and 6 field trips coming up…), lectures &seminars (so far only 22 this year and 26 coming up), fairs & exhibitions (only 4 so far and 6 coming up) and championships (only 4 this year, but 3 more coming up), at the championships I participated and judged, at the biotopes I decorated, one can (or might) understand a little of my heavy schedule and work-load this year – and it seem that it is getting more and more all the time. People want more and more from me. And I must say:I do not complain, no actually this makes me feel very happy when people keep asking me (on about 30 international websites and by hundreds of e-mail requests, mainly for authentic biotopes – each week), but as mentioned, there are only 24 hours and I must earn some money too – like writing articles to editors that pay. Have a look at:
http://www.aquapress-bleher.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=49…
Fortunately there are still people reading (which seems not to be the greatest Italian pass-time…), although again great aquarium magazines have stopped, two in Italy (one was the oldest), the French aquarium magazine all in Spain, except for one, and it does not look to good for some of the (many) German editions…
But talking about biotopes, it is unbelievable even for me, how many people around the world are getting more and more into this thing I started a few years ago: Bleher’s authentic biotopes. I am sure most of you have seen what I have done also recently, 9 large biotopes with almost 10,000 litres decorated in only two days at Interzoo 2008. You have some photos of DavideGasparifrom my Interzoo-biotopes on your site, but maybe you want to look at my site under BLEHER’S BIOTOPES the Italian version is:
http://www.aquapress-bleher.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=251&Itemid=1there you can see the photo I took in nature above water from the biotope I show on the next page underwater, I copied the place from my memory and notes the same place underwater, and decorated accordingly. You can find also a full description of each one of the 9 biotopes. (As Davide did not write anything below his photos…)
If one goes under
www.yahoo.com or
www.google.com and writes in bleher’s biotopes you will see how many thousands of sites are talking about it. And naturally, the aquarium of the month of GiulianoMastrolilli, which is very nice (although it is not for wild discus, still beautiful and I believe that the hybrids will also like it), is also such a “biotope”... I can also see on this discuspassion site that Patrizia has inaugurated the great event of thephotography-contest and I want to see (and judge) the best biotopes for wild discus (and there will be lots of fantastic prizes). Lets see what you all are up to and if you are really nature-freaks (as me…).
Also I like to mention the fact that while so many keep me busy I cannot find the time to really finish my next book, volume 2, everyone is waiting for (there is not a single person in the world who bought volume 1, which is not waiting for volume 2…). I am writing for
www.discuspassion.net… instead… (a joke). In any case, there is the old saying: “Everything is good for something”. For me it is good (and for all the readers worldwide), because Mr. Bernd Degenthought he can do better and just came out with a German book called Das Grosse DiskusBuch, were he copied all titles of my second volume (they are mentioned in the first volume). The good thing is: he did not have, nor knows anything about my texts and does not have my photos, figures only I have from the very begin. I feel sorry for him, because him trying to copy me is so far off, as probably the Earth is from Planet Pluto. Degen was a cook-book writer, and now writes for bicycle magazines, so his discus-knowledge cannot by nature be very much (although he claims). In Poland I had a nice German fellow coming to my stand and telling me: “You know what I told Degen”? I said “no”, and he went on “I asked him if he has a lot of pain in his left shoulder?” and Degen replied “why”, and the German discus breeder answered “because you keep patting your shoulder continuously…”.Degen now, with his new book to compete with mine has ended upproducinga very (very) cheap fake copy (even the cover material and the size is almost same as my volume 1). In it one can find so many errors (which I will write up soon in detail) that it is hard to believe. To print with today’s knowledge such nonsense is hard to believe. And I am amazed Dieter Untergasser wrote a chapter for it (maybe the only one that makes sense). I have never seen a discus book with so many wrong statements (and the classification is the one from 1960…) as this one. To me it is the definite worst book Bede has ever produced. And he wants to bring it out also in English…
Now, I must also mention and answer finally the question Patrizia made, in regards to the next “Passione Discus” event at lovely Villa Bottaro atSilvanod’Orba (I guess) of which also Dott. Mosconi wrote a nice article on this site covering the great 2007 event. First I want to metion a few of my engagements coming up:I have 3 lectures in Canada next week, meeting at the ASIH (American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists) in Montreal, than two Amazon expeditions in August (still no italians coming with me…where are they?), back in Italy I must prepare a presentation to the Amazonian government about Amazonia which takes place on September 11th (this for me is a very big honour, that the Brazilian government wants me to talk to all of their authorities about Amazonia…), immediately after that on September 14th I fly to Ethiopia to collect fishes and participate on the Pan-African Fish Congress in Addis Ababa from 23rd to 27th of September (were I present another paper), from where I fly back to Milan to go to Germany for the 7th International discus Championships with also 4 lectures. The following weekend I am invited for the UK Discus championships and lectures, followed by – please look at my website:
http://www.aquapress-bleher.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=49under PRESENT, and you will see, that the only days I could come again to the Passion Discus day and show you the best of my new Amazon expeditions of this year (and the discoveries) is on November 1 or 2, coming back from Bulgaria.
