people for helping you along the way? RM: Jim Quarles was a HUGE help to me. I know he could be gruff online, but he would call me up from time to time to see how I was doing. He was incredibly helpful and really knew a lot about discus. I also always try to find time to sneak away to see David Webber whenever we are in NY City to visit our daughter. He has a lot of knowledge and is always ready to help. He also has some domestic Red Checkerboards I have my eye on! Of course I have to sincerely thank Glenn Wachter, Gary McCarthy, Mike Wells and Cary Strong for all their help, advice and fish! I also really enjoy talking to April, she's great. I'm going to meet a bunch more people in Atlanta this summer. I really want to meet Karen, aka RED. We've talked a lot and it would be fun to meet her. Most importantly, I want to thank my bride of almost 32 years, Mary, who is my partner in everything we do. She puts up with all my hobbies, wet floors, weekend road trips with my discus buds, constant upgrading of cars, computers, fish stuff and all of my other faults, which aren't too many! JE: Other than discus, you have mentioned that you enjoy dogs and cars, what can you tell us about them? RM: We love Rotties. As I mentioned, we lost the big guy a bit over a month back, he was 10 years old and had cancer. We have the one 3 year old female now. We will probably get another one when the mourning period is over. I kept cockatoos for 10 years until the bride came down with an allergy to their dander. I've been into the cars since I was in high school - we have been members of the Rochester Streetrods Club for years. I spend most of my weekends working on them and going to shows in the summer. Speaking of which, it's about time to start cleaning them and getting them ready for the shows. JE: Ron, thank you for all this information. We're all glad you're enjoying the board - it's great having you around. Now remember, you promised to come up with some digital pics to send to Al so we can post them along with this story! RM: I have the camera and will get you some pictures soon. Thanks for interviewing me. I think it's a great idea and I'm looking forward to reading about OTHER people!

	About Us :: Message Board :: Chat
	Library :: Photo Gallery :: Links & Resources :: Breeders & Sponsors :: Merchandise
	Website designed by: EthanCote.com		© 2001-2004, SimplyDiscus.com. All Rights Reserved.