opinions on Mac's discus?

[jjohns]

Has anyone here ever ordered discus from Mac's discus? I just stumbled on their website and they look like they carry a lot of varieties and their prices don't seem to bad for a hatchery. I have been burnt once before from an on-line store so I want to check out the next one well before I place an order. Can anyone give me some insight to Mac's discus?

[subcooler]

I've never dealt with this vendor.
IMO- The only way to go is with the sponsor's on this forum!
Since your paying shipping either way-Why not give the sponsors here a try?
I'm very satisfied with my dealings with this guy:
Kenny's discus-He currently has beautiful fish for sale & is great with customer service!:D
Best of luck with your new fish!
Rob

[Turok]

read my message:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=63455

[kaceyo]

Hi jjohns,
I would stick with a Simply sponcer. Not because no one else has good fish, but because you can get direct feedback from people who have dealt with them, and the knowledge that with sponcers people keep going back to them for a reason.
As Rob mentioned, Kenny's Discus just got a big shippment in. Jack at KC Discus always has good homegrown discus available, just to name a couple.
Good Luck,

Kacey

[Turok]

Kacey, I live in Seattle to.
I where would you buy your Discus from?
Would you buy local? or from simply sponsors?
Have you been to Ken's? Mac's?
Are there private breeder around that are selling?
Would you drive to April's in BC?
I looking for a few more to add to my tank.

thx
ed

[April]

macs is no longer a hatchery. he imports .
just my opinion..but you cant get better fish and service from some of the sponsors . one fedex delivery away. you can also look in the product review section for positives or negatives.
alot of the pics on some websites..are not the actual fish you are receiving. thats one thing to watch out for. those are pics of the strain. not the ones in their tanks. some of the sponsors on here..or most those are the actual pics of the fish received. and pics of the fish they would send out. and..theres also the trained eye thing..it takes a long time to learn to see discus. look beyond the spots and fancy colours to their shape etc.
another concern id ask about from whoever im getting from is they are all from the same hatchery..same source.. some farms that some importers get from..go around and collect strains from all different farms. huge risk of disease and some having different antibodies.
i know for instance some of our sponsors get .are prequarantined and cautions are taken to the extreme to be sure they are healthy. if you have healthy fish at your house..and the others are carriers..of something..your existing stock usually are the ones to suffer.
if you want healthy homebred from an actual hatchery we have a few sponsors who are doing home breeding. ie. jack of discus kc and angela and andrew of green country.
another hint is to go throuugh the photo gallery and see who got what from who .

[kaceyo]

Turoc,
Yes, I would buy from sponsers, local breeders or dealers with well known reputations for quality time and again to return customers.
If you don't know who the non-sponser quality fish come from then you can't do better than to buy from sponsers here.
In the case of Mac's, I know where he gets his fish from and prefer others discus.
I've never been to Ken's but he has been to my place and bought fish from me. He import's from the same breeder Mac's does and he breeds some of his own too, which I would be more likely to buy. Local breeders can be a good source as long as you know what to look for.
I would definitly take a trip to April's if she had strains I was looking for since I know she carries fish from quality sources I'm familiar with and takes good care of her stock.
HTH,

Kacey

[ShinShin]

I've been to Mac's several times, and Ken's once. Mac has some discus in stock, but mostly places a weekly order as he receives customers orders. The fish you order today may be in Thailand at the time and delivered the following week.

When I was at Ken's I bought some fish that turned out to be very average. They were the best he had at the time. That was over a year ago. I don't know what he has now.

Mat

[Masonic]

ive ordered from macs before . ill be going to a sponsor from this site my next order..

[Apistomaster]

You now know Mac is an importer of other breeders' discus and not the breeder himself. He shows several wild types but the fish you receive will not ever look like his Red Spotted Greens, Tefe' Greens or Royal Blues to cite just three examples.
The only thing going for you is there will be no shipping but if you choose a green or blue discus you can ask for anything you want but be prepared to receive red turquoise.
I wouldn't buy anything he sells for over $25 each. Actually, I would never buy discus from there again, period.
I went in on 18 discus with a friend and out of four mated pairs, only one was fertile. That pair raised two spawns then spawned and ate their eggs for the next six months. Then that pair stopped spawning and hasn't spawned in two years.
All this is an indication to me that the fish we received had been exposed to hormones at some point before we received them which chemically castrated the fish making them worthless as breeders.
We ordered from them because the shipping distance was short since we are both in Eastern Washington.

[ewok]

wow i'm glad i read this post about mac's discus... i was so happy when i found that he had tefe greens, but now i'm not sure i want to order from him anymore...

[Al M.]

I was going to stay out of this thread but I can't do it any longer.......
All I can say is I visited Macs about 4 years ago, Did I come away with any fish? NO......
That it self should say enough.... would I visit again if I was in the area nope........

[Northwestcoastdisc]

i agreed with everyone,

i asked him where did he get the tefe, rsg, etc he never answer my questions.

i high recommand you can buy disucs from breeders or good quatly importors discus like kenny, me, april and others. We want to honest and sell to you good qualty discus. We want you are happy sataisfated with the fish and us too.

cheers
Duncan

[rowedder]

Hey Everyone,
I"ve gone there and was not very happy about his prices, they were more than what he had posted on his site.

[paulatseattle]

Hi all ~ just to let you know - i will be visiting Macs this weekend. I will also be asking him some questions. Being VERY new to this i will be carefull as to my buying. Thanks to this site and the "what not to buy" i will be judgefull. I will post my findings and if i buy anything.

[jimmyjoe]

I bought my very first discus from Mac's, purchased 20 and received 24. I have to say this though, it was many, many years ago. When I got my first discus from them I was impressed to say the least, all the fish arrived in great shape, the packaging was exceptional. I also have to say friends that I referred to Mac's were not impressed with them, no free fish if you bought a large order and the fish them selves were below par, in their words and were not happy at all. Maybe, I was lucky maybe new mangement are in the picture who can say. With the sponser's here on Simply why go anywhere else but that's my opinion......................Jim in Ohio

[smsimcik]

I posted my experience with Mac's last year on another thread several pages down. But I would like to repeat it for any newbies to the forum. If you need new discus, stick with one of the sponsors.

I ordered from Mac's about 3 years ago. He send me 8, 2.5" discus in one bag with no oxygen. It was the damnedest thing I've ever seen. All of the fish were in bad shape. Four of the fish were dead within 24 hrs. When I tried to call him to see what he would do about it, he never returned my call. The remaining fish were so damaged from the shipping, they were stunted and I eventually had to get rid of them. He also substituted 2 of the fish with inferior fish and didn't bother to tell me. I don't know how you can stay in business treating people like that.

[paulatseattle]

I bought a few ftom Mac's - Very nice man. So far i have gad my fish for a couple of weeks and are doing well - and he said for me to call if i have questions. But - I see Simply have a sponsor here in Washington - i will use them next.