What got you into this Hobby

[chris]

Im just woundering what drove everyone on this site to appreciate the grace and beauty of the discus fish.

I Kept fish for years as a Junior just guppys etc.
Had a lot of fish keeping years off due to playing football cricket all that sort of stuff.
Ive nearly finished playing football, a few years ago I decided to fire one of old tanks up. I walked into my LFS noticed in his display tank these awesome gracefull discus fish and have been hooked ever since and havent stopped.
I plan to play golf and stuff around with Discus for a long time now.

Thats my story whats yours

[leanne31]

I myself have kept just normal tropicals since I was about 17 had a break for a while I had a couple of children well 4 actually and then someone gave me a baby turtle well I got him a 2ft which he outgrew so I gave him a 4ft which he stayed in for about 2 yrs. I actually out grew him myself as turtles are really dirty (if you think discus have big poos u should see a turtles) and I eventually sold him to a pet shop. I ended up getting some tropical fish like angels and tetras etc and then my sister also got into fish she bought a couple of discus and I knew that that was what I wanted to have and I love them some days I just drive around all day looking at the fish in the lfs the end :lol:

Leanne

Ps chris i sent you a pm

[goldenpigeon]

i started breeding and hand-raising cockatiels since i was about 9. did that for a couple of years until recently when i sold most of them and up graded to more exotic birds. during this time my brother had a couple of gouramis and angles ect. and i kind of enjoyed them when i had nothin else to do. i often said to him how could you possibly like something that doesnt do anything? you dont pat it, it isnt affectionate, it cant do tricks, it is nothing compared to a bird, cat, dog, sheep, horse, blue-tonge, hermit crab (i have all of these at pressent except the hermits and sheep, but i used to have them). i thought fish were a total waste of time until the day i was at my friends pet shop and he had shown my brother the round fish with striking colours. my brother ended up buying 2 discus and i started enjoying them allot more. i even cleaned his tank for him when he was at his friends place for the week end! HOW LOW CAN I GO!!!! (he is a bit slack when it comes to tank maintanence!)

i gathered info on discus and was tricked when most of my info saidthat they are really hard to keep and are for experienced aquariusts only. so i started on the quest of gathering experience with guppies and after about 4 months came accross a guy selling discus for $10 ea. i thought this would be a good starting point on discus so i bought a couple. i experience some large losses during my first year of discus (im in my 3rd) and since then gotten a six ft tank, gotten discus from turks to white butterfly's and not lost a discus in over 1 and 1/2 years and breeding them!

sorry if i bored every1 with my whole birds and past and present pets thing just thought some pet enthousiests (hope i got that right) might like to know what i have :D :roll:

[leanne31]

wow david and if im right your only 14 my son turns 14 in june and all he has is a cat. How do u afford it. :lol:

Leanne

[chris]

There both cools storys Dave and leanne.
Never thought about that Dave they dont crave our attention you cant pat them but we are all fascinated.

[goldenpigeon]

yes i am 14 leanne 8-) i am not really in charge of the cats and dogs althoagh i have a poodle :D (2 dogs 2 cats). they get allot of fresh meat ect. and i have my sources for that. i am well known at the pet shop i go to so i get discounts (horse, blue-tongue and bird food + we buy it all in bulk so i ends up allot cheaper. as for fish my pals at G&S get me that 1 + i get a 10% discount on most things (for bein a DF.com member). i have my things set up in the simplest form so it it less maintanence (the horse lives on my property (1 and a bit acres) so there is no cost for space for him). also i can feed my birds allot of things produced in my backyard eg. thistles, grass, fruit ect.

so in the end it isnt to bad. for me it is about the pleasures i get from them. i hate people who want pets but only want to give them the bare essentials. :evil: i also get money from breedin them and all :D

[DiscusMad]

the need of some new dinner plates

[the_oracle]

I first started this hobby just to entertain my daughter, cause she liked looking at fishes swimming in aquariums at LFS. My first tank consisted of a few varieties of fish but once I got my first discus, Wooooooo, I go crazy with them. And now, after almost 10 years, I can't think of anything that will ever stop me from keeping discus.....................
Happy Discus Keeping Everybody...............


Regards,
Sanie.

[goldenpigeon]

kool sanie

[chris]

Great stories people lets here somemore :P

[Proteus]

What got me into the hobby of keeping fish in general...

At first it was a life threatening incident approx 15+ yrs ago which had me stuck at home for months, so I needed a hobby which didnt invlove much work (how wrong I was at first)... to be honest I had no idea, I had a tank of 6 Altum Angels and a Male Betta...

