Has anyone purchased from Mac's Discus?

[Serbi]

Are there any people willing to share their experience with Mac's Discus in Washington? They advertise lots of stains on their web-site (www.macsdiscus.com) but I'd rather be careful than sorry.

Thanks,
Serban

[cobaltblue]

Ive purchased 4 discus from Macs 6 months ago. Steve was a very nice guy and the fish i brought home ive been very satisfied with. I went there personally, i did not have them shipped. Positive experience for me.

[discussmith]

My experience with them was not positive.

[Jarrod]

Originally Posted by discussmith

My experience with them was not positive.

Why was tthat???...I'm considering Steve as well...please PM me your answer...

Thanks Jarrod

[Serbi]

Thanks for the replies... discussmith, could you PM me when you have time to let me know what you didn't like about Mac's Discus?

Thanks,
Serban

[stiver james]

I have not purchased from mac's discus but if your gonna have them shipped. Check out Great Lakes Discus Cary has always done me right. I bought a beautiful breeding pair from him. I must say they are top quality. This of course is just my opinion. He has some nice fish. Thanks Jim

[Mack]

Cary is cutting way back, when I spoke with him last he only had some 5" golden yellows left.

[stiver james]

Wow didn't know he was cutting way back. I wonder why he is doing this? Anyone know? Hope he stays in the business. Jim

[andy123]

I heard that cary is going into breeding goldfish now. why, I don't know, I guess it's just one of those things.. someday I hope he gets back into the discus again. the only thing left to say is, this leaves the door open for someone who is in the hobby, if they want to get as big and as GOOD as cary was..
andy

[mikesmac]

I purchased 7 discus from Mac's back in November and was thrilled with what I got. 6 out of the 7 were very nice and exactly what I wanted, and I can tell you that I am very discerning and am very upfront about that before placing orders with mail order sellers, to the point that some would rather not sell to me...and I would rather have that happen than have them lie to me and sell me crap. With all of the times that I have bought through the internet and / or mail, 6 out of 7 was a very good ratio / experience and so I almost immediately sought to buy more from him.

He talks a good game and told me that some of the ones I was looking to get were already picked through and that I needed to wait for new batches so he could pick out the best ones for me, a service for which I was willing to pay a premium because I have gotten more than my share of low quality, no color, football shaped, and sick discus over the years and am very upfront about my preference of paying more to insure getting what I want instead of "getting a deal" and receiving discus that are just taking up space in my tanks until I end up giving them to the LFS just to free up space in my tanks. Anyways....It took 3 months for some "high quality" ones of the strains I was looking to get to be ready and I just received my second order from him... if I can figure out how to get the file size down to the allowable size to post pictures on this site I will post some showing that 4 of the 16 have a large bulge on their right side where the tail meets the body and is a result of their spine being bent which skews their tails to the left....an obvious genetic deformity...these are all of the ones I received of his "Red Spotted Saffron" variety. I have seen this in Guppys before and know that it gets progressively worse as they grow / age. I can only expect that the deformity in these discus will become even more pronounced as they grow. The 4 "Emperor Red" that I received, have irregularly shaped eyes...meaning that they are not round because they have points and flat spots..I have seen these referred to as "chipped eyes"...again another obvious deformity and sticks out like a sore thumb. This is in addition to having very poor coloration which I am quite positive will never end up looking even close to the picture posted on his site. So that is a full HALF of my order that consists of DEFORMED fish. The 3 "Yellow Red Ribbons".....don't even look close to being the same variety as the one posted on his site. The pattern is completely different, and that is where there is pattern because there are large areas without any...and the fish are a large enough size to where I am again quite positive that the blank areas will not be filling in. The 2 "Thai Yellow"....what a poor excuse for a yellow color and eyes...a dull, very light orange color...nothing like the Bright yellow body color and Bright Red eyes in his posted picture. That leaves 3 discus that he sent in this order that ended up being what I wanted, and the rest...especially the deformed ones...being junk that is wasting space in my tanks. I saw a thread recently about reputable breeders culling their discus...apparently something that Steve doesn't believe in doing as he sold me 8 discus in this order that I would think that any reputable breeder would have culled...or has it become desirable to have Discus with bent spines and chipped eyes...I don't think so. Oh yeah...his response to my complaint..."send them back and I'll give you credit for the ones that arrive alive and in good condition" This is of course at my expense because he's not going to pay for me to ship them back to him, and that's if I would even attempt it. Like I have access to heat packs and oxygen and whatever else goes into shipping water, aside from the airport being 45 miles from my house, things that I'm sure he counts on when making the offer. So I'm out about $1000 for his crap that he dumped on me. I don't think I'll recommend that you buy from him.

Mike

[stiver james]

Mike, I just read your thread on mac's discus. What a shame you had to have that happen to you. I know there are alot of dealers out there like that. It makes my order of 4 fish I just purchased from whom I thought was a good dealer seem like nothing. Two of my fish died right away. And like you said they look nothing like the pic's they post on the web site. Atleast the two that survived for me are atleast pretty good quality. When I called and complained I was told that is too bad and he would give me 50percent off the next fish I purchased. This dealer came up with a price for my order and I sent him a check and asked for an itemized (sp) bill. Needless to say I never got one. After checking what I ordered the price just didn't add up. I was also to receive a air pump. Which was supposedly shipped from the mfg. warehouse. Needless to say I never got it. I will not do business with this breeder again. I won't mention his name but you can email me for information on him. Does anyone know who in their opinion are good reputable dealers in discus? I want people who send top quality fish. I like you mike don't mind paying for quality. I had a good expierence with Great Lakes Discus but, I heard Cary is now gonna raise gold fish. Too bad cause he IMO is great with discus. Stive

[April]

theres others...lots of good guys on this forum..in the same area. like goldmtdiscus.hes a great guy and a sponsor and has lovely discus.ask some of the oldtimers via im for feedback.

[Greg Richardson]

When u see pictues on most websites they are the best of the best.

So to counter that ask to see pictures of the fish YOU will be buying.

If they reply that is to much work pass on them.

Think about it.

Obviously they have good enough customer base where they figure hey I don't need that guys business.

Okay fine he just showed his tell card.
Think of it as a poker game.
You now know what his game is about.

So when something goes wrong with your order is that not the same thought that comes up he has plenty of customers so why worry about u?

Result........u can kiss goodbye your hard earned $$$$$$$!!!

After a breeder sends pictures once or twice and u feel the relationship is at a point where they know what u are looking for then and only then go without pictures.

It's your $$$$$$!!!

Demand respect, accountability for your $$$ cause I guarantee you if something goes wrong having pictures of what u were suppose to get goes a long ways in negotiations, etc.

[Doug A]

My experience was not great with Mac's Discus. I ordered a breeding pair 6 or 7 years ago and got 2 females that were ok quality. When I called him about it he said I could ship him one of the females and he would send me a male or just buy a male from him. I did neither. Won't buy from him again.

Doug

[Kindredspirit]

What I hear so many times from people who have been burned is that the seller will say:"'well on your next order I will give you so much off, or half off, or a discount".... o....k...a...y....then~



As If you would ever purchase from them again! Tell me they are not serious? Do they really believe one will buy from them again if they were not happy the first time around? Do they?


Gimme a break~

Marie~