May 2004 Spotlight, Southern Discus Workshop

Hey folks, a few months ago Eric decided it would be a good idea to tease the outsider and have someone speak about plants at a fish convention. I thought, "Hey, I get to hang out with the cool people! Woo Hoo!" so of course I went. Here's a little story of my journey from the Dark Side to the Light, if only for a short time.

It all started at 3:00 on Friday April 3rd, that hellacious 4 hour drive from my house to Atlanta. I've driven all over the country and was under the impression that Kansas and Nebraska were boring... It wasn't until later that I realized why there are so many girlie bars and "book" stores where you have to flash ID to get in on I-85 South between Charlotte and Atlanta. After a 4 hour drive and the joy of experiencing Atlanta rush hour on a Friday night my wife and I made it safe and sound to the hotel. (Husbands, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER take your wife to Atlanta by car if she's one of those nervous passenger seat driver types. Be warned. :) )

Once we got our bags unloaded I went back downstairs while Sharon decompressed in the room. I noticed a group of folks congregated around the bar listening to Cary tell some story and watching as his hands kept getting farther and farther apart as he told it. After a round and some introductions I went to the "cool stuff" room and unloaded my weeds. Tim Thimios of US Bonsai/Discus was sitting back surveying the goods talking with Walter Wu (Wahter). Finally, people I knew!

Unfortunately I'd left the camera in the room for this first part, but the blackmail material is still to come.

Here are some pics of the tanks in the display room. Tim donated a ton of fish, as did Alberto, Liz S., and a few other people who weren't there that I can't remember. Cary brought in some of the best looking Koi Angels I've seen in a long time and a few pairs of beautiful feeder breeders. All the fish there were great looking. I couldn't wait to see what they would go for in the auction.

These are the fabulous wild RSG from Alberto. All six of them had spotting like you wouldn't believe. I've never cried over a fish, but when I saw these and realized I couldn't have them I almost did.

Cary's koi angels and fancy guppies:

I went home with a pair of those guppies. :)

Some of Tim's fish.

Aside from some of the most beautiful Tangerines I've ever seen, Tim gets some great looking spotted fish as well. These are LSS babies that seem much happier on this side of the ocean.


Yes, that ring in the reflection does get letters on it if you throw it into the fire. I know some of you are wondering....;)

Here are some other assorted fish from US Discus.

Some Mandarin Passions that were all the rage at the show.

Some of the weeds I brought in an attempt to convert the whole crew to the Dark Side.

After the intros and drooling over the fish, Jack finally made it to the hotel and we all went out to dinner. Eric had reservations at a really swanky Thai restaurant which we proceeded to take by storm. I think there was a dress code and a decibel maximum, both of which we broke in fabulous fashion.

Starting on the left: Eric (the mastermind of SDW), Vicki Burnley, Anand, Jean, Jack, Rhonda, Kenny (the hands in the purple shirt), Cary (taking a peek at us), Ken Davis at the head, Dave Webber, John Giroux, my wife Sharon, my seat, Tim Thimios, Walter Wu's hands and in front of me, Eric's daughters.

A little different angle on the festivities:

That's Kenny (Discus Dawg) in the purple and Ken's wife Ruth across the table.

I think we all had the most fun poking fun at Cary the whole night. While he was up shmoozing someone put a straw in his beer and a flower behind his ear. What a trooper.

I'm not sure, but I think the asian atmosphere and Ken and Cary talking about their trips overseas went to their heads.

The fuzzy one is Cary trying to peddle Ken around Atlanta at 11:00 at night. He kept saying something about "Me love you long time".....who knows with those to guys.... ???

After dinner some of us retired for the evening and the rest continuted to party on like only flat fish fanatics can.


Here's Eric getting the dry goods table ready Saturday morning. Some folks brought all sorts of great stuff for the raffle. You should have been there! Yeah, I'm talking to you.

Here's our first speaker, Tim Thimios, speaking on the ins and outs of being an importer. It was a lot of fun to listen to someone with so many years of experience in the discus hobby.

Next came our good friend and Class Clown, Ken Davis. His tales of adventure on Southeast Asia were informative and his personal commentary was more than a little entertaining. After hearing both Ken and Tim speak I've got a much better idea of what's actually gone into getting our fish.

After lunch Vicki Burnley spoke about fish diseases and microscope techniques for home necropsy. I've seen some pretty nasty looking parasites before, but some of the stuff she showed and talked to us about took the cake. I think I'll be quarantining myself after I get new fish. ;D

Pics to come after a little editing...

Here's Dave Webber talking to a blank screen. I think he was the last one to get to bed on Friday night.......

Actually, he's giving a very informative talk on the Amazon with a ton of great pictures. Pictures tell their own tale and do a great job of bringing the spoken word to life.