They actually lasted quite some time, the angels actually bred although only a few lasted from each batch...

I have always had a tank with something in it, but for a few years I sort of lost interest (thankfully I just had hardy Mollies which didnt mind the neglect and kept breeding - thats where my old name MollyMan came from).

Then I got back into fish in a big way when I was suffering a major case of depression, and I attribute the fish to picking me back up again... then, it has been madness ever since.

Discus came into the picture approx 2-3yrs ago... yeehaa

[goldenpigeon]

lol good to hear proteus!!! i use fish in the same way (i dont think i have depression thoagh) LOL

[Proteus]

Fish are very relaxing, and in many ways theraputic...

heck, after a mad day at work, or not at work, I truely enjoy just kicking back and watching the fish, and honestly, as they watch me, they must think, 'what is this guy staring at....' lol

[goldenpigeon]

LOL i recon!!! :lol:

geez they probably think we have nothing better to do than feed them and give them a dtare out!! :lol: fish are very thereaputic thats why i bought a 6ft tank instead of a bowl so i can relax more! :lol: LOL

[chris]

Well Said proteus and David couldnt agree more

after a mad day at work, or not at work, I truely enjoy just kicking back and watching the fish, and honestly, as they watch me, they must think, 'what is this guy staring at....' lol

[goldenpigeon]

yer i recon LOL :)

[Ben]

its great hearing the other stories!
here is mine.......

When i was 14 (13 years ago) i started working in a aquarium fish hatchery in Seville, Melbourne. It started out supplying Aquarium Industires when it was in preston as a wholesaler but also became a retalier ( The hatcher has been closed for a few years now and A.I. is now in Epping) There were over 200 tanks in a large heated shed, it was great working there. I started out working after school and on the weekends but after a few months i dropped out of high school and worked there full time.
I was getting paid 5 bucks per hour and every cent was spent on the hobby! :lol:
At 14 years old i had some of the best collection of Australian and New guinea rainbow fish.
I was also breeding at the time Royal whiptails, lake eacham rainbow fish, killi fish and heaps of others.
My parents were not inpressed every quater when they got an electitiy bill!
I would love every thursday as this was the day the boss and myself would go down to the wholsaler and sell what was bred and raised plus fish that were bought for retail. I was able to hand pick fish that were straight from quarantine and would pick up some great purchases!
Its funny how different sorts of fish come and go.
I have not seen paradise fish for quite a while and the small cold water medakas are quite rare too.
Any how I picked up some brown discus, 4 in total and grew them to a nice size. But! due to a stupid mistake i killed them all!
It was great working at the hatchery, i learnt so many different things!
Back then it was a HUGE secret decapsulating brine shrimp but now you can buy it already done!
a year later i got offered a job as an apprecence chef, working 15 hours a day and partying did not work with keeping fish so i sold up.
In the last Couple of years i have gotten back into it and its great!
Even though my wife fights for attention over the fish!
such is life...

[goldenpigeon]

how would you feel!!!!! id hate to be your wife!!! luckily i will never have to be anybodies wife unless i have some misterious sex change LOL :) if i was her i would probably get the old rat poison out of the cupboard and settle it! na kiddin thats mean I WOULD NEVER DO THAT!!!

[Merrilyn]

Proteus, you actually bred your altums :shock: Cool 8-) I am so impressed.

Okay, well I can't remember a time when I didn't have some fishy pets in the house. Started with a second hand fish tank, and a pair of guppies. Ended up with a lot of guppies. Added a pair of angels - a lot less guppies LOL. When I got married, my husband bought me my first pair of discus and a 6 foot tank. That pair lived happily in their tank for the next 8 years, till we moved to the country and I sold them.

Most of my time in the country was taken up with raising 3 children, arab horses, breeding princess parrots and showing my dogs. Fish took a back seat, but there was always at least one tank in the house.

