I did ask what food he fed and if it had colour enhancers, he said he only fed his own beefheart mix and Hikari Bio Gold (I *think* that's the brand of pellet he said, he called me when I was sleeping in on my day off to schedule the shipping so I was half-asleep when I talked to him haha).
So there is some astaxanthin in the Hikari pellet but not a massive amount.
Judging by his stock photos it looks like he keeps yellow and white discus together with the reds, so I'm inclined to believe that he doesn't use a ton of colour enhancers, since if he did his yellow and white discus would turn orange.
I'm pretty sure he uses a light on the tank that enhances the red though, so I'll post pics of the fish in natural light when they arrive.
I'm still waiting on the shipment, aaaaany minute now...apparently FedEx was delayed because there was lightning in the surrounding area?
Last edited by MilkPudding; 11-29-2017 at 01:41 PM.
Since we are discussing about Colour Enhancers, I hope everyone understands that all top distributors that brings the fish from Asia specifically, which have really nice reds are fed with colour enhancing food ! According to me nothing wrong in doing that, to naturally have a fish with deep/bright Reds is impossible.
Nice fish btw OP thanks for sharing your experience with a new distributor.
Sanjay21--I'm not the OP of the thread, just someone who happened to purchase for the sale OP was asking about
I FINALLY received my fish, FedEx was delayed like 5 hrs due to weather.
There were two bags that were double-layered with a layer of newspaper inbetween the bags, and one bag that was triple-layered. One each of the double-layered bags and triple-layered bags was leaking; Jimmy suggested that most likely the discus pierced the bags with their spines due to stress from the extended shipping time. The fish I received today were large, around 4.5-5"; I have experienced leaking bags from other very reputable sellers, with much smaller fish than I received today, so I'm willing to write this off as something that just happens. The bags were positioned so that despite the leak there was still enough water for the fish. They were packed in a styrofoam box with foam peanuts, newspapers, and a heat pack.
Because of the shipping delay I don't have time to take photos now since I have to go to work and I want the fish to rest so I turned the lights down, but I just wanted to update that the fish ARE accurately pictured on the Jimmy Discus website (the reds are clearly enhanced with lighting, but I was expecting that and anyone looking to buy should have realistic expectations because it's obvious lol). The fish Jimmy sent me are clearly the same ones he photographed for me before shipping and are beautiful and seem healthy.
The Golden Snakeskin is taking a few stints lying down at the bottom of my tank right now which is not surprising because his bag had the least water in it so the pressure change is an adjustment for him; the Fuji Apple and Super Fire Red are STUNNING and swimming around like they are totally fine, and are easily two of the most gorgeous fish in my tank right now.
Will absolutely update with photos tonight or tomorrow morning! Just wanted to check in and let everyone know the fish arrived safely.
Very nice MilkPudding ! I think you just found a new gem. Thanks for updating and answering us all the questions. Can't wait to see the upcoming photos.
Photos!
Super Fire Red
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Fuji Apple
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Golden Snakeskin
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The Snakeskin is looking a bit worse for wear, seems like he caught a bacterial infection--if you'll recall he was the one whose bag leaked the most so he was probably under quite a bit of stress. Nothing clean water and a little salt can't cure, and he's recovered from his shipping vertigo and is behaving normally.
Super Fire Red, under red-blue LEDs
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Nice fish there ! I like the yellow snakeskin.