Question: How the select "good" discus.

[kitt3n]

Hi everybody,

I was browsing a bit in the "discus university" where pictures are posted
and they are assigned a rating.
I'm starting my new aquarium and it's going to be a discus-one (again),
only this time I don't want to pick up "a few nice looking ones", but I'd
rather like to make a choice based on knowledge.

So my question is, how to select the 'best' discus-fish in the shop?

Is there any thread here floating around (maybe with simple pencil
graphics good/bad pics to see the differences _really_ easy) showing
what to look for (and what to avoid)?

I guess I'm looking for something like the "eyesize explained" thread,
but then for the entire fish.

Thanks in advance,
Roger

[brewmaster15]

Hi Roger and welcome to SimplyDiscus.com!!!

Theres alot of info like you are describing in the beginners section of the forum...


Heres a good thread that you may be interested in...

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=33300

hth,
al

[kitt3n]

Thanks - that was exactly what I was looking for ( I knew info
like that had to be around here somewhere :)

[April]

hi there. where do you live? maybe theres a breeder not far from you. if you could get from a breeder..they could show you the difference and explain why theyd choose those ones.
once you get your discus home..if you get tiny ones..then care is what makes the difference between a good quality discus or one that just grows so-so.
keep reading..and welcome . let us know when you find your fish. make sure you get them all from the same place at the same time to avoid problems.

[alpine]

This topic has come up before and I have always wish an organization like NADA will publish a " Standart " for discus confirmation. Something that beginners and Old Timers alike can read and compare the stock they are breeding or purchasing to a Standart that gives you proportions of the animal make up which are proper and acceptable .

roberto.

[kitt3n]

>hi there. where do you live?
The Netherlands... I just noticed the usa flag next to my account name..
I guess that's not really accurate, lol.. I'll try to figure out where I can
change that after this post :)

>If you could get from a breeder..
I only know a few shops where they sell discus. There is one pretty
close by, and I was looking around carefully. First impression was 'wow'
on a few 'red' ones... Also noticed they were treating the cardinals
against "white dots" (dunno the English name).
The shop made a really nice impression.
Cost around 35 euro for (est.)10+ cm 'tall' fish.

I think the thread which was posted was actually very helpful - I really
liked the tip "ask the shopkeeper to feed them"... nice one - it will show
how much involved he is with his fish, and you can see how the fish
actually react to feeding :)


>This topic has come up before and I have always wish an organization
>like NADA will publish a " Standart " for discus confirmation
... a "poster" showing all possible discus strains would be cool !

[April]

hello. i would look up stendker discus . they are actually located in germany..but they sell all over the world..and they have a list of vendors on their site. go to google and type in stendker discus.

[Discus-Hans]

Roger, waar woon je in Nederland :) :)

Hi Roger were do you live in Holland????

I can give you some addy's when needed :)

By the way feeding Discus before you buy them is in Holland not a big problem, there is no distance,
When you buy them here in the USA and you need to transport them for several hours..........better not or pack them in enough water.

Hans

[April]

well there you have it..discus hans is from holland..he knows all the good discus guys.
heh hans..roger was looking for a strain list. does fons still have his page up with all the strains pics?

[Darren's Discus]

Roger,
try and track down Jos raaijmakers he is a great breeder in uden in thenetherlands.


cheers

[kitt3n]

Wow guys, thanks for all the help and adresses!

I'm definately going to google for the proposed shops

>...located in germany..
That's a great idea.. I actually live 5 minutes away from the German
border (20 mins to Aachen).

>By the way feeding Discus before you buy them is in Holland
>not a big problem, there is no distance,
I know.. The suggestion was given in the mentioned thread,
and not because the fish might starve, but to see in the shop
if the fish have a healthy appetite, and also to see how serious/
loving the shopkeeper is about selling these fish. I've been in
some shops that were so utterly disgusting (dying/dead fish,
algae, rotting plants, all items stacked to the ceiling and ob big
dust/trash-heap.. yuck...


@Discus-Hans: Ik woon in Kerkrade, da's in de buurt van
Heerlen, zuid limburg... (20-30 min. rijden van Maastricht).

There is actually one shop in Heerlen which is pretty nice,
it used to be called "Wagner", but they switched owner..
I think it's called "moonen" now, but I might be wrong there.

Regards,
Roger

[kitt3n]

Hey, look what I ran into:

http://breedersurvey.discusnews.com/breedercountry.shtml (discus-Hans
and Jos raaijmakers)

and for the record:
http://www.diskuszucht-stendker.de/pages/about_us.html
They have some very nice pictures of strains...

[pinkertd]

Hello Roger,
Just wanted to say Hello and Welcome, you're actually talking about towns where my employer is headquartered. I work for the Dutch company called DSM and our headquarters is in the Netherlands. Are you familiar with it?

[kitt3n]

>Dutch company called DSM and our headquarters is in the Netherlands.
>Are you familiar with it?
Yes - I think everyone in the province of Limburg has at least heard of DSM..

They are making chemical stuff - dunno exactly what, but one of the things
was some kind of plastic which is supposed to be great for bulletproof vests.

[ponderingky]

Thanks for the stendker link - great pictures of the different strains. I can't even begin to imagine 50 - 80,000 babies at any one time.