Besides all of this I must move to our new house in this period. I found my dream-house in the only “jungle” of the Lombardia left, not far from were I am now, and it is totally isolated next to a river with a waterfall. The house was built in 1884 and now we restoring it and hopefully we can move September/October… in between my many trips.
So please let me know as soon as possible what Discuspassion.net is up to if another event this year and when, or not.
Now to Lesson number 11:
I had promised to talk about what is being done wrong with wilds in Italy, Europe and the world and I want give avery important advice again (as I mentioned some of it earlier):
1. I think by now everyone knows, that there are 3 discus species living in nature: Heckel-discus (S. discus), the green discus (S. aequifasciatus) and the brown/blue discus (S. haraldi) and each one of the 3 species lives in different water habitats/parameters, this is very well demonstrated in my Bleher’s Discus book Volume 1 (and people should read).
2. The fact, of the 3 living in nature each in a different chemical water parameter, proves that the wild fishes have adapted during evolution to such an environment. And it means they need (require) it. (Actually I will talk about this during my lecture in Montreal, and some scientists already say now – after my discovery – that the chemical water parameters and the habitat can help to identify species, a total new approach for species-taxonomy worldwide, something no one had ever looked into before.) All I want to say and advice you all very strongly:
– keepHeckel-discus ONLY with wild Heckel-discus (if you breed them, naturally you can keep the offspring together with them);
– keep green discus ONLY with wild green discus and the offspring if you want naturally also, but do not mix them with other species nor with hybrids;
– keep brown and blue discus together if you want but do NEVER mix those wilds with anyone of the two species the above.
Now, you can, if you really insist place the latter (browns and blues) together with tank breed discus, simply because most of the so called hybrids come all from this species (S. haraldi) and very rarely from one of the other two species. But naturally I do not recommend it. The danger of infections, the danger of contamination with parasites, bacteria’s, etc. is much higher by mixing anyone of the 3 wild species, than if you keep them separate. And it is a simple question to answer: were they live in nature (in their parameters), they have their own bacteria’s, etc. which they have been grown up with, which they can live with, which their immune system can cope with very well. But this (bacterial, parasitic) community is totally different from one species habitat to the next species habitat. Therefore please remember that. The best way to compare: Amazon Indian’s have lived for millenniums isolated and flourished, their immune system was adequate to their environment. When the first white man arrived there were about 6 million Indians in Amazonia living well (little over 500 years ago). With the white man his own bacteria’s, parasites, virus’, etc. and the Indians started to die like fly’s. Their immune system through the millenniums never had to confront those different bacteria’s, virus’s, etc. In a few hundred years they reduced to hardly 100,000 today. The very same is the case with your discus. Please remember that.
Naturally, I have also mentioned in my lessons, it is very important to know where your wilds come from. That is, who imported them, acclimatized them, etc. If the importer mixed the species already, you might have a problem. So be very careful and check your source.
Always
