Looking for credible mail order Discus dealer

[vegaebh]

I purchased four "Ocean Green" discus from LiveAquaria after receiving a 20% off discount email and seeing that the Ocean Greens were marked down $20 to $49.99. I also bought 14 cardinal tetras and two gold rams.

The discus were received very thin (see attached jpg) but had no bacterial infections and would still eat grindel worms. One of the rams was received with fin and tail rot.

1 of the tetras was DOA in the bag. The tetras are fat and happy after a week and the gold ram with the fin problem is now fully healed after a week. All the water parameters in the tank are and have been fine.

Unfortunately I can't say the same for the Discus. They quit eating after 4 days. I called LiveAquaria and asked if I could euthanize the fish since I didn't see any chance of recovery. I was told to put them in QT and let them die before they would honor the 14 day "stay alive" warranty.

A couple of days, and two email warranty claims later (with pictures of dead discus fish in zip lock bags) I received an email asking me to return the bodies, which I was happy to do since they were in the fridge waiting for the last two to die.

Here's my problem: Although the fish did eat for several days after receipt it was painfully obvious that they had not been eating before shipment.

I don't know the motive for the $20 discus markdown, but I suspect it was because they were not eating.

I also have an ethical problem. If LiveAquaria and anyone else in the business can't treat these animals in a responsible manner maybe they shouldn't be in business? What's really sad is that LiveAquaria is supposed to be one of the more responsible retailers.

Discus are hard to find locally.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a credible mail order discus retailer? (Recommendation based on personal experience)

Thanks...

[Eddie]

I'm sorry to hear about the unfortunate experience. I highly recommend you read through any of the comments about the many Simply Discus Sponsors. You will read tons of personal experiences related to online orders. I'm 100% that you will have a difficult time finding a better source, with better quality fish at a better price. Hands down!

Eddie

[Boyd Luth]

I'm sorry to hear about the unfortunate experience. I highly recommend you read through any of the comments about the many Simply Discus Sponsors. You will read tons of personal experiences related to online orders. I'm 100% that you will have a difficult time finding a better source, with better quality fish at a better price. Hands down!

+1....Use our Sponsors on this Forum. I have ordered from John @ snook21 down in Ft. Myers Fl. area, great shipping packaging. received Cardinal Tetras in good live condition, good prices, etc.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi vegaebh, sorry to about your experience with Live Aquaria. If you care to review some of the sponsor boards here you will find many threads where members bought from a sponsor and were very happy with their discus and experience. The sponsor boards are here http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?42-SimplyDiscus-Sponsors.

The SimplyDiscus sponsors are carefully vetted by the owner of SimplyDiscus to ensure they provide healthy, quality discus. I have personally bought discus from Kenny's Discus and was very happy with the discus and buying experience.
Pat

[John_Nicholson]

Use any of the sponsors here.

-john

[DISCUS STU]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. From what I read here on a regular it's hard to go wrong with the sponsors on this site.

This also happened to me with one of the less reputable, but well advertised providers of crappy Discus. Great pictures of beautiful fish which had nothing to do with what arrived at my door. Actually I had to pick it up at the postal annex because they even screwed up my shipping address. The company I'm referring to really shouldn't be able to operate the way it does, or all all, and I'm not referring to LiveAquaria.

BTW many of these sickly mail order fish from sub par providers seem to be the C grade culls from the huge asian breeders, my guess, but most of them are also juiced (treated with hormones) to enhance their colors and sell-ability. Beware of nice pictures and groovy websites, much of the time they have nothing to do with the actual fish. Venting here...

LiveAquaria is the fish arm of Drs. Foster & Smith which is a pretty good dry goods provider, but not one I'd use for fish, same with pretty much any of the others like "That Pet Place", etc. While I've purchased great equipment, and other fish related items at competitive prices from these companies, fish just ain't their thing.

It's too bad so many people have to get burnt before they finally find find, and get, what they're looking for.

[rickztahone]

I'm sorry you went through this OP. The condition that discus is in, it must have been sick for a very long time. It is unethical, but unfortnately, these businesses keep thriving because people don't know they have alternatives. We try to get as many people as possible here at Simply before they make the mistake of purchasing from these bad quality sellers. At $49.99 Kenny or any of the other sponsors could have gotten you much nicer quality and probably larger than what you are showing us here.