Discus Fish UK UKDA

About the UKDA

Welcome to the UK Discus Association site.

This is a non-profit site that aims to disseminate useful information on the discus fish Symphysodon sp. and other Amazonian soft water species.

Dougall Stewart

The following information was written by Dougall Stewart in order to provided some background to the UKDA, in regards its history and aims. It will be updated as the UKDA develops.

Prior to the formation of the UK Discus Association this site was 'the home' Dougall Stewart BSc. (hons.) Biological Sciences & QTS Science.

It was a place where my love of science, fish and a personal desire to visit as many breeders and retailers in the UK that were 'doing the right thing' (whatever that might mean) in regards to discus keeping - were melded into one!

Why change a personal web site into a club/association?

Many factors came to play on this decision

A year or two after its conception I decided that things needed to change. I had met many good people on my visits and the discus world in the UK was one of some dynamism - some people were cutting corners and KNEW IT, others hadn't been visited and deserved that right!
My love to chat about discus, fish and science both at home and globally on the many wondrous forums - drove me into wanting more form the UK Scene
The defunct Discus Study Group (DSG). Sid Adam of Scottish Discus, Tony Vaughan of Discus Ireland and myself of UK Discus believed passionately in what the DSG had set out to achieve and we had decided to provide a pool of articles for the DSG - however, due to rumours of instability re finances etc. we decided to wait and see what transpired. Unfortunately the DSG folded for the second time.
The lack of an English language version of the wonderful magazine Diskus Brief.
The demise of 'fish clubs' in general
The dearth of high quality articles of interest specific to discus in the UK magazines
An ever present awareness that an 'individually driven' web is aok from one perspective, but that can often lead to a skewed and biased balance -in terms of articles and 'raising standards'

Ok, so there was a need for a change - what next?

Sid, Tony and Myself were chatting on ICQ (as we do :-) ) and I asked if they would be interested in becoming founding members of a New Discus Club.
With their agreement the UK Discus Association (UKDA) was formed
We then invited other potentially interested parties e.g. Barry Howland of South Eastern Discus, Paul Lucas of Discus South, Mark Evenden of Devotedly Discus and Practical Fishkeeping and so on.
We then arranged the opening of the Meeting Place of the Association http://forum.ukda.info and offered free membership to all all hobbyists, breeders, retailers etc.

OK, so we now have the UK Discus Association Club - what are our aims and what have we achieved?

It is the aim of the club to disseminate information on the discus fish - Symphysodon sp. and other related species and or tank companions.
To that aim we are actively seeking high quality and interesting articles - See the library for more information.
We have provided a chat room and forum for like minded people to chat and discuss their passions!
We are in the process of initiating a discount scheme for members.
We have initiated a monthly newsletter, with the first one released on the 1st May 2003

Ok, so what is the future?

We aim to build up membership of active participating members.
We aim to increase the breadth of fish so far discussed
We aim to keep membership free
We aim to hold monthly committee meetings that avoid red-tape and personal hostility
We aim to hold weekly meetings - just for the hell of chatting with like minded people.