Original Wattley Turquoise strian?

[MGKelly]

Hans, I ordered directly from Jack, who helped acclimate them when they arrived.
All good things eventually come to an end, BUT thank goodness we still have the Stenker Brilliant turquoise one of my favorites!

J

[Chicago Discus]

IMO I think the Wattley turquoise look very similar to the Stendker colbalts........Josie

[MGKelly]

That an age old question, "which can first, the Wattley or the Stenker?"
I personally think the egg came first, but what do i know.

J

[Chicago Discus]

That an age old question, "which can first, the Wattley or the Stenker?"
I personally think the egg came first, but what do i know.

J

+1 +1 im with ya LOL....josie

[Cosgrovb]

Are those beauties Flachen or Cobalts?

[Chicago Discus]

Are those beauties Flachen or Cobalts?

Colbalts........Josie

[Cosgrovb]

For anyone asking themselves, What did Wattley's Turqs look like, here is my book report.

[Discus-Hans]

That an age old question, "which can first, the Wattley or the Stenker?"
I personally think the egg came first, but what do i know.

J

You know, that's a great question. You know, you never know, when I found Stendker I was already for a while into the Discus. Father Stendker was never a guy who wanted the spot lights, he did his thing, sold to stores and whole sale. Later (when I grew up lol lol) I started to put things together. Saw the "big shots" showing of their Discus and thought ....... wait a second......... those are Stendker's.

One time I asked one of the "Big Shots" in those days, hey tell me..... those look very much like the Stendkers............. reaction: uhhhu, but heyyy listen, I paid for them, they are in my tanks so they are now ..... XXXXXX Discus. That was the first time I thought: get out of here.....

And you know what, that happened a lot in those days, I paid for them, they are in my tanks so they are now XXXXX Discus. Let me make this even worse, it still happens lol lol lol

Hans

PS remember father Heinz Stendker started breeding almost 50 years ago.

[TNT77]

You know, that's a great question. You know, you never know, when I found Stendker I was already for a while into the Discus. Father Stendker was never a guy who wanted the spot lights, he did his thing, sold to stores and whole sale. Later (when I grew up lol lol) I started to put things together. Saw the "big shots" showing of their Discus and thought ....... wait a second......... those are Stendker's.

One time I asked one of the "Big Shots" in those days, hey tell me..... those look very much like the Stendkers............. reaction: uhhhu, but heyyy listen, I paid for them, they are in my tanks so they are now ..... XXXXXX Discus. That was the first time I thought: get out of here.....

And you know what, that happened a lot in those days, I paid for them, they are in my tanks so they are now XXXXX Discus. Let me make this even worse, it still happens lol lol lol

Hans

PS remember father Heinz Stendker started breeding almost 50 years ago.

Sad that people do that. But some people will take credit for anything. And I had boss quite a few years ago that did that with horses. She ended up in jail lol.

[Discus Origins]

25 years ago, than you almost had probably the last Discus bred by Mr. Jack. Think he stopped breeding more as 20 years ago.

Hans

Made me dig in my old storage box Hans...this is one of my most prized possessions. Thats me (with a lot more hair lol) and Jack in his garage back in 1994 when I picked up my fish. He just called the turquoise strain 'high fin', no fancy other names at that time. That's the envelope he put my certificate and stamped it with his chinese name for me. We chatted for about two hours about all his adventures and I visited him several times after just to shoot the breeze. Just a great guy who didn't mind sharing any of his 'secrets'.

[MGKelly]

Hans for a second I thought this was an autobiography. LOL

You know, that's a great question. You know, you never know, when I found Stendker I was already for a while into the Discus. Father Stendker was never a guy who wanted the spot lights, he did his thing, sold to stores and whole sale. Later (when I grew up lol lol) I started to put things together. Saw the "big shots" showing of their Discus and thought ....... wait a second......... those are Stendker's.

One time I asked one of the "Big Shots" in those days, hey tell me..... those look very much like the Stendkers............. reaction: uhhhu, but heyyy listen, I paid for them, they are in my tanks so they are now ..... XXXXXX Discus. That was the first time I thought: get out of here.....

And you know what, that happened a lot in those days, I paid for them, they are in my tanks so they are now XXXXX Discus. Let me make this even worse, it still happens lol lol lol

Hans

PS remember father Heinz Stendker started breeding almost 50 years ago.

[Discus-Hans]

Made me dig in my old storage box Hans...this is one of my most prized possessions. Thats me (with a lot more hair lol) and Jack in his garage back in 1994 when I picked up my fish. He just called the turquoise strain 'high fin', no fancy other names at that time. That's the envelope he put my certificate and stamped it with his chinese name for me. We chatted for about two hours about all his adventures and I visited him several times after just to shoot the breeze. Just a great guy who didn't mind sharing any of his 'secrets'.

Mr. Wattley was and always will be one of the nicest guys in the Discus World in my book.

Met him a few times at shows, but he probably doesn't even remember who I'm lol lol

Hans

[MGKelly]

By today’s standard the original Wattley turquoise are lackluster, but they have sentimental value to me. It kind of brings me back to another time. This website is great and I’ve purchased fish from Kenny, Hans and Dan Espinosa. Someone on another thread mentioned there are better options with the currently selection of discus compared to the original Wattley strain and agree. Wattley’s fish attracted me to the hobby in the beginning and now only a few have kept the strain alive. Hopefully I can find some and keep it going another 5, 10 or 20 years. Then again by that time they’ll be a even greater selection of options.

J

[Tommo]

Here is a poor picture I took of some of the youngers I'd kept back from a spawn for future breeding. The pic was taken in the early 1980s (I think) long before digital cameras - used a cheap 'instamatic' film camera and scanned it years later.

Turks.jpg

There are 10 fish that were grown on in this 48" x 18" x 15" tank. Note I'm not one for wiping down all the glass on an aquarium, only the front and bottom. These fish received a maximum of 33% water change per day and were fed on a basic diet of beef heart and flake.

As far as I can remember the parents were from Germany. Don't you think that they look very similar to some of the pics above?

[CliffsDiscus]

That an age old question, "which can first, the Wattley or the Stenker?"
I personally think the egg came first, but what do i know.e

J

You have to go back to the 70's, Jack Wattley, MacGrabel(powderblues), Lenny's(Albino). The original Wattley were already on the market back then, in the late
80's Jack came out with the Coerula(not the original but still from Jack). Aquarium Rio in Germany were selling Schmidt Focke Discus. In the early 90 there was
a export (Murisaki) that sent one thousand U.S.Discus each month to Japan.

Cliff