Where to buy discus (Australia)

[a.person61]

Hey guys, im about to dive into discus, and was wondering where do i get good quality discus in Australia? Im looking for 4inch or over adults. Im trying to stay away from Asian as ive heard there not the "hardiest" and anything live from asia seems to be always full of some parasites in my experience... so stenker or from stenker parents would be preferred.
My plan is to qt them for 1 month with 25% wc a day the first week then backing down to 4 times a week after the month end place them in my planted tank with 2 25% a week with a extra larger one at the end of every month.

Thanks in advance

[briztoon]

Hey Austin.

Please, please watch this video. It should give you a lot of food for thought, and influence your current plan for keeping discus.

https://youtu.be/VXe3VKh7qF8

In regards to Asian discus, sorry but what a load cr@p, tripe and wish I could use stronger language on here. Some of the very best discus breeders are to be found in Malaysia. Australia is much closer to Asia than Europe. The vast majority of Stendker discus sold in Australia are of inferior quality to much of the Malaysian bred discus sold by LFS that specialise in discus.

Basic economics is why. It costs a lot to bring discus from Germany to Australia. It is one large Ornamental Fish importer that brings in most of the Stendker discus to Australia. They don't buy the best Stendker discus because they are cheaper than the good quality Stendker. Because they are not discus specialists, the fish don't receive the best of treatment. Then they are often sold to non discus specialist LFS and the discus aren't looked after properly, lose condition and look cr@p. Or a lot cr@p discus are falsely sold as Stendker discus. From what I see in the LFS around Brisbane, I do NOT have a high opinion of Stendker discus (or most discus sold in most LFS).

The two LFS I will recommend are:

Living Reef Aquarium on the Gold Coast, who sell discus from IP Discus & Martin Ng. They have a new shipment due in late March, so much of their current stock is discounted.
http://livingreefaquariums.com.au/discus-for-sale/

Aquatico Aquarium in Melbourne, who sell Forrest Teo discus. They have a new shipment that just came out of quarantine today.

Both stores ship along the East coast.

There is also a Private Seller who currently sells Forrest discus as well, and may soon be importing discus from another well known Malaysian breeder. I can't say much more, as it hasn't gone public yet. Search for Gold Coast Discus on FB.

[a.person61]

Thanks for the reply briztoon, im only saying what i have read about the Asian discus, I'll have to check out those places you mentioned and watch that vid

[briztoon]

Austin many of the sponsors on Simply Discus sell discus from Malaysia. And two of the sponsors are Malaysian discus breeders.

[Akili]

The other option is to look for them at Gumtree.com.au for your area.

[a.person61]

Thanks for the replys, its good to know that there are good asian breeders, after doing a little research on the forest discus i may go for them. Thanks for clearing that up briztoon.

Although looking on gumtree sounds like a good idea, in albury the few that do keep discus, are the people that go "i only do 25% wc a month and my discus are great" then you see a picture and their pointed stunted peppered football discus.

I watched that video and now ive watched it about 3 times, learn something new each time. The only problem with may scape would be my bushy java fern however that is in the frount of a power head so waste will not build up in it, the tall plants i want in the back how ever again there in the frount of a power head and my large driftwood that has a massive cave system inside. Aswell the eco complete which is like a gravel but has a type of bacteria that "rapidy breaks down waste into ferterlizer" seems to be working actually. The eco complete will soon have a carpet of low plants.