1) What made you to get into  Discuss Keeping and selling? How many years have you spend in this Trade? Talk about your Journey.

 

In the early 90s discus keeping was considered to be a very difficult or almost an impossible task.

I began considering keeping discus because it fascinated me. I decided to take up the task of keeping the king of aquarium. There were not many discus varieties at that time. Only brown discus and blue turquoise were available. Later came the powder blue and then the blue diamond.  With some experience of breeding other fish since 1983 or 1984, I decided that this was the fish for me. I had many failures and lost money. I got frustrated but kept going because of its beauty and what I loved the most was that they would come and feed from my hand after they began to recognised me as their feeder.

 

2) Challenges faced for Discuss Keeping? How did you overcome it?

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I never knew their diseases but found out that they were prone to diseases quickly and I did not know how to treat them. There was no internet or computer. Getting a telephone was a luxury at that time.

Books and magazines like Tropical Fish Hobbyist were available. Jack Watley the pioneer of discus refused to help me out. Malaysia and Singapore were also in developing stages. I travelled to these countries and met Gan aquarium who were the kings of discus. We became friends and till today we are friends

 

4) What variety of Discuss you have? essentials of Healthy discuss keeping?

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He gave me some hints. He also introduced me to beefheart. I stopped feeding tubifex worms and started beefheart. There were no bloodworms at that time. I attended Aquaramas in Singapore and attended discus workshops. I used to buy Chinese sachets and then Befuran to treat diseases These medicines worked well on discus plague and some internal bacterial problems. Hexamita was treated with flagyl.I got some blue turquoise 2.5 inch  discus from Germany and grew them up to full size and this way I learnt how to keep discus. Then they paired up and I isolated them to  a 2 ft tank and they started breeding. I got their fry and saw how they started eating slime from the parents bodies. This way I went on to breed many strains. Then during my next visit to Germany I met a friend and he took me to discus breeders in Germany and I bought Eruption discus 2.5 inch and Blue diamonds. My wife and I worked for more than a year and grew them up disease free. They paired and started breeding.. Now I am breeding Eruptions, Blue diamonds, Yellow, Snow white . In future Red melons and many other varieties. 

 

5) What according to you  is a good Food for Discuss (Mix of essential food)? 

 

I feed my discus a mix of beefheart, spirulina and other items. At the time of feeding I give them fresh garlic.

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6) Your valuable Advice to Young breeders?

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Last but not the least my hats off to our Indian discus breeders who are doing a very good job of breeding discus in quantities. However, we have very few good strains and  I find an urgent need for us to have good quality of strains. I wish all our discus breeders and keepers the best.