Shanghai Discus

[Denning]

Hello All:

This is my first post. I'm actually a Malaysian working in Shanghai. I'm still relatively new to discus and only started keeping them in Beijing (where I previously worked); clueless then that Malaysia is famed for the King of Fishes and China still has quite a way to go.

When I headed home for a visit, I was lucky to meet Jeffrey Yang from whom I purchased a select few pieces of BDs, turqs and RGDs. They are doing swimmingly at my Dad's whilst I'm back in China.

Anyway, thought I'd share with you my discus here in Shanghai (turqs and san merahs, mostly 4 to 5-inched ). Starved for choice; these all come from a fish market near my apartment! I also visited a local breeder and grabbed myself 6 2-inched LSS juvies (from 2 batches) - I've yet to snap pics of them but have attached pics (pics of these and my san merahs in a following thread) of their parents and a sibling from the breeder's site.

Very happy to meet you all and comments / questions most welcome.

Cheers!

Denning

[Denning]

Shanghai (market) San Merahs!

[Ed13]

Nice of you to share these beautiful discus! Some of these turqs even have spots, I wonder if they are throwbacks from leopard parents.

I find it funny that you mention China has a long ways to go in discus and yet this fish are far superior than what you'll normally find at any Fish store in the west hemisphere!! But I guess compared to Malaysia it does has room for improvement.

[Denning]

Parents / sibling to juvies I got from a local Shanghai hobbyist/breeder. Will snap pics of my juvies soon.

[Denning]

Ed13, thanks for your comments! If you're ever in Shanghai, I'd be more than happy to show you the fish markets here :) Not muh to shout about, I'm afraid.

I've no idea if they are throwbacks; never bred a discus fry in my life.

Denning

[truc_tuyen]

Do we have any fish like those in US? I want to buy some. Anybody?

[Jeffrey_Yang]

Hey hey Denning! How are you?! Wow, your collection in Shanghai is like.... slurp... fantastic!

Now I am really itching to pay you a visit in Shanghai. Great collection! Send my best regards to your lovely wife too.

Best regards,
Jeff

[Denning]

Hey Jeff, I'm good! Please come visit me - you're always welcome! It's wonderful that you like my discus... I drooled all over (and many times over that) when I was last at your place. Tank after tank of my drool... beware when I'm there next.

My wife's good, thanks for asking. The market here has some albinos too but nothing like yours, and yet they are a quite few times more dear than the san merahs (which are common here and called the "God of Fortune") and turqs. SS, LSS and anything spotted are pretty dear too.

The breeder I mentioned told me that his friends managed to get some discus whilst on a trip to Ipoh/ Penang, and I think quite a few of Wayne's filter through from HK/Guangzhou to elsewhere on the mainland.

Anyway, do come down and not just for the fishes - China is an eye-opener not to be missed.

Denning

[Jeffrey_Yang]

Hey Jeff, I'm good! Please come visit me - you're always welcome! It's wonderful that you like my discus... I drooled all over (and many times over that) when I was last at your place. Tank after tank of my drool... beware when I'm there next.


You are always welcomed here. do drop by in your next trip when you return home. Nah.... looking at your collection now, I doubt you will be drooling over at my place.



Anyway, do come down and not just for the fishes - China is an eye-opener not to be missed.
Denning

Boy... now i am really really itching to pay you a visit!

[ricky.66]

Hi Denning ,

You really have a very nice coolection in Shanghai , the pic shows that the fishes are under very well take care . I like the red as well cos they r my favourite !


Best regard ,
Ricky

[Denning]

Hey Ricky, good to see you here too. Both you and Jeff are most welcome here... you know China, everything must be red or gold, so red discus are everywhere. Red Melons, San Merahs, Red Turqs etc...

Jeff, the drool factor at your place is very great... ask anyone who's been to your place to back me up.

[Tropical Haven]

Those are some really nice looking discus, thanks for taking the pics.

[Greg Richardson]

Those are some BEAUTIFUL fish!

