Discus breeding: a rewarding hobby for Filipina entrepreneur
By Jonathan Vicente
Correspondent - The Manila Times
May 13, 2003
Most people would associate aquarium fish with goldfish, or arrowana for the more pricey ones. But few probably realize that the most expensive is the freshwater fish discus, which like the arrowana, also comes from South America. An excellent breed could command easily from $10,000 up to $150,000 depending on the fish’s variation of colors or body pattern and stature.
But despite the good returns, only few actually try to breed this fish because it is also one of the most difficult to breed, hence, a very risky business venture.
Serious discus breeders like Marivi G. Laurel, owner of the Aquarium Habitat Enterprises in Mandaluyong City, had actually spent a capital of more than a million pesos in setting up his own fish-breeding farm right in her own backyard.
Laurel’s facility is spread out over a land area of 1,992 square meters. It is fully equipped with 500 holding tanks, a temperature-controlled packing system for marine organisms, UV sterilization, and a computerized system for its trading activities.
Laurel is now the country’s largest exporter of ornamental freshwater fish. But if ranked against the country’s biggest exporters of ornamental marine fish, her operations easily dwarf in comparison.
Just a hobby
Laurel started her ornamental freshwater fish business only in 1997 and prior to that aquarium fish was just her hobby. “We always have fish at home since my grandparents keep a lot of carps, ” Laurel said.
“When I started to breed discus, I bought different kinds from a number of countries including the US, Brazil, Malaysia and Singapore and crossbred them here,” Laurel said. She said the shape of the face and color of the eyes are also taken into consideration, authentic discus has a combination of red and black eyes with round-shaped face contour. She said too much crossbreeding could alter the shape of the discus’s face. “It tends to get longer and sharper,” she added.
Discus originated in Brazil and breeds in the Amazon rivers. Originally, discus only has five basic kinds, but through the years of hybriding, it now has 200 different designs and among them the blue diamond, golden sunrise, blue snakeskin, heckle, brown and pigeon snakeskin.
The over all design of a discus really depends on the type and color of its parents that have been selected as “couples” by the breeder. Laurel said, based on experience, it would take about seven years to produce an original strain.
While breeding discus was her part-time, Laurel is already a major distributor of fish food and aquatic products around Metro Manila under the brand name Lifesaver Fishfood.
After getting good reviews for her discus, Laurel decided to join the ornamental fish business and concentrated in freshwater fishes, which is easier to breed in captivity compared to marine fishes. She also initially supplied only the local market until a big break came in September 2000, when Laurel bagged the 3rd place trophy for the open discus competition and 2nd place in the blue class tourney during the annual international discus championship held in Germany besting more than 600 entries around the world. Until now she is the best placed Filipino in such tilt.
The Aquarium Habitat Enterprises has indeed changed the meaning of tropical fish breeding to the highest level.
From importer to exporter of fish, Laurel, a hard core hobbyist, has successfully achieved the winning formula of conserving the marine environment and at the same time bringing life into the propagation of discus.
“As we continue to meet the increasing demands of our customers for quality fishes, we are aware of the impact this has on our environment.
In support of the protection of our coral reefs and the sustainability of our industry, we have implemented a stringent policy to supply only net-caught fish. No cyanide-induced fishing,” Laurel said.
Since then, Aquarium Habitat has gained outstanding recognition for its farm management, ability to meet clients’ needs and an advanced perspective in bringing new technology into the fish industry.
In support of this commitment, Aquarium Habitat has volunteered its participation into the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) certification scheme. Established in 1998, MAC is a non-profit organization tasked to ensure the sustainability of the marine ornamental trade and quality within the marine aquarium industry. Its core mission is to conserve coral reefs and other marine ecosystems by creating standards and educating and certifying those engage in the trade. Recently, it drafted a set of criteria called the MAC Core Standards. This is similar in concept to the ISO 9000 quality management system standards but which is applied to natural resource systems. The idea is to forge a reliable chain of custody in which fish are handled appropriately from reef to aquarium.
“All improvements in our farm are based on these fundamental criterias. We started by reviewing our entire operating system, streamlining our processes, introducing structured inspection systems, setting objectives to ensure quality and environmental friendly processes. These features are not only beneficial to our company, but more importantly, the best testimony of our full commitment to the quality of the fishes we sell” Laurel emphasized.
