Rio Nanay Discus.

[Don Hiatt]

I am shopping for some wild type discus right now and I had a conversation with a "breeder" that I found kind of strange.
I asked him if he ever carried or was able to obtain Symphysodon discus willishwartzi.

He said, "Oh yeah, they were exported from the Rio Nanay (This is a river in Peru). After telling him I was looking for willishwartzi from Southern Brazil (This species is not found in Peru), he went on to tell me that they were introduced to the Rio Nanay and Southern Brazil "by the natives" as a marketing ploy.

Has anyone ever heard of this?

[Dan Woodland]

Hello all,

From an authority on he subject;

The fish in the Rio Nanay are nothing but plain old green discus that originated from the Rio Putomayo (in Peru). Nobody will EVER find what we call willischwartzi (this name should be nixed soon anyhow) anywhere near Peru. They come from a very small region – in Brazil.

Dan

[Don Hiatt]

Hi Dan,
Long time no speak.

I was pointing out the fact that this discus breeder was trying to "BS" me.
The fish we know as willischwartzi comes from the Rio Abacaxis in Brazil. I informed him of this, but he maintained this was a fish introduced to the Rio Nanay in Peru as a marketing ploy. lol.

I did notice the sub species were excluded from this site and I am sure Juan had good reason for doing so. Sub species or not, the Pineapple Discus is a nice looking fish. Kullander does still list the sub species of discus on his site.

If I understand you correctly, discus were introduced into the Rio Nanay from the Rio Putomayo? This is very interesting. Sad, but interesting.
I am sure such a "harmless" fish such as a discus could have some sort of a negative impact when introduced outside of it's native range.

A few years back I heard Jack Watley was planning on releasing some of his turquoise discus into a lake in Venezuela. There was some outcry on the internet about this, but I didn't hear anything since.

Don.

[Paulo José Alves]

Hi


Watlley denied that he ever had any intention of introducing Discus anywhere. What he did was to carry some of his fish to offer to the breeders he was going to visit.
In French Guyana, the H´mong, originating in Vietnam, have introduced Discus to the local waters. However the dispersion of the Discus is very localized and without any signs of expansion, for now at least...

[Don Hiatt]

Hi Paulo,
It is good to hear that this was a rumor and not based on fact.
People from Vietman in Guyana is interesting in itself. Do you know why they introduced discus to Guyana??

[Dan Woodland]

Hey Don, yes I was just trying to add more information on the post. I knew what you were saying. Dan

[Don Hiatt]

Hey Dan,
Yeah, I have been shopping around for some wild discus for ahwile. I saw some nice fish at an exporter while I was in Peru and was even thinking about bringing some back with me next time I go. The thought of the fish from the Rio Nanay as being non native or introduced kind of weirds me out. Where did you hear about this??

[Paulo José Alves]

Hi Nandus


As you know Vietnam was a french colony and when they left it they brought with them people who would been harmed if they stayed. So, same H´mong came with them to another colony, French Guyana. Being budists they have a special reverence and apreciation for everything living, including the almost compulsion to have fish in every body of water. The East and South East Asians are big producers of aquarium fish but also big consumers of the same.
Being the Discus atractive why not having them in Guyana out of doors? In Guyana it happens. However the real problem there are the Tilapia who were introduced and which prospects of invasion are still unknown.

[Don Hiatt]

Very interesting Paulo. Thanks for the history lesson.

[Don Hiatt]

The discus page on Sven Kullanders site.

http://nrm.museum/ve/pisces/acara/symphyso.shtml

It lists willischwartzi as valid and even had a picture of the holotype.