Discus community

[the german]

i'm planing to build a discus breeder community or assosiation here in perth
to share knowledge and maybe to swap fish and just all things around
the king of sweetwater,i thought about meetings every 1 or 2 month or so.
when there is some interest please mail me.my email adress is in my
profile.
Michael

[the german]

no reply after 24 hours.......... :(
im pretty disapointed i must say.
in europe discus community's are big because all the small breeders cant
supply all the pet shops on their own so communitys are the go,
you can give them fish without to import them fro asia
what means you keep a lot of disease and hormone treatments out
of your own world.
what means healthy and good size discus happy clients who come
back to you and and and.........
you guys here cant be that far behind europe.

[fiftycal]

The problem with discus breeding in Aus is that, like most things, they cant compete with asian imports. It costs about $8 per discus to produce, whereas fish shops can buy them for cents from asia.

Sometimes breeders have to take a loss, or not get their fish sold at all, and in some cases its due to the unscrupulous behavior of LFS owners (which stops me from going to a certain shop in Parramatta, Sydney).

Thats why there are so few Aussie breeders nowadays. I would love to buy direct from breeders to support them, but I have looked high and low for breeders in Sydney but have found none (apart from the odd hobbyist). My dad's friend, who used to breed discus on a pretty large scale, has even told me just to buy from the LFS, since all his old breeding friends have quit.

[Proteus]

There is already an Australian Discus Association, although things are a little quiet from those quarters as of late.

[Bill T]

Perhaps we should forget about profit and loss for a while. Let's just breed them for the challenge and fun - not so much an association as a club is called for.

[the german]

Perhaps we should forget about profit and loss for a while. Let's just breed them for the challenge and fun - not so much an association as a club is called for.

My english is not perfect so I use only words like association because that is what I know. I am not even asking to build a structured club. Just for a group of breeders to get together occasionally and swap ideas and knowledge and even fish.

Then when it comes to selling, you can have a variety of fish that have been obtained locally and not had to be brought in from Asia etc. I have much interest from my LFSs to buy from me as they do not like the gamble of importing and they see what they are getting before they get them.

I really hope someone is interested in this idea.

[the german]

ah,proteus,it looks like the ASA is death....
i send two emails to them in the last few weeks and there'
bounced back because there mailbox is full...........
thats pretty sad for a country with lots of discus fans.

[samir]

Perhaps we should forget about profit and loss for a while. Let's just breed them for the challenge and fun - not so much an association as a club is called for.

profit ? at the most they pay for more fish or yet more tanks. I don't think there's many breeders around who would give up their day job.
I don't think there's many on the forum who do it entirely for profit. I for one, do it because I like watching the fry with their parents, when the're about 10cent up. they look awesome. :lol:

[Proteus]

ah,proteus,it looks like the ASA is death....
i send two emails to them in the last few weeks and there'
bounced back because there mailbox is full...........


The email is working perfectly fine from here... ???

[the german]

then i try again............................................

[Proteus]

sales@aquariumsuppliesaustralia.com.au

[DiscusEden]

Is it the Australian Discus Association you're trying to contact? (ADA)

[Proteus]

Actually, that makes sense...

ASA ADA... lol

[the german]

sorry proteus i wrote asa but mean ada this letters are to close together :oops:

[fiftycal]

Perhaps we should forget about profit and loss for a while. Let's just breed them for the challenge and fun - not so much an association as a club is called for.

profit ? at the most they pay for more fish or yet more tanks. I don't think there's many breeders around who would give up their day job.
I don't think there's many on the forum who do it entirely for profit. I for one, do it because I like watching the fry with their parents, when the're about 10cent up. they look awesome. :lol:

The thing is, unless you sell, you are losing quite alot of money.

My dad's friend was once swindled by a LFS owner. It was pretty much either lose all 200 discus, or sell all 200 at $3 each, a loss of $5 per discus. Thats $1000 loss. He was producing 200 a week? month? so unless you can find a decent buyer, you are losing thousands a year.

That and also power and water were costing ALOT of money lol.

[the german]

i think my LFS is ok he told me the margin he have on discus and i think
i can live with that.
i dont think that i can live from the ammount i make on discus but i really
like the fact that my hobby pay for itself because discus are an
expensiv hobby but you guys know that.

[samir]

i've sold about a thousand but I doubt if i made any money. never had a problem with finding buyers. its just not worth the time and effort.

[the german]

i breed discus in germany or 9 years and i sold lots,i never got rich
but it was everytime a good extra income,i never gave up my day job
and i also dont plan to do that here because i have an aquarium maintanence buissnes :D .

[fiftycal]

The problem is with some of the buyers, like the one I have previously mentioned.

