Given its flat round compressed shape, height of about eight to 10 inches and colors that go from solid, striped, to spotted, the Discus attracts aquarium hobbyists in the fresh water world.

At the Jack Wattley hatchery in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, there are a variety of colors strains that do not exist in the wild. The Miami hatchery has between 10,000 and 15,000 Discuses with prices ranging from $30 to $300.

“We don’t want to keep more because the economy right now doesn’t sustain that,” Posada said. “It makes no sense to breed 30,000 discus, if we are not going to sell it.”

About 80 percent of sales have gone down because of the recession, according to Posada.

“Years ago, international sales going to Russia and Saudi Arabia for example were between $10,000 and $15,000 worth of fish at a time,” Posada said. “Now the sells are about $3,000 and $5,000.

BREEDING

From the wild, the Discuses come brown and they have little patterns of blue. Through genetics, Jack Wattley was able to isolate the ones that were producing the most blue and continue breeding them for 10 years until he got a perfectly solid blue fish.

A new strain takes about three to five years to create. Discuses live to be around 15 years old.

Right now there must be 40 or 60 varieties that don’t exist in the Amazon River, according to Posada. There are all tones of blues, reds, yellows, whites, spotted and striped.

“It takes about four months to get the fish to sellable size, about half a dollar piece,” Posada said. “Whatever stays over becomes bigger and the future breeding stock. Every two or three years the breeding pair is changed once their egg production has gone down.”

At the hatcheries, Posada and Wattley try not to breed brothers and sisters for more than three generations, because genetic flaws start appearing. Thus, they will trade with another breeder from another part of the world.

“For example, we’ll send them 40 of our blue diamonds and they’ll send us 40 of their blue diamonds and then we cross them together and create a new blood line,” Posada said. “Genetically, it makes them stronger.”

The hatchery is divided between a breeding system and independent tanks. In the breeding system, once the breeding pair goes into the breeding cycle the female release pheromones, a type of hormones. It goes through the system and will trigger all the females into the reproductive mode.

The rest of the fish are in independent tanks because these fish release a growth inhibitor toxin.

“The larger fish won’t let the smaller fish grow, so what happens is that if we put them all in one system the small fish will stunt out.”

In addition, there are two types of water: one for the breeding tanks and the other for the independent tanks. The breeding tanks need reverse osmosis water, which has very little minerals equivalent to rain water needed for the eggs to hatch.

“Once the babies hatch out, we try to immediately transfer them to regular well-water where we can get the trade elements to help them grow. The problem is that the trade elements that help them grow will hurt the eggs.”

Discuses will eat pretty much anything. They are omnivorous. In the hatchery Posada makes up a beef heart mix, which consists of beef heart, spinach, grilled meal, multi vitamins and raw garlic. They eat about a hundred pounds of that every month.

“We use the garlic as medicinal, as preventive, because it doesn’t let the nematodes attach to the stomach lining in case they get infections.”

Water changes are done constantly because the beef heart pollutes the water. They get an 80 percent water change daily, which adds up to 6,000 gallons a month. According to Posada, that’s what keeps all the ammonia and bacteria levels down and regenerates the strain elements so that they grow faster.

The hatchery located in West Palm Beach is nothing but breeding. There are no customers allowed. Everything is sold from the Miami hatchery.

Year of extinction: 2050

Coral reefs are the most diverse of marine ecosystems making them home to more than 25 percent of marine species. They are found in shallow, tropical and sub-tropical oceans. Most are found in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia.

According to the Global Marine Species Assessment, “Researchers identified the main threats to corals as climate change and localized stresses resulting from destructive fishing, declining water quality from pollution, and the degradation of coastal habitats.”

Forced fragmentation is when a hobbyist cuts, with a blade, scissors or a table saw, the branches of a coral. Then the branches are glued or tied to a rock. The fragmenting procedure depends on the type of coral.

Many hobbyists believe this may help save coral reefs.

Jorge Quintana, 20, is a member of the Florida Marine Aquarium Society (FMAS) based in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.

“The whole point of the society is to inform and preserve the reefs,” Quintana said.

Each meeting has a theme and a guest speaker. Themes range from conservation to safety to breeding procedures. At the end of each meeting, hobbyists trade or give away fragmented corals from their tanks.

“This is a way to give hobbyists a greater coral diversity without taking more corals from the ocean,” said Quintana, a hobbyist for nine years.

FMAS has about 300 members. Each memberships costs $20 per year. General meetings take place the last Tuesday of every month at South Plantation High School, 6901 NW 16^th St. Plantation, Fl. They are open to the public and begin at 7:15 pm.

In addition, Quintana said there are annual fragmentation swaps around the community.

According to Dr. Herman Wirshing, marine biology professor at the University of Miami, soft coral ‘fragging’ is a great way to reduce the impact of the aquarium trade on the natural populations of soft corals found on coral reefs.

“This type of aquaculture is already popular with reef fishes that are harvested for aquariums,” Wirshing said. “ The less anthropogenic impacts there are on the reefs (e.g. people taking stuff from the reefs), the better chance they will have to survive in the long term.”

Marco Almenares, 28, started his fragmentation business from his home six months ago. Most of his corals come from Australia and range in price from $10 to $350.

“We buy the coral and give the customers and hobbyist better prices,” Almenares said. “What I do is cut the coral so they have a chance of getting different kinds of pieces at a cheaper cost.”

Almenares said it can take from a couple of months to a year for a ‘frag’ to become a colony.

This has created a domino effect among hobbyist because: “You can cut it up and sell it to your friends or trade it. You’re cultivating your coral so you don’t have to kill what’s left of the reef,” Almenares said.

A study published in the journal Science estimates that the oceans’ fish will disappear by 2050 if high fishing rates continue. If there are no fish, there are no corals.

At the 2002 United Nations summit in Johannesburg, leaders vowed to increase the fish populations by 2015.

Dr. Walter M. Goldberg, professor of Biological Sciences at Florida International University blames the disappearance of coral reef on global warming because unlike overfishing, global warming cannot be stopped.

“On a global scale, an estimated 3rd of all coral species are extinct,” Dr. Goldberg said. “It’s not in good shape and it is all going to get worse.”

At the 2002 United Nations summit in Johannesburg, leaders vowed to increase the fish populations by 2015.

Dr. Walter M. Goldberg, professor of Biological Sciences at Florida International University blames the disappearance of coral reef on global warming because unlike overfishing, global warming cannot be stopped.

“On a global scale, an estimated 3rd of all coral species are extinct,” Dr. Goldberg said. “It’s not in good shape and it is all going to get worse.”

There are reef restoration projects going on all over the world. Aside from global warming, over fishing is the biggest threat to coral reefs.

According to Dr. Goldberg, when the death of a coral reef negatively impacts water quality, there is no use in trying to restore the reef. But where a ship hits a reef, then it might make sense to restore the reef.

“Places that are still in good shape is where people are not,” Dr. Goldberg said.