How do you know????

[Shive]

I read the great post on what to look for in discus...But what if you buy mail order??? How do you know the fish the breeder picks out is the best he has to offer? I was looking at aquabid.com. MajesticEnterprises(Majestic Discus) has great offers like "30 mixed" or "16 Oriental Rounds" Bruce claims that "his knowledge of diet allows for early color up" Could this be hormones? How do you know, I want to get a good mix for my 120 I would like to get them in pairs as juvies. RedTurks, PigeonBloods, SnakeSkins, Dragons, mostly pattern Discus. In order to get that kind of order from 1 breeder(which is suggested) I need to go to a HEPS or MAJESTIC or DALLASDISCUS. But how do you know your gonna be happy with there choices? How do you know if they use hormones? You can always ask...and they could lie about it... How do you know? Maybe I'm being silly...but if I lay down 300.00... I WANT TO KNOW!

Thanks
Shive

[Rick_May]

About all you can do is read what everyone that has bought fish from them have said. Do your research and when you find on that is sending you good fish, be a repeat customer. I was really worried about getting my first fish mail order, in the past I've drove up to 10 hours to visit a breeder, but I won some fish from Cary Strong at Great lakes Discus and the fish Cary sent were better then the fish I'd spend a whole weekend to go get. Just do your research, and go with the breeders with the good reps...

[RyanH]

Hey Shive,

Where do you live? Maybe there is a breeder near you and you could go pick out your own fish.

[Shive]

Hi Ryan, I live in Columbus, Ohio... I have looked around for breeders and I have found a few like Discus by Design. The problem is that I want to get between 15 to 16 juvies of many strains. The smaller breeder usually only has 4 or 5 strains going and maybe only 2 or three strains of juvies available! So in order to get all the fish I want at one time I pretty much have to go to a BIG hatchery!

Thanks
Shive

[RyanH]

Do you get up to Detroit often? Cary live there and from what I understand he always makes roadtrips fun.

[Carol_Roberts]

Have you checked out the the banners at the top and bottom of this page? That's who I buy from.

[Mark_B]

Hey Shive, have you tried Bill Deem? He lives in Columbus.

Mark

[Shive]

Ryan: I could make the trip to Detroit... but I'm not sure when and I don't know how cost effective that would be! But hey "It could happen!"

Carol, First off let me tell you what great site this is and how much I appreciate your work as a moderator. I have checked out the banners just like I have checked many other banners. The problem with being new is I don't really know how any of them operate. There are sites like Fisho Tribe and others from overseas that I'm afraid of because of their different environmental conditions. I guess I'm just thinking I could get a 300.00 bag of CULLS that are alive and healthy and nobody else wants! I'm chasing this dream on a shoe string budget so I have to make my bucks count. My wife said so! So I'm just trying to make sure I don't miss something that might tip me off to a bad situation. Like when this Bruce guy claims he knows the Discus diet and how to get "early color up" that sends up red flags to me! But should it ???? I don't really know! So I will keep looking and calling till I can get comfortable with what I'm doing!

Mark, I did not know about Bill Deem I will try to look him up. Thanks for the tip!

Shive

[RyanH]

Hey Shive,

Keep the cost of shipping in mind when comparing costs. I just had 9 Angel Blue Diamonds shipped to me this morning from Paulmat. Shipping costs came to 95 bucks! This was UPS overnight but that is still damn expensive.

You wouldn't spend 95 dollars on gas even if you had to drive 8 hours round trip. Plus you would get to see his operation and pick his brain for a couple of hours.

[Martinphillip03]

Shrive, Being new myself I had the same questions on mail order. Since you live in Colombus, I would give Cary of Great Lake Discus a call and make a road trip. I haven't heard of any complaints about him, except one. He can't count, you always get a few extra discus. :) Being new you can ley Cary pick them out. I heard he is very helpful.
As for the other breeders you can post a message asking people opiniuns on a certain breeder. Give out your e-mail address so they can directly send it to you. I think you will get the most honest answers that way. Good luck

Marty

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

I was recently up in Columbus this past Christmas visiting family. While we were there we wanted to go and buy some fish from Cary. It took us about 3.5 hours one way. It was well worth the trip! Cary let us spend all the time we needed in the hatchery just browsing back and forth between every tank trying to decide what to buy. He was very helpful and patient in our decision and was especially patient towards my mom who kept asking, "what color is this again???" LOL. He is the nicest guy you'll ever meet, plus his customer service is even better.
Since we live in Orlando, FL, we had to have them shipped. Well, we had to hold off on shipping for a week until we got back home, then we had to wait even longer due to the cold snap up North. Once it broke freezing, he shipped them and added extra heat packs and they arrived alive and well the next day. He even called us the same day to follow up on how the fish were doing.
Cary is currently moving to a larger facility, so give him a call and let him know what you want to do. HTH

-Ryan

[Shive]

Hey everyone, Thanks for the great responses ! It looks like Ryan was right after all "Can you say ROADTRIP!" Motown and Great Lake Discus I feel better about it already :D!

