Of course all the people over there giving advice seem to have been in the hobby a long time, so their opinions carry weight, but they all seem to do the same thing and think anything outside of what they are use to is awful. From my perspective, they seem to be more interested in growing massive discus than anything else.
That pretty much sums up SD for me.
Whatever you do never ever upset the status quo, or challenge the opinion of certain senior members, even if they attack you and your ideas. For the most part that site is a joke, full of jokers who think that keeping rainbow colored designer fish alive for 3-4 years places them in some kind of elitist category.
BTW - I loved the comment about beef heart, and Jack Wattley. Another common misconception by many of the discus gurus on SD.
Several years ago Jack Wattley stated that a good staple pellet or flake food is more ideal for
optimum health.
In the Dec 2006 edition of Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine, Jack stated:
"I've moved in a new direction regarding the feeding of discus, and after many tests feel that a top quality flake or pellet food formulated especially for discus is perhaps the best direction to take. "
The late Dr. Schmidt-Focke was one of the first to realize health problems when feeding foods such as beef heart, and quit feeding his discus beefheart in favor of a seafood based diet. Dieter Untergasser has also demonstrated the harm beefheart can have on discus and other long lived cichlids. And there are studies that have taken place that demonstrated that when too much protein is fed to a juvenile discus it can have the opposite effect, as it requires energy to excrete the excess amino acids (protein), which is energy that could have been used for growth.
Some of the members on SD are very experienced, and very knowledgeable about raising healthy, long-lived fish. Unfortunately they do not post nearly as often as they did in years past. Some do not post at all.
