The essentials: Name of company, name of particular breader, Address,
Phone, FAX, E-Mail, WWW site.
April's Healthy Hatchery
Owners/Breeders- Jayme and April Volz
World Class Discus
12221 54th st. north .
Royal Palm Beach, Florida 33411
Ph# (561) 792-1164
email1: jaymev@prodigy.com
email2: jrv@one.net
Web Site: http://pages.prodigy.com/discus/home.html
How many years have you been breeding Discus professionally, and how
many years as a hobbyist?
9 years of tropical fish keeping and breeding
2 1/2 yrs breeding discus only
How long have you been in business?
2 years
Do you specialize in any particular strains?
Not really. Currently 10/96 we are working with some wild/domestic
crosses and pigeon blood strains. Still waiting for some wild discus to
pair wild/wild.
What strains are currently available? Available in the upcoming months?
10/96:
Do you have any sales on particular strains of discus?
Not at this time.
Do you sell fish other than discus? What?
No
Are color photographs available either on the Net, snail mail, catalog?
Yes. No catalog.
Are the photographs, etc, free? If not, how much do they cost?
Send SASE for photos.
Have there been any reviews in trade journals of your fish?
Not to our knowledge
How many customers do you have?
Over 100
Can you provide a list of satisfied customers? E-mail addresses?
Yes
How many discus do you produce per year?
96 estimate 2,500
Do you make any effort to learn how your fish do in their new homes?
Yes. We always make 2 follow-up contacts
Do you take Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover? Check? First
born?
Personal Checks, Money Orders,Certified Check or Wired Funds
Do you sell to hobbyists, or do you strictly sell to Dealers only?
Hobbiest only
Is there a minimum order in # of fish or total amount? What are they?
6 fish minimum
Do you have a guarantee? If so, what is the exact guarantee.
Yes. Guarenteed live delivery. Guarenteed satisfaction or your money
back.
What is your return policy? Do you have one?
You may return fish for a full refund within 1 week of purchase.
Do you add extra fish to orders in case of a fatality?
Yes. On 2" discus add 1 extra for each 6 ordered
What sizes do you sell? Fry? 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 inch? Costs of each?
What is the minimum age of Discus fry you would consider selling?
1"
Do you sell "guaranteed pairs?"
No
Can buyers come to the hatchery and pick out fish? Appointment? Times?
Yes. Just call to make an appointment.
Do you do business with and ship to international customers?
We are currently working on getting all the necessary permits and documents
in order. This takes alot of time and patience.
Do you offer wholesale prices? If so, what quantities have to be
ordered to get the wholesale price?
Wholesale pricing on orders over 20 discus
Do you sell any discus related products (medication, RO systems,
etc)?
No but we would be happy to make recommendations for anyone.
How long have you been shipping Discus to non-local areas?
2 years
Do you ship internationally? If you do not currently ship internationally,
would you be willing to try on a case-by-case basis?
No, but hope be shortly
What are the shipping rates? Winter? v. Summer? International?
Shipping rates vary from $30.00 to over $100.00 for international
What is the shipping procedure? Does it vary depending on the season?
We try and work with the customer on shipping arrangements.
What are your packaging techniques? (Bagging, oxygen, heat, reinforcement,
prophylactic medications, etc.)
Newspaper lined styrofoam or plastic container. Doubled bagged with
O2 and a stress inhibitor only. Heat packed if necessary. All in a corregated
cardboard box, properly identified and addressed.
If you medicate the fish for travel, what will be the impact of this
medication on the fish when they arrive (or at any time later)? Should
I add the travel water to the destination tank, and if so, will it have
any affect on existing residents?
No medications are administered before travel.
Do I have to go to an airport to get the fish?
Not necessarily. Many times we can arrange delivery to your business
or residence.
If you ship directly to my house are the fish guaranteed to arrive
alive?
Yes
If I do have to go to an airport, are they guaranteed to arrive alive?
Yes
For both of the above, what do I have to do if they do not arrive
alive? (I would assume send them back somehow, but how?)
If there is a shipping mishap and the shipper did not fullfill his
agreement You would need to open the package and verify contents were deceased.
Then file a claim with the carrier. Depending on the circumstances we or
the customer may file the claim.
What are your handling instructions from box to tank for the new
fish?
Completely acclimation instructions are included with your order. We
will have already done a consultation with the customer making sure they
are ready to recieve new discus.
Water, type and changing:
Filtration: type, media, and flow rate?
Various-Big w/d systems, sponges, and some hang on the back type. Media-Biobeads,
sponge,bio balls, foam.
Does the system use reverse osmosis as a way of filtering?
No. Only small amounts of RO are used in the preparation of changing
water.
Tanks, sizes and location (ie. away from traffic and height from
the floor)
All tanks are in the basement of our home. 2-125 gallons / 8-55 gallons
/ 5-75 gallons / 10-29gallons
Lighting, time and intensity
Standard aquarium lighting-on 14 hours per day. Fry get night light
until they are 1"
Do you consider the position of the breeding tank important?