I still have alot to do before I buy fish though! I just had my first set back. The tank and stand I was getting got sold by accident :-[. So I bought a bigger one instead ;D! 125 gal Perfecto with Pine stand and glass canopy's for 450.00 72x18x24. The only problem is it does not come with lights. I need to get 2 36 inch double light bars and they are an unaccounted for expense :-\. So now I'm trying figure out if I can find some used ones.

Here is a question. What if I used 1 48" double strip and left the outside edges of the tank a little darker ? I could keep the drift wood with the Java Fern and Moss in the center of the tank! That way the discus would have alternatives to the lights intensity. Do you think the discus would hide in the corners all the time? Well lots to do... thanks for all the great advice!

Shive

[RyanH]

Honestly Shive, I would leave all of that out of your tank until your fish grow up or you are just asking for major problems.

To answer your question:

I use lights that don't run the length of the tank all the time. It gives the fish a place to go where they don't have bright lights beating down on them all the time.

[Carol_Roberts]

I agree with Ryan ;D

[Martinphillip03]

Shrive, Spend a week researching this website. I have no discus yrt. But I have learned stuff that helps me with my fish keeping. One thing I learned is that threr are two phases to discus keeping. Grow out and Maintaining the grow outs. The feeding is different, the tempeture is different, and the water changes are different, tank setup can be different. Amoung other things. Myself I'm not prepared to take on this challenge yet. One day I might.
Good luck,

Marty

[Shive]

Marty, I hear what your saying and I agree. I have 2- 30 gal tanks ready to be setup. My plan was to grow out the juvies in those while The big tank cycles and the plants get situated. As I said in other posts I plan to have a bare bottom tank. The plants will grow on the drift wood. So wile the 125 is cycling the The juvies are growing out in the other room. This gives me some great advantages 1) Smaller WC's since 50% of 30 is a lot less than 50% of 125! 2) Easier to medicate and cheaper 3 ) easier to clean after feedings 5 x a day! 4) No rush on the big tank. The list go's on I read the same stuff you did! I won't have that many plants but I will have some! Hopefully my discus won't become stunted at 3.5 " cause I don't plan to put them in untill there 4.5" to 6" if they get that big! I really appreciate what you and Ryan and Carol are saying! But I don't see plants as this big taboo , I think you have to be smart in how you do it! Even then it could be a mistake but how are you ever gonna know? Worse case I pull the drift wood and the plants and try something else! I wish you the best of luck with your tank. I can tell your going to be very successful, please keep me posted and take lot's of pictures :D...I'll try to do the same. 8)

Shive

[April]

welcome shive.. and you have been given the greatest advice on where to get your discus .
cary is the man. he has healthy great fish..and hes a fantastic guy. and..he has healthy fish. and seeing his fish you will be in awe. you will also see fry..etc etc. and he will give you tons of advice from the heart.
and when your back..we want a full report.
most people on this forum who post regularly have gotten fish from cary or..great advice and friendship.
so..for sure go see Cary!! he has alot of strains. i know you will be happy.
and..any of the banners on this forum are great choices of who to buy from.
those are who most of us buy from. ;D 8) :thumbsup:

[Wahter]

Shive - I haven't gotten any fish from Cary, but I've visited his place and he has several different strains to pick from. I don't think you'd be disappointed. Plus you can talk with him and find out how he's keeping his fish - water changes, pH, temperature, etc.... I am sure there are some other smaller breeders in Ohio, but if you have the time, a visit to Detroit is a good suggestion. Just jump on I-75 up to motown. Cary's place is pretty easy to find too. :) In my opinion, it's always best to be able to go to a breeder's facilities and choose which fish you like - what's attractive to one person could be just mediocre to others.

If Cary has a fault, it's because he is one of those U of M fans! I think everyone in Columbus knows what school is in Ann Arbor! ;) ;) ;)