By Jonathan Vicente
Correspondent - The Manila Times
May 13, 2003
Most people would associate aquarium fish with goldfish, or arrowana for the more pricey ones. But few probably realize that the most expensive is the freshwater fish discus, which like the arrowana, also comes from South America. An excellent breed could command easily from $10,000 up to $150,000 depending on the fish’s variation of colors or body pattern and stature.
But despite the good returns, only few actually try to breed this fish because it is also one of the most difficult to breed, hence, a very risky business venture.
Serious discus breeders like Marivi G. Laurel, owner of the Aquarium Habitat Enterprises in Mandaluyong City, had actually spent a capital of more than a million pesos in setting up his own fish-breeding farm right in her own backyard.
Laurel’s facility is spread out over a land area of 1,992 square meters. It is fully equipped with 500 holding tanks, a temperature-controlled packing system for marine organisms, UV sterilization, and a computerized system for its trading activities.
Laurel is now the country’s largest exporter of ornamental freshwater fish. But if ranked against the country’s biggest exporters of ornamental marine fish, her operations easily dwarf in comparison.
Just a hobby
Laurel started her ornamental freshwater fish business only in 1997 and prior to that aquarium fish was just her hobby. “We always have fish at home since my grandparents keep a lot of carps, ” Laurel said.
“When I started to breed discus, I bought different kinds from a number of countries including the US, Brazil, Malaysia and Singapore and crossbred them here,” Laurel said. She said the shape of the face and color of the eyes are also taken into consideration, authentic discus has a combination of red and black eyes with round-shaped face contour. She said too much crossbreeding could alter the shape of the discus’s face. “It tends to get longer and sharper,” she added.
Discus originated in Brazil and breeds in the Amazon rivers. Originally, discus only has five basic kinds, but through the years of hybriding, it now has 200 different designs and among them the blue diamond, golden sunrise, blue snakeskin, heckle, brown and pigeon snakeskin.
The over all design of a discus really depends on the type and color of its parents that have been selected as “couples” by the breeder. Laurel said, based on experience, it would take about seven years to produce an original strain.
While breeding discus was her part-time, Laurel is already a major distributor of fish food and aquatic products around Metro Manila under the brand name Lifesaver Fishfood.
After getting good reviews for her discus, Laurel decided to join the ornamental fish business and concentrated in freshwater fishes, which is easier to breed in captivity compared to marine fishes. She also initially supplied only the local market until a big break came in September 2000, when Laurel bagged the 3rd place trophy for the open discus competition and 2nd place in the blue class tourney during the annual international discus championship held in Germany besting more than 600 entries around the world. Until now she is the best placed Filipino in such tilt.
The Aquarium Habitat Enterprises has indeed changed the meaning of tropical fish breeding to the highest level.
From importer to exporter of fish, Laurel, a hard core hobbyist, has successfully achieved the winning formula of conserving the marine environment and at the same time bringing life into the propagation of discus.
“As we continue to meet the increasing demands of our customers for quality fishes, we are aware of the impact this has on our environment.
In support of the protection of our coral reefs and the sustainability of our industry, we have implemented a stringent policy to supply only net-caught fish. No cyanide-induced fishing,” Laurel said.
Since then, Aquarium Habitat has gained outstanding recognition for its farm management, ability to meet clients’ needs and an advanced perspective in bringing new technology into the fish industry.
In support of this commitment, Aquarium Habitat has volunteered its participation into the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) certification scheme. Established in 1998, MAC is a non-profit organization tasked to ensure the sustainability of the marine ornamental trade and quality within the marine aquarium industry. Its core mission is to conserve coral reefs and other marine ecosystems by creating standards and educating and certifying those engage in the trade. Recently, it drafted a set of criteria called the MAC Core Standards. This is similar in concept to the ISO 9000 quality management system standards but which is applied to natural resource systems. The idea is to forge a reliable chain of custody in which fish are handled appropriately from reef to aquarium.
“All improvements in our farm are based on these fundamental criterias. We started by reviewing our entire operating system, streamlining our processes, introducing structured inspection systems, setting objectives to ensure quality and environmental friendly processes. These features are not only beneficial to our company, but more importantly, the best testimony of our full commitment to the quality of the fishes we sell” Laurel emphasized.
