About Us - Discus Fish Breeders
Rainforest Farms International operates 230 aquariums (fifty 55-gal., 110 29-gal., forty 15-gal., two 220-gal., twelve 125-gal., four 150-gal., twelve 75-gal., one 18'x11'x3' pond, and one 8'x8'x27" pond).
There are a total of nine different central filtration units that I operate. With well over a twenty five hundred feet of pvc pipe conecting all of the tanks it looks like a science exhibit...Each unit consists of 3/4" bulkheads on each aquarium, which drains into a central 100-gallon vat; water is pumped out of the vat via a 1/2 h.p. pump pushed through a 20 micron filter , fluidized bed sand filter, 120 watt U.V. sterilizer and finally back to the aquarium through a 3/4" valve. For safety reasons (disease, failures etc.) I chose to go with the nine units instead of one big unit. I also have a backup 6000-watt generator on standby for power failures. I currently have 100 breeding pairs of discus producing fry on a regular basis with 300 adult or sub-adult discus on hand for future breeding stock. Breeding stock has been obtained from some of the best breeders in the world as well as transshipments out of Brazil and of course generous donations from friends and colleagues. I have been breeding Discus now for twenty years and have developed various color morphs, which have proven to be very robust, beautiful and breed true. Solid yellow discus - Lemon peel Alenquer, Snakeskins, Tefe X Red Dragon,Marlboro XLeopard, Solid Reds, Red royals, Opal turquoise to name a few of my Genetic creations.
Breeding discus has not always come easy to me when I first started out I had a male cobalt and a female solid turquoise in a 55 gallon community tank... well it turned out that my two discus were a "pair" spawning weekly and enjoying every last bit of caviar, I attributed this behavior to an immature pair and hoped that they would eventually cease this destructive behavior... well after watching over a thousand eggs get eaten I decided to screen off the spawn so the babies could hatch out and the pair would be more bonded with them. Instead of "bonding" my "pair" decided they liked anchovies even better than caviar! So much for my first breeding attempt. I eventually ordered in six young 2" discus and came up with three pairs that turned out to be great parents... and the rest is history. The importance of this lesson is that you can have a fertile female and a fertile male but you don't have a true "pair" unless they are willing (genetics?) to raise their own young. And to artificially raise them will not allow you to select for good breeding genetics, also the purpose in me originally setting out to breed discus was a challenge and to artificially rear discus would have meant meeting only half of the goal.
Discus are the main focus of my hatchery, but I also breed different species of Rainbow fish, Tetras, Catfish,Angelfish and numerous other species of fish and some reptiles, such as geckos and tortoises.
If you have questions concerning any animal or plant matters send them my way and I will answer them if possible or I'll get one of my colleagues to do so.
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