[AmberC]

Welcome Denning! Those fish are beautiful!

[Denning]

Scott, Greg and Amber,

Thanks for your comments and it's so nice to be here! Will post pics of my juvies soon enough. Denning

[greyhoundfan]

I agree with Ed. Your discus are far superior than what you'd find here in local LFS. Absolutely gorgeous. Why did you put a sad face in your title. It should be one big happy face.

[brewmaster15]

Welcome To SimplyDiscus Denning!

Very nice fish you have there, and I too am particularly drawn to those San merahs.:) Although those Turqs would be most welcome in my collection as well!:):):)

best regards,
al

[Denning]

Hi Ed and Al,

I've no idea how the sad smiley got there... I thought it was like a code or something for like no of hits haha! Not sure how to remove it :):):)

I like the San Merahs too and had actually been looking for nice ones down in Malaysia (not that I looked very hard) and it appeared non too common for some reason back home. But here in China as I mentioned, red is the color and San Merahs are no exception. The shop from which I bought them kept wanting me to buy his snake skins (which were nice) but I was drawn to his (much cheaper) San Merahs... he had something like 70 pieces in all (all 4.5 to 5+ inches) of very consistent quality.... it was so difficult to choose and even more so not to have purchased more as I left! But unfortunately my tanks are at their limit. It came down to personal preference and I must have sat there forever happily picking (going "That one...no no no... that one... no no no...yes yes yes...etc". :)

Cheers! Denning

[White Worm]

Very nice. It must be nice to be able to sit and pick out discus like that at a fish store. I dont have any yet but I too love the San Merah look. I think I should be calling Al soon since I have seen the last ones to leave his house. I'm thinking I need some of those too.

[Denning]

It was nice and I’m so glad it’s coincidentally near my apt so that I can frequent it and get my supplies. But I know of other fish markets in Shanghai (they tend to group together in Shanghai; went to a few large and interesting ones in Beijing before) and I’m pretty sure I’ll come across nice discus elsewhere too.

I’m no expert but from the little I’ve seen, I honestly think that Malaysian discus are still way ahead of China, esp. in terms of depth, variety, innovation and genuine collective interest. Having said that however, I was impressed by the hatchery of the breeder I visited. He had a very well-organized and clean set up; roughly 20 breeding tanks, numerous foster parents, and roughly 80 1.5 metered grow out tanks of all stages from fries to adults. His variety though was lacking (perhaps because he’s focused) but the potential was clearly very good. And he tells me the best discus in China tend to hail from Guangzhou/Shenzhen (across from HK), where discus hatcheries are much larger. I’ll certainly bring my camera along if I go for other breeder trips and snap some pics for you guys here. It’ll be interesting to see how discus is developing in these parts, esp. since the Chinese websites I’ve seen so far seem to be out-dated and unrepresentative of the present quality.

For your interest, you can see the website from which I found the breeder: www.cnfish.com, but it’s all in Chinese. For some reason I can’t seem to click on his banner therein anymore – it’s called Fine Aquarium and was the only one I could find in Shanghai. Enjoy!

Denning

[LizStreithorst]

Denning,

Like everyone else I think that the fish are gorgeous. I would love to have any of them but my favorite is the Turk in the 4th picture. It could win in a show here in the States.

If you don't mind me asking where did you learn English? You speak (write) impeccably...better than I and I grew up speaking it!

[AmberC]

Man.. I really like those San Merah's, I keep coming back to look lol. Cant wait to see the pics of your juvies! :)

Amber

[Kindredspirit]

you know China, everything must be red or gold, so red discus are everywhere.

I just bet! Nice Discus and welcome to Simply!



Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_4_10.gif

[Denning]

Liz, Amber, Marie, Tuyen and all:

I'm thrilled that you guys think so highly of my discus. Honestly, I've got 2 rather untrained eyes which just tend to get glued to pretty discus - I think I've simply lbeen ucky to find (and actually buy!) nice specimens.

