Heckel Vietnam

[Genirous]

Hi fellow hobbyists from Athens,

during my search for the purchase of 6 wild symphysodon discus (heckel red), last week a friend of mine informed me about a greek store selling HECKEL VIETNAM...

As showed, they have the 5th bar, but the colouration of the body is completely different and of course I didn't want to buy any...

So, it appears that asian discus breeders have accomplished crossing heckel discus in such quantities, to sell them in the global market...

Here are some photos attached showing the specific fish, sorry for the bad quality (from cell-phone)...

[Ryan]

Giorgos,

It doesn't really appear to be a heckel. The middle bar doesn't look as prominent as most heckels. There are some heckel crosses coming out of Asia that do show the bar. The fish in that picture kind of looks like a red turquoise variety.

Ryan

[Polar_Bear]

I would have to agree with Ryan, it looks to be an RT or Turq cross with a wild, but not a Heckel (this certainly doesn't mean that it isn't in fact a Heckel though). One thing I find curious is the price, are discus normally this expensive in Greece?

[Genirous]

Hi Ryan,
thans for the precious info, but what can I say...? Their 5th bar is thicker and darker, but not as much as wilds... Even though, the name is ''Heckel Vietnam''... Anyway, they were not of my interest at all...

Hi Polar_Bear,
unfortunately discus here come in more expensive prices, the particular is believed to be (and actually is) one of the cheapest stores in Greece... I have finally ordered 6 wilds 15cm, for 90euro each and is the best price I could find... How much would they cost there...?

[Polar_Bear]

Generious,
Depending on type anything between 15-70 Euros here, obviously much less. Perhaps because we are closer to South America?

[Genirous]

I believe that one factor is the bigger distance we have from S.America, but also another factor may be the small amount of fishes greek importers are ordering. There may be none of them that import directly from S.America, but possibly from Germany, Chech, Italy etc...

Besides, aquarium hobby here in Greece improves in high rates the last years and also more and better information about the hobby can be obtained from the average or even the amateur hobbyist...

We still have way to go to reach these kind of prices Polar_Bear...

[Apistomaster]

It is too bad the wild discus are so expensive and I'm sure those that reach you in Greece do have to travel through the major European importing centers. There is another side to the equation. Many nice fish are being bred in quantities in Europe and some wild species imports show up more regularly in Europe than they do in the USA.

The grass always looks greener doesn't it? No matter where we live.

[Genirous]

Hi Apistomaster,
unfortunately all discus here are very expensive... Just to make a comparison, a bred discus in jumbo size can cost from 150-300 euro, maybe more... The price I got for heckels 15cm, believed to be non-greek...!!!
But as you pointed out, we do have reach in many fishes and fish-lists are really huge (i could upload one fish-list for you to see, but there is no rar or zip files in attachments), always from european importers though...

We can't have everything, can we...?

[plecocicho]

There are no wild discus in slovenian major pet stores. We all get most of our fish from Singapure, Chech and Germany at brst case scenario. But there are some retailers, usually one man band who sale wild discus at prizes from 60 to 120 or so. So they are not cheap.
lp

[Iovino Gennaro]

Not only it doesn't appear: It isn't a real hekel!!!
In my opinion It's a turquoise or RT x Royal......

[Göran Ekholm]

This is not bay far an Heckel. Some vilds of adder colors get the 5 bar as well. This is howe a Heckel looks like.