Uncle Sam's crazy discount

Scrolling through my email, I noticed Uncle Sam's Discus weekend sale. The greatest being 75% off some of their offerings. This discount makes their already affordable prices a bit ridiculous. I mean, $12.50 for a 4.5 inch green discus where I usually have to pay $25 for a nickle sized juvy? Just crazy. I'm tempted to just order some for the heck of it and see what I'll receive. I wouldn't have any expectations given the low price. Something just seems fishy with the offer. I wish I lived in LA so I could go see their fish in person. Anyways, if anyone buys discus from them please show pics.Attachment 125920

Money should not be an issue when it comes to selecting a discus seller. You usually get what you pay for, but there's more to quality that looks alone. Sick and unhealthy discus can cost you more than the original price in the long run. Here is a thread for reference that is based only upon my personal experience. http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...cus&highlight=

BTW, I have never heard of a "green discus" other than the wild green, and a few months ago they were using the same photo for a different name...

Everyone please remember, commenting in this section is for first hand experience only..:)

Yeah, I agree that the risk of receiving sick discus isn't worth the lower price. It's always a gamble introducing new fish to your fish, especially those that may harbor disease. I was just wondering what the discus what look like in person and how they'd compare to regular priced discus. At that price, one could probably get discus and a whole cabinet full of meds in case they do fall sick.
Just wondering if anyone would be willing to share pics of discus from the said supplier. I tried asking for pics of their discus, but they never responded.
I have reread your post a couple times, and it seems you had a pretty bad experience w/ said supplier. I get that they usually suppliers usually put their best quality as their representative photo, but the discus you received didn't even look like the discus strain. I think instead of receiving a red cover, you actually got another red strain. And the football shape of the discus isn't too great either.

Hi Brian,

Thank you very much for your advice. This seller was one of the “stars” of NADA Chicago and I had a dozen discus in my cart........almost made a mistake.

Much appreciated.

Hi Guys,

I have first hand experience with this seller, and unfortunately I don't think Brian's experience is unique. On the one hand, until recently when I bought some fish from a hobbyist all of the discus I have are from Uncle Sam's and some of them have turned out well, in particular the F1 Alenquers that others mentioned above and which I know some other SD members also purchased when this retailer first started their business and was a sponsor here. Out of the group that I got, a few were so-so in quality but basically okay, and a few were nice to my inexperienced eye. They did not seem to come in with health problems, which was a relief after I lost the first group I had gotten from elsewhere. However, I did find communication to be a problem in that first experience as I tried to follow up with them after ordering. (My tank turned out not to have cycled and I wanted to delay the shipment.) As with Brian, both emails and phone calls didn't succeed in delaying the shipment, even when initiated more than a few days in advance.

More recently, I went ahead and tried again when a similar big sale came along, and I even got a couple of the green ones. The shape of those was actually quite nice. Some blue turqs I also got were okay, and I can say fair for the price. They also seemed clean coming in. Unfortunately, while in QT after a couple of weeks the group started having real problems. I didn't blame the seller for this--it took a couple of weeks to manifest--but then again, they may have been exposed to things along the way and it took time to appear. Anyway, my attempts at treatment in QT didn't go well, and they went from some scratching and darting to infection and I ended up losing 4 out of 5 after about 6-8 weeks. It may have been my mistake: I used filter media from an existing tank that may have bothered them; I tried using PP and may not have done it properly, though I was as careful as I could be; and I probably needed a different antibiotic (besides Kanamycin and salt) when infections later set in. Needless to say, working through that stuff wasn't much fun.

It's too bad, as I actually like the green discus well enough--s/he is the lone survivor, now hanging out with my group--and it looks something like a red cover but with a greenish face. Unfortunately, when I tried to ask them via email about anything they knew about the background of this strain, there was no reply.

Given the wealth of info here on SD it is sometimes easy to imagine that we don't need much in the way of customer service, but at the end of the day I am also not likely to bargain hunt over there again. For experienced folks with limited tank space or particular plans, there's no substitute for really knowing the fish one is going to get. And for folks hoping to start out or stock a new tank, I think I'd rather start out with hobbyist fish (like Al's) that are really small and grow them out, or take advantage of the service that one will get from a sponsor, and just start with slightly smaller fish. (They don't stay 3" for long....)

If one does decide that the sale is too enticing to pass up, I understand, but it is probably wise to realize that you won't get service, and you should be ready with that full medicine cabinet just in case...

Excellent first hand review Bill! I'm not saying every experience will be like mine, but mine was enough to pass my experience along to others. I feel my purchase had all bases covered considering the advance detailed communication we had and I still ended up with a 100% defective order. Even the Red Covers I received were not Mystic Red Covers. I just don't think that any seller that uses the word "quality" in their marketing would ever send out what I received, and my instinct tells me they were just emptying their tank so they could make room for the next batch... Culls should never be sold at any price without full disclosure!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jeep

Money should not be an issue when it comes to selecting a discus seller. You usually get what you pay for, but there's more to quality that looks alone. Sick and unhealthy discus can cost you more than the original price in the long run. Here is a thread for reference that is based only upon my personal experience. http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...cus&highlight=

BTW, I have never heard of a "green discus" other than the wild green, and a few months ago they were using the same photo for a different name...

Everyone please remember, commenting in this section is for first hand experience only..:)

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Brian I have green turqs and not from this seller

Jeanne

I don't like the way those pics were taken. They have their hand over their noses making them look rounder. Seems like they're trying to hide their beaks.

Got 4 from them several years ago and they were fine although the Male RC I received is definitely not a RC (looks like solid Turq) but I still love it. Customer service was pretty darn good at the time as well. Sad to see that somehow their reputation went downhill. I have not had a bad experience with them but with enough going around I'm hesitant.