Back to Melbourne, and the house slowly became over run with tanks. So my dear husband built me a fish room at the side of the house. I don't want to count how many tanks I have now. I think it's best I don't know. Let's just say, it's quite a few. One marine tank, two guppy tanks, a lot of discus tanks and an unknown number of betta (siamese fighting fish) tanks. And still there is no end in sight :lol:

[Benno]

Well i got my first tank for my 11th birthday. Im almost 18 now, well 3 days actually lol. At one stage when i was about 14 i had 6 tanks goin i was right into breeding american cichlids. But then the parents split up and we had to move to a smaller house where i could only have 2 tanks. But now im on a house where i can have 3 so im happier now. But the reason i got into fish was when i used to hear storeis about my Pops tanks he has, then he started taking me to the aquariums shops and it kicked off from there. And to this day i still havent changed my opinion on them. I actually fiond that i love and appreciate them more every day. Benno

[chris]

Another top story, makes mine sound average, I should of made up something :P
Ive got big plans though, dont worry about that. :wink:

[leanne31]

Going on what proteus said about the fish relaxing and destressing him I bought my tank for the same reason as raising 3 boys aged nearly 2, 9 and 13 and my daughter aged 6 can get pretty stressful but having the tank and finding this great forum has actually bought on a few more problems, the partner, he thinks all day that I'm either looking at my fish or on this forum (hes right) and he cracks it a little bit but oh well like I tell him dont make me choose ha ha :lol: :lol:

leanne

[goldenpigeon]

hehehe nice stories. leanne you should have a talk to my mum 6 CHILDREN!! aged from smallest to biggest: 6, 7, 9 (nearly 10), 12, 14 ME!!! :), and 16. 2 girls 4 boys, a girl at either end and the boys in the middle.

kool merrilyn! i think my horse is an arab, what kind of dogs did you show? you have the KOOLEST husband!!!! making you a fishroom and haveing all those tanks. my mum wants me to move into the shed with my tanks! BUT YOU STILL HAVE A BED!!! AND ALL YOUR TANKS!!!:( lol

i was like you benno a short time ago. i had many tanks then my parents split up and now i also have 2 homes (lucky i still have my original home :) ) at least i have my 6ft and my breeder tank.

kool stories guys! luv 'em keep 'em comming!

[Kaza]

Well I had a tank years ago but got rid of it because the fish kept dieing (mind you I never checked the water parameters). Then I saw Leannes 4 foot tank and though it would be relaxing to have another tank. I wanted a tank which would look stunning, so have a rock background and beautifull cabinet. Discus just seemed to be the kind of fish which go in stunning tanks. They look so gracefull. Of course from there they wanted to breed (more tanks) and so on and so on. Now I have nine tanks and with full time uni, the kids etc life is pretty hetic.

[goldenpigeon]

good story kaza. did you get into discus before leanne?

[leanne31]

Karen did get her discus fish first but I had said for a long time that I was going to get some so her coming around and seeing my tank that day has ended up costing her thousands of dollars on fish and tanks as she has got nine tanks now ha.

Leanne

[goldenpigeon]

LOL just wondering were u 2 the type that would fight eachother when you were kids?

[Kaza]

Hey there was no fighting going on, I am ten years older, so it was no fun fighting with her, I always won.
But she's smart, as she said I have paided out over $7000 on tanks and fish whilst she just sit backs and waits for the babies.

[Ben]

Great to hear peoples stories! :D
Chris Your story is great! we all need to start some where! Give it time and you will be telling us that you have more tanks than digits on your hands! 8-)

Its also wonderful that 2 sisters share the same hobby, you would be able to swap ideas and thoughts even fish! :wink:

Even you juinor! (goldenpigeon) its great that you are getting into the world of tropical fish! but dont forget to save some $$$ , maybe for a car when you turn 18 or even a deposit on a house, maybe your very own aquarium shop! :P

Ben

[goldenpigeon]

i have plans dont worry ben. is my new name JUNIOR? kool i like it. every1 i have changed my name, now i will be refered to as junior :) do you think im trying to spend big $$$$ ben? LOL if you are talking about all the other posts about the bristlenoses and discus HEHE it has just been my birthday a couple of weeks ago. i find it a bit hard because nobody wants to ship to me as most fish sales are in melbourne and many of the members of this forum live there so it is much more convienient to sell locally instead of shiping.

i intend to own an aquarium or pet shop.

[Ben]

Junior, you should jump on the train and go down to bris vegas and see rod lewis, could pick up some nice discus there and you will be able to see them with your own eyes in the flesh!
only a 2 hour train ride each way!

Ben

[goldenpigeon]

i have already gone to see rods fish and bought some. THEY ARE BEUTTIES!!!! i dont think it took that long by car thoagh.

isnt brisvegas up from me? LOL

i plan to buy more from him if i ever get up there again.