A buddy of mine keen on angelfish asked me today to accompany him to the fish market (yes, the same discus market) - he didn't need to ask me twice! There are about 7-8 shops there "specializing" in discus but I have a personal favorite. I was short on time (since lunch is only an hour and I needed to factor in the taxi rides from/to the office and my Mickey Ds takeaway) and was, after all, "officially" there to help a friend, but I simply could not resist the call of the San Merahs etc. Looking at them (and so many!) is always sheer delight...and ever so tempting. Let me know if anyone's in town - I would be more than happy to show you about (lunch break-permitting).

Liz, I'm flattered (bashful look) by your remark; but like many Msians, I learnt English at home, amongst some Chinese dialects. Malay for most non-Malays is learnt at school.

Cheers, Denning

[Jeffrey_Yang]

I'm thrilled that you guys think so highly of my discus. Honestly, I've got 2 rather untrained eyes which just tend to get glued to pretty discus - I think I've simply lbeen ucky to find (and actually buy!) nice specimens.
Cheers, Denning

With those kinda quality that's being put up for sale at local fish markets, your 'untrained' eyes will be trained in no time! :)

Regards,
Jeff

[Darren's Discus]

Denning,
welcome to simply,Those san merah's are stunning !!


cheers

[Denning]

Jeff, you were my first “see fu”… you taught me how to “see” discus better . Prior to that, I could not even make head or tail of the various strains, what more their respective genetic makeup. Waiting for you to knock on my door here in Shanghai ;)

Darren, thanks for the warm welcome mate! Yeah, I love the San Merahs too; are there many Down Under?

[Darren's Discus]

Denning,
we do have san merah's down under but it's been a while since i have seen some as nice as yours !


cheers

[Denning]

Jeff, Darren, Liz and all:

Could you hazard a guess from the pictures (Turqs and San Merahs) what sex they each are? Would great appreciate it!

Denning

[Kenny's Discus]

Hi Denning, very nice fish you got there! Let me put in the first guess for the San Merahs:

1, female
2, female
3, female
4, male
5, female

When you pick these reds did you go for the reddest ones?:p

Now let see more guesses! All the best to you.:)

Kenny

[Kindredspirit]

I agree with Kenny!http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_1_13.gif

[Denning]

Kenny and Marie,

Thanks!!! My uneducated guess says female, female, male, male and female but I'm going by what I've read on sexing tips alone ;).

All at the shop were hungry, had attitude and healthy-looking (with no significant flaws) so I chose them first by shape, followed by fin shape, eyes, and then only color. Quality was seriously very even which rendered all my short-listing efforts very long and ultimately useful only to eliminate a few. So overall impression and "gut" feeling comprised the final deciding factors. I made the mistake of "choosing" 2 at a time such that when I pointed at one I lost the other as there were so many that looked alike...haha... was fun. When I first got them the shop vendor only had 2 San Merah tanks (roughly 15-20 per tank) and looking at the quality I was pretty darn convinced they weren't "leftovers" and so confidently (and happily) bagged 2 home.

A week later I headed back and what did you know? 4 tanks now of new stock! Larger, rounder, thicker etc...what you see in the pictures are closely replicated by those remaining at the shop and gosh did I want to have 'em all! :):):) Managed to pick 3 more beauties to make me a happy camper. ;) I think the genetics for these batches breed pretty true...pity I can't afford to breed any now but maybe someday when I've the space and resources.

Thanks again and know that you've a discus friend in Shanghai,

Denning

[Jeffrey_Yang]

Hem... looks like the first and second pic are photos of the same fish. Anyway... in my opinion, the 3rd and 4th have the possibiliy of being males. Its really hard to tell. anyway, whats more important is that they all look very pretty!

Denning, thanks alot for your sms invite. :) Really appreciate your warm welcome. I am seriously considering... but currently abit tied up with work. When you return to Malaysia and if you are going to 'tapao' some of these chinese discus home, gimme advance notice ya?!

Haha
Jeff