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		Louis (Sly)
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		JE: How did you get into discus? Where was the first discus you saw? How long had you been into fish before you took up discus? When did you decide you want to breed them? L: I kept different kind of tropical fishes since I was young but never discus as they are not cheap and we always have the conception of them being expensive and hard to take care of. I got my first few discus 7 years ago when one of our neighbors decided to give up the hobby because he had to take care of his wife who was diagnoised with bone cancer. It was a sad decision for him, but with his wife laying on the sick bed most of the time he had no choice but to give those discus away. We were one of the lucky families that got some of his tanks and beautiful discus. From then on my dad, mom and myself took turns doing w/c and feeding them. We were lucky that time as we had no major illnesses to deal with and the fish remained healthy. It was only during 1998-1999 when I got my own apartment with my wife after our marriage that we decided to get a tank and brought the discus back to my place as my mom was only interested in parrot fish*yikes*. I have to say if it wasn't for my wifes encouragement to take up the hobby again, I would not have done it. Believe it or not when I first had those discus it was a planted tank. Not heavily planted, but with gravel and some plants. I was having a hard time cleaning out my tank as uneaten food were mostly trapped in the gravel and diseases such as gill flukes, ick and more were creating havok in my tank. That was when my wife suggested that I should find out more info about discus on the internet if I want to solve those problems. After visiting most of the discus websites I was more or less enlightened that keeping discus with gravel and plants was not an easy task and immediately removed all the plants and gravel. I cleaned out the whole tank and did a few 100% w/c. Things improved after a week, but by then I had lost a few fish. The more I read about discus, be it books, internet or thru interaction with other hobbyists, the more I get obsessed with their beauty. Soon my home was flooded with more tanks and then the discus started breeding. My first pair was a red german turq with a red spotted green. Although they bred successfully, the male ate the fry due to some disturbance. It was one of the experiences that left me wondering if we should leave the pair alone during spawning and while they were tending to the fry rather than trying to screen the eggs. JE: What were the major obstacles involved in setting up as a breeder? Any advice for aspiring breeders - including any tips, thoughts on making it easier or anything else? L: It's not always rosy but once you get it right including water parameters, tanks set up, and the right pairings you should be able to get started. Breeding discus is no longer a secret. You can get tips everywhere on the internet. Always keep your breeding tanks clean. Scrub them every day if you can. A breeding PVC or brick should be placed at the center of the tank most of the time to allow the pair to choose the right spot no matter which way they are facing. Always make sure you leave enough space for them. If the space is too cramped, the female might not be able to lay the eggs in a proper manner and the male might have problem fertilizing them. JE: How many pairs do you currently have producing? How many tanks? Can you tell us about your hatchery/fishroom set up and design? Any tips for building our own setups? L: Currently I have two breeding pairs which are breeding and producing. The problem with breeding discus and selecting the good ones is that it requires plenty of time and tank space which I am lacking right now. I have 8 tanks, a mixture of 2ft and 3 ft tanks. I might be setting up an overflow system for every tank if I can and also a piping system which enable me to change water for all the tanks at the same time without running with hose all over the house. Roy would be helping me to setup those piping system once my new tanks are up as he's more familiar with these systems. Hopefully I can get another six 3ft tanks up and running in the next month or so. more...

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