[wild_amazon]

I always have fish from very young age on and off. I stopped completely when I went to Uni and started keeping discus after I got married 16 years ago. Even managed to get 2 wild heckels back then. I remembered that getting wild discus wasn't a lot more difficult than getting good tank bred. My LFS imported good fish quite regularly. After about 3 - 4 years I had few pairs and one pair in particular bred almost every couple of weeks. But from all those fry (must be thousands) I only managed to raised 1 fish!! Yes only one. Some survived for few days, some until 1 cm. Then we moved house and have children(2) and I sold all my discus. Few years ago I started keeping fish again ie Tanganyikan cichlids like tropheus etc. I have sold them and now only have peppermint plecos ( I breed them) and other small fish.
Now I am going to keep discus again. I will take time to acquire them because I only want to keep good quality discus ie nice round shape and preferably wild strains. I only plan to get 6 good adult discus and like to breed them again. I have unfinished business with raisng discus fry.
Hopefully I get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

[kalebjarrod]

i always keep fish as long as i can remember, a little 2fter, going to the LFS for a new corner filter

changing the water once a month and wondering why fish died!

then on day when i was 13-14 i was walking inbetween streets through a alley and there was a new shop,

it had a 8ft x 2ft x 2ft wooden stand, stacks of driftwood, thin val, 50 cardinals and about 20 Red Turqs

the most beutiful thing i ever saw

i said i would have one of those one day, still trying but getting closer

These days i use fish to lose myself from my work, otherwise i will be a dead man to quick :wink:

[goldenpigeon]

nice!

[chris]

Very interesting stories people, please add more its pleasing to here all these unique stories keep it up. :wink: :arrow:

[goldenpigeon]

you know prodigy i always wanted to be a chef. i can already cook some pretty kool stuff like toast and baked beans but i would like to broaden the horizens (spelling). i was hopping you could help me?

i am not that bad a cook actually

[goldenpigeon]

have we got anymore stoies ppl? this is great hearing about everybodies past with fish.

keep em commin

[chris]

Any more stories,
theres a few new ones to this forum, whats your story :?:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Proteus]

Time to bump this up a bit... so what got you into this madness?

[ILLUSN]

I say its genetic, dads bred discus since before i was born and back in malaysia his dad bred Betta's

[Davo]

When I was about 14 myself and 2 mates bought a 3ft tank each and raised gouramis, swords etc. Obviously a couple of years later other females demanded attention and the poor fish suffered.

In 2002 when I allegedly turned 35 I went to a pet shop in Crows Nest for a work related incident and low and behold I was hooked again. 4 weeks later I had bought a 4x2x2 tank and was on my way.

I now have a planted tank with CO2 and 7 x discus and am currently setting up a 300 lt tank for Geos. If I had more rooms I would have more tanks.

The GF thinks I am obsessed. I think she is right.

Dave.

[ILLUSN]

Dave, your not obsesed mate, your tank is a credit to you it always looks good.

[Tommo]

My Dad Had Always Kept Fish Since I Can Remember, I Asked For A Fish Tank, When I Was About 10 Years Old . His Answer “Was Go And Get A Paper Round Son, And Buy One” I Saved Up Some Money And Bought A 2x14x14 Second Hand Of Course, And Save Up For A Heater, The First Heater That I Could Afford Was A 12Volt 100w Heater Second Hand . It Ran Off A Old Power Supply That My Dad Had"Tight Old Bugger Would Even Give Me A Heater LoL" ,So I Started Keeping Guppies And Sword Tails. Then We Kept Getting More Tanks And More Fish&Plants .When I Was 24 My Parents Retired In Tassie, I Was Renting And Had No Space For Any Tanks. So They All Got Thrown Away I Think 42 In Total. After About A Year ,Living With My Wife We Went To A Pet Shop And Bought Some Turtles,We Kept These For 6 Or 7 Years Until A Month Ago When I Got Rid Of Them And I Have Set The Tank Back Up For Discus.”I Think She Is A Little Worried Because Well More Tanks Are Coming LOL,Thanks To Someone On The Forum”.

Cheers Andrew

[valkyrie]

Hi All,

I got into discus by accident. I have been keeping tropical fish on and off for about 25 years and about 10 years ago a friend of a friend was getting rid of her fish and asked me if I would take on her 2 discus as they needed someone with experience (HA HA).

They were 2 little pidgen bloods about 8 months old. Fortunately for the discus the fish I was keeping at the time required similar water conditions as I had not even looked at a discus before let alone kept one.

So after receiving these two fish I decided to do some research and after alot of reading and asking question thought OMG. What have a got myself into. Now I have 3 tanks, 2 of which are dedicated to discus and the other is a community tank (Which also has discus in it).

Oh and the two pidgen bloods are still with me. They are about 11 years old now.

Cheers