A Champion Discus Breeder

In 1999, a young entrepreneur was making waves in the aquarist world. Chia Koon Seng (also popularly known as Chai in the aquarist circle in Singapore) have successfully bred the first variant of the Web Leopard-skin and Solid colour discus variant. They're a well-breed form of the discus species, the result of years of experimenting and development. But the biggest creation is a new destiny - for himself and Singapore.

Between 2000 and 2002, both species won numerous top prizes both in local and overseas competitions. The Web Leopard-skin was crowned Grand Champion at the 2002 Discus World Championship held in Duisburg, Germany and at the France 1st International Discus Show. The Web-Leopard-skin also crowned the Grand Champion at the 2001 South East Asia Discus Competition in Taiwan. The Super Melon (solid red) was crowned Champion at the 2002 1st International Discus Championship in Singapore and at the Millennium Yellow won at the 2000 Singapore Discus Club 1st International Discus Competition.

For Chai, the story started when he was breeding goldfish as a hobby in 1988. At that time, the goldfish market was already very well established, there wasn't any more new strains. Chai then decided to take on breeding the discus when he noticed that there were not many discus variants in the market. Coupled with his fascination for the fish, he decided to experiment breeding them. He started a mini laboratory in his house. After a few years of research and experimenting, his tanks keeping increasing and his flat is too small to house all the tanks. He then rented a fish farm to continue his experimentation and breeding.

I dropped in unannounced one morning at Chai's fish breeding farm, "Chai’s Discus" located in Seletar. The farm in Jalan Kayu/Seletar was formerly a pig-farming area being the major economic activity there during the 70s. It is a barn-like building with a tin roof, and it definitely would not win any beauty contests! The place all around is completely devoted to Discus. There are about more than 180 of glass tanks. Chai has added more and more rows of tanks over the years. The tanks were big, and held lots of various species. Chai has combined his lifelong interest in breeding discus with a passion for new strains and leverage those interest to create a viable fish farm. Perhaps because they are more photogenic, the Red Map particularly caught my eye.

Currently, the Farm focuses on breeding, wholesale and export of discus. Chai has put up many long hours in the farm before they were where they are today. Now he is able to produce top quality discus to international hobbyists. With intensive experiments and testing in the farm, it has become one of the top breeders in Singapore. The farm remain as a bounded laboratory, while the best batches of discus were constantly transferred and replenished in his showroom at Ang Mo Kio.

Chai started raising eyebrows when he first participated in local Discus competitions in 1995. Chai's discus won numerous prizes. To gauge his own international standing, Chai went on to participate in international competitions. That is when his discus were crowned Champions in Taiwan, France and Germany. For Chai, his achievement in Germany was the most satisfying. He has raised the Singapore flag in the invincible soil of Germany as no other Asian has accomplished that feat to date.

Besides being successful in international competition, he also created something uniquely Singapore to the European countries. He has introduced varieties like Super Melon, Millennium Gold, Golden Leopard-Snake and Red Map. As a result, almost single handily, he has put Singapore Discus on the world map with distinction.

After participating in the 4th Discus World Championship 2002, Chai retired from taking part in all competitions. Since then, he has channelled his efforts to successfully breed many varieties like the high-fin, high-body checkerboard discus.

He has also recently successfully breed the albino discus and one of his project is to create a series of albino discus base on current existing varieties, for example Albino Leopard-Snake Discus which is one of his recent successfully development.

Creating a series of new strains, setting new trend are parts of the uniqueness in discus hobby. His experiments in in developing new variety of discus has ensured discus keeping as one of the top favourite choice among aquarists.

Singapore is a paradise for tropical fish breeders, the average temperature is 80-85F (28-32C). This means that tropical fish can be kept and bred year round, inside or outside, without added heat. However, during slow down in the cold months due to monsoon rain, heat was added for a short period for breeding or raising fry. Chai certainly finds his home a paradise for breeding fish, as he showed me when I visited the next morning. . The home operation is mostly used just for spawning fish. Chai sells fish in his own shop, and wholesales them to other stores in Singapore. He also exports them to other countries like Vietnam, USA, Japan, Turkey and South Korea. Chai is an aquarist whose hobby has grown bigger than that of anyone else I have yet met. Let's wish him success in the future!

Chai Discus is on the Internet at http://www.chaidiscus.com.sg/

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Toms River, New Jersey, USA

Bright Homes Programme

Bright Home programme, initiated by Central Singapore CDC, was started in 2004. The programme offers volunteer groups and community partners that are interested in collaborating with Central Singapore CDC to assist in meeting the home-based needs of lower income elderly residents in the Central Singapore district. Volunteers visit elderly residents in their homes to offer basic services like cleaning, minor repair works and organising activities for residents. They also help to do basic assessment and refer residents to the right social services.

Since last August, I have volunteered for this programme at Blk 31 Toa Payoh. The programme called for a once a month interaction programme over a six-month period. I worked with Moral Homes, who also plans activities for the residents besides providing free lunches for the residents. I saw how lonely some of the residents were. Through the 6-month programme, I have learned many things including the residents' quality of life, the care received, and the environment surrounding them.

People need help and kindness all through the year, but sometimes they need a little extra when the holidays roll around. It's supposed to be a time of happiness and celebration, but for people who are alone or struggling, it can be a painful, lonely time. With this in mind, when planning the activities, we try to conduct our out reach programme to coincide with a major event for that particular month. Since then, we have conducted out reach programme celebrating National Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, Hari Raya Adilfitri, Christmas and Chinese New Year. For each of these event we planned activities that has a linkage to these festivals. Besides these, we also have birthday parties, outings, karaoke sessions and exercise days.

Besides the project period, I also regularly drop by to visit the eldlerly, helped them to upkeep their little vegetable/herbal garden, read them letters etc. I also took them them out for lunches and walks. The elderly enjoy personal attention. They also enjoy having volunteers who can chat and listen to their stories.

I have had many good experiences both volunteering and befriending the elderly. Through my volunteering I have made new friends. Our friendship grew through the project period. Through our conversations, I get to hear about their life experiences during and after the Japanese Occupation. It is also a good opportunity to preserve life stories of the elderly. Precious life stories are lost every day as the elderly die or are lost to the ravages of stroke, and other ailments.

My volunteer experience had shown me that I can bring joy to older people. Everyone will have to face having parents and grandparents growing older and becoming dependent on their children. Dealing with this situation has made me a stronger and more caring person. I believe in helping people BUT I am also well aware that it takes more than one person to help, it takes a team. Hopefully, more people can come forward to volunteer to make a difference in their lives.