The story is, they had made a deal on the phone that he would bring them in and would be paid something like $9 a discus. When he got there, the store owner was like "nah nah these arent like what you described", when in fact they were. The temp of the water was by then 25C, and if he were try to make it home it would have dropped to 21C, and the discus would have died. So the LFS owner said he would give him $3 per discus, and since he had no choice, he had to accept

[the german]

he should transport them in a polystyrene box so the temp.
stays good for up to 24 hours.
i dont make deals on the phone,the LFS owners visit me and then we make the deal and i deliver.
sounds like a drug dealer :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Bill T]

I'm jealous. Just wish I had the time and resources to breed at least once. I have two pairs in a community tank & they both try to breed, but never get there as the other fish eat the fry/eggs.
I don't have a lot of spare time, so I need to design a breeding tank that will take minimal maintenance and attention - am I still on planet earth?

[Merrilyn]

Bill, I have seen discus raise fry in a community tank, but not very often I must admit. It takes a very dedicated parent to be able to protect the eggs and fry from hungry mouths.

Have you given thought to a tank divider? There are some very nice looking perspex ones available with fairly small holes, that will allow the water to circulate, but still keep precious fry safe.

You could section off part of the tank and allow the breeding pair in there, safe from all the other inhabitants of the tank. Might be worth a try.

Send me a PM if you want to give it a try. I've got several dividers at home that I'd be glad to lend you.

[the german]

this dividers work well a saw it a few times,you cant breed first class discus but its a way to enjoy the amazing way of discus development.
i hope thats not to bad english :oops:

[Bill T]

Apart from hungry other fish eating the eggs and fry, the next biggest problem I've had is the fry being sucked up the canister filter intake tube - and I have one at each end of my tank!
So, when I'm ready, I plan to set up my 80ltr. spare tank with the intake tube incorporated into an ug system. Hopepfully this will create a gentle enough intake flow.
Then I have to come up with a quick and easy system for managing those water changes. Probably an 80 ltr. bin with pump & siphon that I can turn off & on. If I include a heater in the bin, then I should be able to do a quick 50% wc., refill with water & age it overnight, ready for the next days wc.
Do you know that some of my friends and associates think I may be developing a serious obsessive problem? I just think they live miserable lives, devoid as they are of discus fish (most don't even have aquarium of any sort!!!!)

[the german]

Well a house is not a home without fur, feathers and scales but the scales rule the house at the mo. I too live with a 'discus fanatic' so I think I must set up some DA meetings for you guys and put you on a 12 step programme...LOL. :lol: :lol: :lol:

the german's wife :whip

[Bill T]

What is that 12 step programme anyway? Some kind of a quarantine procedure for new fish, or what? I certainly hope so, because a number of people on this site seem to have messed up through inadequate quarantine!

[Merrilyn]

You can't pretend you don't know what she's talking about Bill :lol: :lol: :lol:

It's a Discus Anonymous for discus obsessed hobbyists.

Somehow, I think we all might qualify :wink:

Nice to meet you Mrs. German :wave welcome to the forum.

[the german]

thats mr. german and i think i have no problems with discus,
only without :lol: :lol:

hey bill try to put a big sponge arround your tube that should sort that problem and it stops also that all the baby brine shrimp get sucked in your filter what is really bad,the sponge you can clean easy and it has
no influence on you filter bacterias.

[mistakes r crucial]

Interesting comments regarding selling Discus. There are breeders out there that make 5-10 grand a month gross out of selling juves but I think it depends on what ones expectations are per fish are and who you have as contacts. If you want to sell to LFS exclusively and make that sort of money then the best of luck, you'll probably need 30 hours in a day and 10 days in a week. IMO it's very much about thinking outside of the square.
MAC

[the german]

hey mac i live outside the square :D
i have no goal of wich ammount of money i will make with them my goal is to give good strong and parasite free discus to poeple who like them because there a more poeple out there as we think who would like discus
but there are burned because they bougth some from there LFS

[Merrilyn]

I would love to know who out there is making 5 to 10 grand a month gross breeding discus and selling to wholesalers.

You talk about a gross figure Nigel. What's the net figure?

And how can they compete with the cheap imported fish?

[jim from sydney]

M is right......me too......stop stirring guys.

[the german]

compete with cheap import is easyer than most poeple think,we had the same prob. in germany arround 7-8 years ago.
the thing is that cheap stuff whatever it is,has a raeson why it is cheap and when it goes arround discus you find out quick.
it need us a few years but then the german market get back to high quality long live fish.
i personally try everytime to harden my fish up so much as possible,
like no aged water no antibiotics(only in extreme situations)
no water conditioner(is that the right word)
and so on.