Interview with Mr. Jörg Stendker of Diskuszucht Stendker, Germany.

1. Who are you? (Tell us about yourself) My name is Jörg Stendker and together with my brother, Volker Stendker, I run the largest discus fish hatchery in Europe. Forty-seven years ago, our father started breeding discus fish and we have since taken over, expanded and developed the family business. We currently employ over 40 staff members and have 200,000 - 300,000 own-bred STENDKER discus fish on stock, year-round (in 21 colour varieties).

2. Why did you decide to breed discus and why not another fish? For me, the discus fish is the king of the fresh water aquarium. Discus fish impress with their size (up to 20 cm), a life expectancy of approx. 15 years and brilliant colours (of captive-bred species). Watching these beautiful fish, which look so graceful and regal in an aquarium, is incredibly relaxing for me, and that's why I chose to breed discus fish.

3. What are the differences between the types of breeding today, and those of 15/20

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years ago? The colour variations have changed a lot over the past 15 - 20 years and breeding discus fish has become much simpler.

4. What is the best memory you have and which concerns the discus? When I was just five years old, I remember going into the cellar of our house where my father showed me some discus larvae, which were swimmingly freely. The larvae were just starting to feed on the parent fishes' skin secretion and the parent fish were displaying their brood care behaviour.

5. What do you think about current discus market? Discus fish are becoming ever more popular, because our German captive-bred discus fish have evolved to become accustomed to German tap water, making them very easy to keep. The new, easy way of keeping discus fish is now completely different to keeping discus fish caught in the wild. Nowadays, even first-time aquarium owners are able to keep our discus fish successfully and breed them.

In addition, aquascaping for discus fish aquariums is becoming very popular. A large variety of companion fish and plants are compatible with discus fish. On our website we have published some recommendations by the Aquascaping World Champion 2013, Mr. A. Baumann. It would be great to see lots of stunning community aquariums set up with discus fish as the focal point.

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6. It is a commonplace that there is a significant Asian primacy in discusbreeding. Do you think it is true? And how do you think they managed toachieve such a record? Asian captive breeds have a wider variety of colours and they dominate the competitions, with fish bred especially for these tournaments. We don't take part in these competitions with our discus fish, as the risk of infections with the typical Asian discus fish diseases is too great. For us, it's more important to keep our fish healthy, than to win competition prizes.

7. What do you think is the greatest discovery in the field of discus? For me, the most fascinating discovery made regarding the discus fish is that it is the only species, in which the juvenile fish feed on the parent fishes' skin secretions during the first two weeks of life.

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8. Who's the best breeder you have ever met; and why? For me, the best breeder I have ever met is my own father, Heinz Stendker. When he first began keeping discus fish, his expertise was very limited, but he still managed to breed 1,000 healthy juvenile fish from just a single pair of discus fish, within 6 months.

9. What is, for you, the discus of the future? For me, the "discus of the future" is a fish that is easy to keep and feed. It should have a strong immune system and a long life expectancy and hence should ideally require no use of medication throughout its lifespan.

10. Which variety do you think we have to work most and why? We should further develop the robust varieties of discus fish, which are able to cope well with sub-optimal living conditions and which are hence also suitable for less experienced aquarium owners.

11. What crossings would recommend to a breeder who groped new paths? The breeder should choose colour varieties that are very different (dissimilar), combine them and see what happens. Then they should raise 200 - 300 of these juvenile fish. If two or more of these fish differ markedly from all previously known discus colour varieties, then they should continue breeding with these fish and try to stabilise the special characteristic of these fish, via selective breeding.

12. What is the best management of the discus? High-quality management of discus fish means not losing sight of the fishes' welfare and also supporting aquarium owners in providing easy and excellent care for their discus fish.

13. And what is the best diet? We think that the best diet for discus fish is our Discus Fish Complete Feed Solution, which we sell as frozen feed via retail stockists and which we also feed exclusively in our hatchery. (Our own specially-developed recipe, thanks to 47 years of experience.)

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14. What do you think of the use of hormones and of using it to the wide extent it's present in this business? We are opposed to the use of hormones and we do not use hormone treatments in our hatchery.

15. Which way is the global discus market headed? The trend on the global discus market is towards greater colour varieties and worldwide shipment. Discus fish are developing into "normal" ornamental fish, which are no longer kept only by specialist aquarium owners.

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16. Do you regret? (see question 15.)We think that this trend (see question 15) is positive for discus fish and for aquarium owners.

17. Often the insiders debate the criteria which should be based on theclassification of the discus to identify the categories in competitions.Do you think we should start from the genotype or phenotype?We think the classification criteria should also be based on the visible, physical characteristics of the fish (phenotype), not just on the fish's genetics.

18. Europe has been a general crisis. Even in the business discus.In times of crisis, it is especially important to have pleasant surroundings at home. A beautifully arranged aquarium can play a substantial role in contributing to people's well-being and happiness. In Germany, many people have realised this, which is why we have thankfully not felt the effects of a crisis in the discus fish market so far. In crisis times, however, customers place more emphasis on the quality and long life-span of fish and our discus fish are well-known for these qualities.

19. What do you wish for 2013?Our wishes for 2013 are: that an ever growing number of people enjoy keeping our discus fish, that our fish will thrive and be healthy all around the world, and for health and happiness in our lives.

20. There are some new winds blowing in these days. People are pressingradical changes in the social, economic, political world.Do you think that it is desirable to work for a change in the discusbusiness too?We think that it's really important that information about keeping and rearing discus fish is made more readily available to end-customers. This is why we are providing our "Handbook for Keeping Discus Fish" on our website, free of charge and translated into six languages, available to everyone interested in discus fish. We also think that sustainability will become an increasingly important issue for the discus industry as well.

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21. Now that the Duisburg Show is no more, do you think that the world ofdiscus can benefit from the phenomenon of many regional competitions?We are not really in favour of the big shows, because there is the risk of diseases from around the world being brought together and being passed on there.

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22. What is the business situation in your region now?How do you think we should overcome this global crisis? Customers are paying greater attention to quality, price and performance. By focusing on exactly these criteria as a company, and by meeting our customers' needs and by focusing on the well-being of our fish, we hope to make a contribution to overcoming the crisis.

23. You travel a lot. What are the tangible changes on the market of thediscus you see on your travels? Are the farms full of discus? How manybreeders do not breed anymore, and many new breeders were born in the last2/3 years? A large number of discus hatcheries have gone out of business during the past five years (due to rising costs and lower sales volumes). To our knowledge, the number of new hatcheries, which have started up, is not as large.

24. How the ghost discus can help in breeding discus? We don't particularly like this discus breed, as it does not meet our aesthetic criteria.

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