Looking for quality Wild looking discus for my tank

[Mangalman]

I have been searching for a discus strain for my tank but I am not sure exactly what they might be called? The best way I can describe (my perfect discus) was seen recently on a video out there on wild discus by TMapet and seem to be called Red Alenqueler's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO_r...7UOEOWD7mlqjq-
Anyway I am more confused then ever. Some 'wilds' in photos can look so brown and drab, or the opposite dark and non attractive etc. These gorgeous fish on TMapet's site have great color contrast turquoise and strong body colors and the horizontal bars not so strongly pronounced and love the very pronounced black strip around the outer fins. Is lighting part of this show tank that makes them so beautiful, I am sure that is part of it but also genes and diet and care. Where can I find some stock like this? Some experts seem to advise staying away from imported or wild caught fish as being more troubles, certainly for someone as inexperienced as myself. I have a planted tank C02, canister filter, white pool sand, and a nice school of healthy cardinal tetras and a few black tetra and 10 ember tetra. I would absolutely love to add this (alenqueler) or whatever the breed would be. Where can I find some 3 inch (4?) stock for shipping? I ran into this (quote) which further confuses me as to what strain? >>The aquarium strains sold as "Alenquer' Discus have a strong influence of red turquoise ancestry so while still attractive Discus they are not quite the same thing. Many develop extensive horizontal blue striations betraying their true ancestry. They are an amalgamation of wild Alenquer Discus cross bred with red turquoise. The red that occurs among many wild Discus is strongly influence by diet and other environmental factors as much or more than by their heredity. Any leads would be so helpful. thank you. Am I looking for alenqueler or cuipeau? Looking forward to hearing from you. Sorry I couldn't find how to delete the larger second photo?

[Larry Bugg]

Alenquer is a region along the amazon that is know for producing some of the nicest wild red discus. Cuipeua is a smaller area in the Alenquer region that has some of the sought after wild red discus. Now comes the problem. There are domestic discus sold under the name of Alenquer which are not wild discus from the Alenquer region but are a domestically bred discus that was bred to look like a wild discus. The one pictured above is a wild red from the Alenquer region. You need to also be aware that not all wild reds from the Alenquer region are going to exhibit the red coloring or halo that you like so much. Some will be more of a brown and some more of a orange/yellow. The more red the more expensive. Your search is at a bad time though because the wild discus season has ended and not many will have any available. You will also find it difficult to find them at 3 to 4". Wilds are usually marketed in the 5" or larger range. Uncle Sams Discus just listed some 4" Red Alenquer that I believe may be F1's. http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...Price-List-*** You can ask Darwin and he will let you know. My favorite pair right now is a F1 pair from them that I got a couple of months ago.





Mine have more pattern and striations than the one you have pictured above but wild alenquer reds range from solid to royal or fully striated.

[Mangalman]

Larry,

Thank you so much for your reply. I am going to give Sam a call. I do think the F1-Red alenqueler will be what I also am interested in. I think they will be a nice fish. I do know what you mean about the problems with finding that (pure) strain. I'll let you know what I find or decide and I'll keep you posted. Great news
Llewellyn

[Second Hand Pat]

The fish pictured in the first post is one of my fish from a couple years ago. It is indeed a wild Cuipeua as mentioned by Larry. It is also featured in this thread, second post, third picture http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...hlight=Cuipeua.
Pat

[Mangalman]

Pat,
Your Cuipeua are stunning! I've actually never kept discus and hope I'm not going to be disappointment. I currently have a nice school of 30 cardinal tetra, some embers and small group of black neons...in a planted tank. Are the Cuipeua harder to keep than the more modern hybrids? I am not sure about wild caught either, am guessing they could be another can of worms. I will take the plunge with something and am ready to go for it. I know now that those Cuipeua are my absolute favorite of all the discus breeds anyway. Llewellyn

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Llewellyn, Cuipeua are wild discus as Larry explained. if you are unsure about keeping wild discus then best to get your feet wet with domestics. The F1 Alenquer from Uncle Sam should suit you for now.
Pat

[Mangalman]

Hi Larry,

I haven't heard from Sam yet. Too early in the day as we are on Mountain time. How many discus can I keep in a 75 gal? I thought a minimum would be 5 to keep the family group in tack. Is 7 pushing it if I already have a school of 30 cardinal's, 10 embers, 4-5 black neons, 6 little catfish all in a planted tank with three Amazon driftwood displacing some of the water. If the 4" are (F-1) I may go with those and or the larger F1s Darwin has listed. thanks.

[Mangalman]

Hi Pat, Thank you. Yes that sounds like good wisdom to go with the F1 Alenquer to get my feet wet - and they are quite beautiful too.

[coldwarkid]

Hi Larry,

I haven't heard from Sam yet. Too early in the day as we are on Mountain time. How many discus can I keep in a 75 gal? I thought a minimum would be 5 to keep the family group in tack. Is 7 pushing it if I already have a school of 30 cardinal's, 10 embers, 4-5 black neons, 6 little catfish all in a planted tank with three Amazon driftwood displacing some of the water. If the 4" are (F-1) I may go with those and or the larger F1s Darwin has listed. thanks.

Hi.
I'm perhaps not as knowledgeable as many on this forum but I feel you may be pushing it with 7 discus and all those other fish in a 300 litre tank. 6 is a good number but you may find yourself doing a lot of water changes.
Stendker of Germany do some amazing tank bred and hardy Alenquer and Tefe discus and there's a big importer in the US whose name escapes me at the moment but others here or a quick google will put you in touch I'm sure. It's a shame you're not in the UK like me because one of the top breeders over here, Steve Punchard, specialises in strains developed from mostly wild stock, some of which are stunning and I'm sure would be right up your street.

[coldwarkid]

Discus Hans is the importer for Stendker. I know nothing about him but I've kept Stendker discus in the past and they are top notch.

[Mangalman]

Larry,
Do you think the hallowing can sometime be recessive in that it won't show up or be strongly pigmented or do they with time and age and diet and conditioning get dark as we like usually like them? just curious.

[Larry Bugg]

Recessive probably isn't the right term but at times the halo may be lighter and at others darker. In particular, when they go into spawning colors it will darken.

[brewmaster15]

You might want to check these out...
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...ural-quot-Pack

[oliverk]

Did you check out the natural pack being auctioned? Did a quick find on page and the word auction does not show up......