San Merah?

[foxbat426]

Ive been away from the hobby for a time and was wondering if San Merah are still being produced. I had a beautiful pair quite a few years ago from Discus USA (not sure if he is still around). Does anyone know of a reliable breeder who has any? one of my favorites.

[seanyuki]

I haven’t seen anyone selling San Merah these days, only Red Cover discus.

[Charlyc11]

Try here

https://www.discusmadness.com/product/san-merah/

[CliffsDiscus]

Try here

https://www.discusmadness.com/product/san-merah/

The San Merah doesn't have any stress bars.

[RogueDiscus]

Thanks for that Cliff. For OP, it may depend on what you call San Merah. I had a few several years ago from Kenny, but couldn't remember their specifics. A solid brown base with red cover I think (?)

And maybe Cliff can tell us, but I think they may have come from specific parent lines.

[pastry]

No stress bars... but I came across some in the past with eyebars only and, although probably don't qualify as SMs, I freak'n loooove the look. But yeah, hardly see true SMs anymore... just "the name"

[seanyuki]

From what I have read Great reference discus book , history of the San Merah Discus, Singapore Discus In The New Millennium by Dr.Cillford Chan and photographs by Johnny Yip.....
Asian producers shortly noticed the most important feature about Ghost Discus: The fact that these fish were unstoppable, completely flat-colored, non-bars and very popular red fish!
As the first stage of this, the ′′ Virgin Red Discus ′′ was crossed by Ghost Red Discus with less bar numbers. The Virgin Red Discus is not a very attractive look, but has been prefered as a brown discus without bars and stripe (stripe). Virgin Red's unwanted main problem was the majority of black pigments. This also prevented getting a correct, light red color.
Asian producers have followed two different ways to make red more intense and perfect;
Some of them cross the F2s of the wild Green Discus with light ground color yellow with Virgin Red. After all, ′′ Rose Red Discus ′′ has emerged.
Another producer came to the conclusion by mating the F2s of the wild Browns with Virgin Red with ground color light. This producer was Hai Khoon Tan from Singapore. Hai Khoon was a very good manufacturer but wasn't a good marketer. He is aware of the potential of sales of Discus in his hand, so he went on a path to partnership with See Cheow San. They named it ′′ San Merah ′′ to market the fish, which is San's Red. Lim Chu Kang built a production house at Acrotech Park. They only had two fish in their hands. While one of these couples gave San Merah almost a hundred percent, the other couple was only giving away a small amount of San Merah. Using foster parents for a long time, they produce fish from these two couples between 500-1000 every month. In the end, as in many partnerships, this partnership is also broken. Hai Khoon Tan changed the name of the fish to ′′ Red Cover ′′ as a real producer and continued his way. As you can see from here, San Merah and Red Cover are actually the same fish.
It was all producers dream to get a better quality red disco. One of the producers working this road matched Golden Sunrise and San Merah, a improved varieties of Golden Discus. He named the fish ′′ Red Passion ′′ (Red Passion). This was Ivan Seah the producer.
Another aspect of the work done with this passion was to mature Rose Red Discus with the F1s obtained from the Golden Discus crossing with Marlboro Red Discus. The discus that emerged as a result of this match was named ′′ Red Melon ′′ (Red Watermelon).
Another dimension of these works was to cross Virgin Red with Golden Discus and to re-mating the pups that came out later. As a result of these attempts, the orange fish called ′′ Tangerine Discus ", ′′ Tangerine Dream ", which is called Mandalina.
I think these statements are clearly showing how the mutation we call Ghost Discus contributed to producing a red Solid, flat-colored disco.
I also hope that these comments to my producers brothers will create a guide while crossing red fish and answer some questions in the heads of red varieties. HTH.

PS
In loving memories of a legend , Grandmaster of Singapore Discus Tan Hai Khoon.Left us 09-03-2016 but will always be remembered.

Hai Khoon Tan.jpeg

[jeep]

No stress bars... but I came across some in the past with eyebars only and, although probably don't qualify as SMs, I freak'n loooove the look. But yeah, hardly see true SMs anymore... just "the name"

There's several sellers and breeders claiming to sell San Merah's, including some with excellent reputations, but they are either Rose Reds or Virgin Reds with 8-12 bars, or Red Covers with a single eye bar. Unfortunately, the name has become a marketing tool to command more money. As Cliff and Francis said, a San Merah is totally barless.

Armando picked some Red Covers up a few years ago and 2 of them appeared to be barless. Unfortunately, he disappeared before the fish grew out so we couldn't see if they matured into what could almost be considered a San Merah...

[foxbat426]

Thanks Everyone for the info on San Merah's. I too don't mind the stress bars at times. As long as that deep brown color is there. I'm guessing it's probably impossible to find actual San Merah's these days. Good to see Cliff still around. He helped me tremendously a few years back when I was having trouble raising fry artificially. In fact he helped with a pair of "San Merah's" and raising their babies. I kick myself for selling my fish a few years ago, otherwise i'd probably still have the strain.