It was 1987, and a passion for animals had always run in my blood. The pleasure of caring for and keeping animals began very early, first with dogs, then with birds, budgerigars and canaries. Because of the birds I developed a lung problem, so I had to give up all the breeding of canaries I had, Gloster, Parisian frilled, etc. My parents then decided to buy an aquarium to ease my sadness. I remember a great friend of mine, João Afonso, being the one who helped the most at the beginning of this adventure, fishkeeping. He bred corydoras, guppies, swordtails, mollies, angelfish, etc. and gave the help needed for a good... start! Which fish, what kind of water, temperature, location of the aquarium, filtration, feeding, etc.! This principle is fundamental for anyone starting out. A good start is the beginning of success with Discus!
Among the various shops I visited, I noticed the shopkeepers' lack of knowledge in the face of my countless questions, natural for a beginner. At the time there were few shops and little variety of fish. After finding the shop with the greatest hygiene and the largest number of aquariums and fish, I gained confidence in the seller. One of the stories I remember about deciding which fish to buy is that, among dozens of fish, I discovered the ones I liked the most... the Discus (perhaps because of their colours, because of their curiosity in coming up to me at the aquarium, a sign of health in these fish)! and at the same time a man who, according to the shop's seller, was a vet, standing behind me and listening to my questions, struck up a conversation. According to him, Discus would not be the most suitable fish for a beginner. And according to him, being a vet, his experience with Discus was disastrous; many times he tried and could not keep them alive. Besides being expensive fish, surviving was very complicated...! Perhaps that was the challenge... and when I left the shop I remember making the journey home thinking that Discus would be the fish to put in my first aquarium of one metre twenty. Since then my addiction to these fish has grown. The first breedings appeared with enormous success, the number of fish kept increasing, leading people from various parts of Portugal to visit me. I remember when the internet appeared, taking part in newsgroups, international forums, etc. I started by breeding red and brown fish, but after several years of breeding I think I have bred every colour that exists. The latest were the White Diamond, totally white fish, but the big bet is breeding wild fish and crossing fish from different rivers of the Amazon.
So, from several years of breeding Discus as a hobby, the professional activity as importer and shopkeeper was born. The first shop was born in Cascais, HugoDiscus & Companhia, later giving way to a second shop, Discus World. Since then, thousands of emails have been received to answer questions about Discus, there have been talks at aquarium clubs and exhibitions, participation in World Championships, trips around the world, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, France, USA, etc., always in search of internationally renowned breeders, visiting their facilities and seeking knowledge. After being a breeder, importer and shopkeeper, the time came to fulfil my lifelong dream. Working in Brazil, frequently visiting the Amazon and selecting the best wild fish. A research effort around the native fish of the various Amazonian rivers, their colouration in the different waters, from the different rivers, etc. Something unimaginable on the day I bought my first Discus!! I will reveal many stories in this blog after 20 years of keeping Discus, the Kings of the Aquarium!!
But the question you may immediately ask is... what are Discus, after all?
Well... Round-shaped fish (that is why they are called Discus), they come from the Amazon, from dark, acidic waters. Scientifically known as Symphysodon aequifasciatus, they are spread across the Amazon river, Peru, Colombia and essentially Brazil. They can reach about 24 cm, they are egg-laying fish, where the female lays the eggs and the male fertilises them, and 48 h later fry about 1 mm long are born. Nowadays there are countless colours of discus, all of them having come from the brown wild fish. In the Amazon there are many flowing rivers where each wild fish has its own two characteristics, as I will explain further on, after direct contact on some visits to the heart of the World, in search of these marvellous fish. After several mutations over almost 100 years, various colours appeared through many crossings. Today we find blue, red, yellow, white and brown fish like the originals, etc. From my experience in aquariums, discus can live up to 14 years, the longest time a fish born in my facilities stayed alive, in this case a brown male from Santarém. A fish that, incredible as it may seem, made some trips to be present at national and international aquarium exhibitions.
Discus are extremely sociable fish. What I mean by this is that when they are adapted to the aquarium they come to eat from our hands, even letting themselves be touched. With other fish their sociability also exists, but as they are quite curious fish, they often try to catch smaller fish, such as cardinals. In general they live together with all kinds of Amazonian fish
It was 1987, and a passion for animals had always run in my blood. The pleasure of caring for and keeping animals began very early, first with dogs, then with birds, budgerigars and canaries. Because of the birds I developed a lung problem, so I had to give up all the breeding of canaries I had, Gloster, Parisian frilled, etc. My parents then decided to buy an aquarium to ease my sadness. I remember a great friend of mine, João Afonso, being the one who helped the most at the beginning of this adventure, fishkeeping. He bred corydoras, guppies, swordtails, mollies, angelfish, etc. and gave the help needed for a good... start! Which fish, what kind of water, temperature, location of the aquarium, filtration, feeding, etc.! This principle is fundamental for anyone starting out. A good start is the beginning of success with Discus!
Among the various shops I visited, I noticed the shopkeepers' lack of knowledge in the face of my countless questions, natural for a beginner. At the time there were few shops and little variety of fish. After finding the shop with the greatest hygiene and the largest number of aquariums and fish, I gained confidence in the seller. One of the stories I remember about deciding which fish to buy is that, among dozens of fish, I discovered the ones I liked the most... the Discus (perhaps because of their colours, because of their curiosity in coming up to me at the aquarium, a sign of health in these fish)! and at the same time a man who, according to the shop's seller, was a vet, standing behind me and listening to my questions, struck up a conversation. According to him, Discus would not be the most suitable fish for a beginner. And according to him, being a vet, his experience with Discus was disastrous; many times he tried and could not keep them alive. Besides being expensive fish, surviving was very complicated...! Perhaps that was the challenge... and when I left the shop I remember making the journey home thinking that Discus would be the fish to put in my first aquarium of one metre twenty. Since then my addiction to these fish has grown. The first breedings appeared with enormous success, the number of fish kept increasing, leading people from various parts of Portugal to visit me. I remember when the internet appeared, taking part in newsgroups, international forums, etc. I started by breeding red and brown fish, but after several years of breeding I think I have bred every colour that exists. The latest were the White Diamond, totally white fish, but the big bet is breeding wild fish and crossing fish from different rivers of the Amazon.
So, from several years of breeding Discus as a hobby, the professional activity as importer and shopkeeper was born. The first shop was born in Cascais, HugoDiscus & Companhia, later giving way to a second shop, Discus World. Since then, thousands of emails have been received to answer questions about Discus, there have been talks at aquarium clubs and exhibitions, participation in World Championships, trips around the world, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, France, USA, etc., always in search of internationally renowned breeders, visiting their facilities and seeking knowledge. After being a breeder, importer and shopkeeper, the time came to fulfil my lifelong dream. Working in Brazil, frequently visiting the Amazon and selecting the best wild fish. A research effort around the native fish of the various Amazonian rivers, their colouration in the different waters, from the different rivers, etc. Something unimaginable on the day I bought my first Discus!! I will reveal many stories in this blog after 20 years of keeping Discus, the Kings of the Aquarium!!