Somewhat. They can be easily distracted from spawning if you are in
the room taking care of other fish. They don't need to be totally isolated
just not in a busy area of the hatchery.
Are your hatcheries quarantined?
Any discus brought into our hatchery are quaneteened. Propholactic
treatments are usually given.
Do you have gravel in your tanks?
No
Do you keep plants in your tanks?
No
Do you use some type of dechlorinator (chemical or carbon) when making
water changes?
Tap water is filtered by micron and carbon block.
What and how often do you feed your adult discus?
Once somtimes twice per day- Shredded beefheart, Nippon Pellets, Frozen
Brine, Earthworms, Total Tropical Flake Food, Aquadine
What and how often do you feed your breeding pairs?
Once per day- Same diet as adults. No beefheart is fed while fry are
in tanks
What and how often do you feed your fry/young?
They recieve several small feedings a day.
Do you add any hormones or artificial color enhancers to the food?
No
If you prepare your own food, would you be willing to share your
formula? (if so, please give the formula here)
1. Remove fat and strings from beef heart and cut into 1/2" squares. Put in a blender with 1/2 cup water. Place on a high setting and process. You may have to stir it up a few times in the processing. A food processor can also be used. Pour into a large bowl.
2. Put in blender in this order-washed and stems removed parsley and spinach, washed sea scallops with the small hard peices removed, sliced banana and the egg yolks. Process on a medium speed. When you see the greens in bite size pieces, it's done. This is much quicker than the processing of the beef heart. Pour into the bowl with beef heart and mix well.
3. Stir in remaining ingredients, except for the gelatin.
4. Mix 2 pkgs. of gelatin with 1/2 cup of very warm water. Gradually add this to the mixture and stir well.
5. Freeze in freezer bags or make cubes with the small cube ice trays.
6. Let thaw for 5 to 10 minutes before feeding. Turn off filtration while feeding, and do a water change after the feeding. I would limit feeding this to 3-4 times a week.
This formula is excellent for discus 1.5" to 4". Then only shredded beefheart is used.
If you feed commercially prepared food, is it available for purchase?
If not, would you be willing to include a small amount with a fish purchase
for purposes of weaning them to a different food?
I occasionally will include food with an order.
What are the origins of your breeding stock?
How many generations can your stock be traced back?
I would be happy to answer this question for anyone, just name the
strain.
What method do you use to maintain your strains (ie do you breed
parents to children, siblings to siblings, cross related lines, etc.)?
I do not breed parents to children. F1 generations are permitted to
pair . F2 generation cousins are allowed to pair. After this the strain
must be evaluated for shape, eye color, temperment and age of sexual maturity
.
How many generations of inbreeding do you permit before "new
blood" is crossed in?
3 Maximum
Do you have any particular strains that you would consider hardier
than most?
No not really
Do you have any particular strains that you would consider difficult
to maintain and or breed? If so, what do you do different for these fish?
Pigeon Blood strains are a bit more difficult to breed because of their
sometimes light color. Some of my PB strains get foster raised when they
are a young pair. I give them every oportunity to raise there own and eventually
they do. We do NO artificial raising of discus.
What is your method for inducing spawning?
A big water change and beefheart.
What spawning surface do you use?
Ceramic spawning cones and PVC
Do you raise the fry artificially, or are they parent raised?
Parent or foster parent ONLY
If your fry are parent raised, at what age do you separate the fry?
I leave the fry with parents as long as I can. 2 weeks minimum to 4
weeks. I feel the longer they can eat the slime of the parent the better
Do you use some sort of night-light to prevent fry loss?
Yes until they are 1" and no longer eating fresh baby brine shrimp
In general, what is your defect rate?
Less than 5%
Do you cull your fish?
Yes
Which diseases do you encounter most frequently in your hatchery?
Gill Flukes
Do you keep records of any diseases or medications that particular
batches of fish have been exposed to? If so, would you provide this information
about any particular order that has been purchased (assuming you were asked
for it)?
Yes and Yes
What medications and dosages do you use to treat for:
What specific antibiotics have been used *at any time* in the history
of your hatchery?
Neomyacine, Penicillian
Do you use ultraviolet sterilization in your hatchery?
No
Is there anything you would like potential customers to know that is
not covered in this survey?
Yes, we are relocating to the Palm Beach area of Florida towards the
end of 1996. Please check our web site for updates on the relocation. It
may take some time to get organized and set up. Avaliability will probably
be low during the transition. In 1997 we plan to sell wild caught discus
and customers will have the option to purchase them unconditioned or after
6 weeks of quarenteen and treatments.
I do a consultation with my customers on all parimeters of their aquaria waiting for discus. We then decide how many fish are needed to make the inhabitants comfortable. And what will need to be removed to another tank later. I make recommendations if I feel the need to. Discus come with complete acclimation instructions and my Discus Care Guide. I do a minimum of 2 follow up contacts and you can call or e-mail mail me with any questions, problems or concerns.
April in Cincinnati
jaymev@prodigy.com
jrv@one.net
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