Educational Experience in Chicago..

[RandalB]

Anyone in Illinois who wants an education in discus care please go to Tropicana Pet store in Chicago. They are located at 3879 S. Archer which is Archer Ave almost to Western Ave.

You can see first hand what Low Temp, Feeding Tubifex, no water changes and gravel substrate will do to Discus. You can even get yourself some as they are only 2 for $130.00

Pretty interesting for an outfit that can care for a 800 Gallon Reef tank.

RandalB

[Ardan]

That's amazing Randal!

I went to a lg lfs in Milwaukee a couple wks ago and had a similar experience. Many lg tanks, including 2 with discus. " adults 130$ each = 4 inches, football shape and colorless!" :o
Well, some of the lg tanks were interesting.

[RandalB]

It would have been somewhat better if it had been 4" ers instead of the 2" ers with 1" eyes... I highly recommend the educational value of this. Great way to ID some of the more common discus diseases.... You can also complain to the management like I did..

RandalB

[RyanH]

ONLY 130.00????!!!! I gotta find this place before those fish disappear!! They sound like a real bargain. ;D

[keith_cny]

Similar experiences here in Central NY. I was in the largest LFS we have near here a couple weeks ago (to get frozen food). I couldn't resist swinging back to the tanks to see if there were any discus. Found two 4-5 inch RT's in a tank with a 15 inch arrowana. I couldn't believe it. Finally I asked why and they said they had no other tank to put the arrowana in. I was thinking to myself, "Well, how about the tank with all the OTHER arrowana's". Then I went back to another tank that they usually have smaller discus in, and found one 2-3 inch in with some kind of freshwater baracuda! Swore I will never go there again.

Hey Randal, do you carry or have any knowledge about chlorinator systems? I have a well and am looking into getting a pellet type chlorinator for it. There is info out there but not good judgemental info on the systems/features, etc.

thanks,

Keith

[RandalB]

Keith,
I know they exist, But I'm no expert on them. Your local Water softener company should be able to make some suggestions for you.

RandalB

[elimon]

Yeah, I've been to Tropicana a couple of different times over the years. They used to have better quality fish before but they did not have Discus. Now if you look at all of their fish you will see that they are all culls. They are all deformed or sick looking and expensive. I haven’t been their since the last time I took a water sample from one of my tanks so that they could test the PH level. I had already tested it at home and it was at 7.2, but I wanted a second opinion since my test kit was old. The owner asked me what I was trying to do and I told him that I had a pair of Discus spawning and that their eggs were not hatching. Well he did the PH test while I was looking around the store and he fixed it so that it read about 8.8 and he tried to sell me some PH down junk. It was nothing but bull. I did buy another brand PH test kit from him since mine was kind of expired and I also barrowed my buddy’s new PH test kit and the results were like 7.2. That guy is nothing but a crook
Who does not care about the fish or the hobby. :(

Efren