Has anyone bought from dicusmadness.com?

[Doug A]

I am planning on starting a discus tank. I haven't kept discus for several years and want to start again. I found a breeder that is close by called discusmadness. I was wondering if anyone has bought from them and what they think of the quality.

[craniac24]

I was just there 3 weeks ago to pick up my first crop of juveniles. Mathias (pronounced Mah TEE us) is a terrific guy and runs his hatchery out of his home. He had about 400 discus and about a dozen different strains kept in a very clean and impressive setup. He was very knowlegeable and helpful during and after the sale.

All the fish looked extremely healthy and I left with 8 new kids. I will say that I lost my smallest one (completely out of the blue...no signs of illness whatsoever) and another one I am about to give up on (gill flukes...hasn't really recovered, isn't eating and doesn't look very good.) The other 6 are very, very nice, eat like pigs and are growing like weeds.

I'm going to see Al (Brewmaster) in CT sometime this week, but I also plan on making another trip down to Discus Madness for a second batch. Despite losing 2 out of the 8, I feel that the quality of his stock is hard to beat.

Hope this helps...happy to answer any other questions.

Also...make sure you call ahead of time. He only sees people by appointment!

[Dave_S]

Just got my first mail order discus from discus madness. Ordered 6 and they sent a 7th free. Having no experience at getting discus in the mail, I was shocked at how beat-up they looked. The Sam merah lay on its side on the bottom for awhile. 24hrs latter they were all eating like pigs. It’s been 2 week and they are doing great. The bonus fish was a green pearl and is looking very promising.

Dave

[Doug A]

Thanks for the replies. I will have to make an appointment and check them out. Luckily I won't have to worry about shipping problems because I will be the shipper :D Just looking to get quality discus to try raising young again. This time I will be doing dailiy w/c's or at least every other day. Now it is time to get the tank set up and cycled. :D

Doug

[Doug A]

Well I checked them out. The fish looked ok to me. I'm not an expert though. The eyes looked like they might be larger then they should be. The prices seem a bit high. In NJ everything is expensive!!!! :( I would like an experianced persons opinion. If any of you discus experts read this can you check out there website and give me your opinion on the pictures of the fish.
I know it's hard to tell from pictures. The website is discussmadness.com

I just want to make sure I get good high quality fish. I want to be sucessful with discus this time around.

[craniac24]

Did you go there in person? Or are you just talking about the pics on their website...?

I went there again last weekend and picked up a few more. Right now their stock is a little on the low side, but Mathias is expecting a 2 new shipments in the next couple of weeks. He should be back up to around 400 fish by then.

If you haven't already, I think you should just go there and check them out for yourself. Pictures aren't going to give you an accurate representation as far as what you're getting anyway. I'll post some pics later tonight of some of the ones that I picked up from him though. ;)

[Doug A]

I was there last Saturday. Drove thru pouring rain to get there. The fish looked nice. Just not sure they are worth what he is charging for them. I did see a really nice cobalt. It had a nice round shape. If my tank was cycled I would have bought some fish. I'm an impulse buyer at times. :D which can be a bad thing :( What type did you get from him? I would love to see the pics.

Doug

[craniac24]

Wow...no way! That's when I went there. I got there around 11:30 and spent about 45 minutes. How about you?

I picked up 3 fish on that particular trip. The nicest was one of the larger (5") gold/red striated ones. I'm sure you remember seeing those! He only had 3 of them left and I had to have one! And now I regret not getting two! ;) I also got one of the green diamonds and a fish that I can't really put a name to. He looks a lot like the red albinos that he had but with some white markings on his face and fins. Very pretty.

He's definitely not cheap, but I don't think hes any more expensive than what you would pay at a local fish store....and I have no doubt that the quality you get there is MUCH better. The smaller ones were $40 each and the larger one was $100. He said that they were normally $120 but that he was giving me a little break as a "repeat customer". :D

The other five I have from the initial trip are a blue diamond, red albino, orange dream, red leopard, and red melon.

So far, everyone is doing well. Look for pics later tonight.

[Doug A]

I got there around 10 and left at 10:30. I just bought sponge filters and airstones from him. I couldn't walk out of there without anything. :D I am thinking about getting, what on the website is called, the blue body red dot leopard and the red turquoise. The leopards are about $79. How long have you been keeping discus? Where are you from? I'll keep my eyes open for pics.

Doug

[craniac24]

Ummm...for some reason I can only upload one pic at a time...and I'm too tired to repeat the process 6 times over...lol. So, here's one of my pride and joy. I think he's a beaut!

[jimmyhat]

whats the website?

[jimmyhat]

this is the place???? (http://www.discusmadness.com/)

[Doug A]

Thats the site.