mikesmac
12-12-2007, 01:59 PM
Hello all, (warning ...long post)
So here I am being the semi-pro Discus hobbyist and after many years of keeping them I start getting some fry from some of my better quality specimens and really have hopes of getting a 1st class showcase going in my home. This of course means that I have quite a few extra fry that are not the ones I singled out to grow for myself, and so I have been selling them locally.
Well things had been going pretty smoothly and quite a few local people have been getting some of what I think should turn out to be pretty high quality discus if they continue to get fed right and their water is good. I had a few people take 30 at a time, and come back for more.... some acclimating them into regular tap water and not having any problems.
So anyways, I've got all kinds of people requesting that I ship and I can't.... not set up for it, and don't really want to get that extensive into selling because I really just want to get the best ones that I can for myself... and if I have extras then I spread them around .... most of what I have sold have been at the $10/each starting point but then end up less because I really just sell them to free up tank space, but don't just give them to everyone that calls and wants to put them in with their goldfish....
Getting to my point... after thinking I was doing ok, and everything is going smooth I get a person from Pittsburgh, PA who wants some and is going to drive up to get them...about a 3 hour drive. He shows up, we do a lot of talking, share some experiences.... all while I am catching and bagging up his Discus, which takes quite a while with all the chatting going on. Now ...... a little info fill in .... the "fry" I am selling are a good 1.5" to 2" body size (not including the fins) and I have medium sized bags which I was filling about half way with water and putting 6 in each bag which looked comfortable for them.....
......I guess I had my head in my a##.... too much chat and not enough attention to what I was doing and the situation at hand... I guess I was so used to having everyone local (within and hour drive from my house) buying them and not having any problems, I didn't think to allow for the extra time being bagged up and then driven 3 hours away. And when you aren't thinking...things go wrong!
When he left with the fish I though everything went pretty well. I thought he was happy with everything and was glad he made the trip. I had it in my head that if there was anything to worry about it would be the temperature in the bags dropping on the drive home and his acclimating them to his tanks.
I got the call the next morning..... all had died except 2 larger fish that had been bagged separately, and 10 of the smaller ones. He thought that it was the ones that were bagged last that ended up living. So there it is..... 3 hour drive, too many in each bag and / or without enough air instead of water... and apparently the ones that died, had suffocated. To say the least I don't feel real smart at the present time and felt really bad for the person that bought them. I should have known / allowed for this having picked up enough of my own.... some from greater distances than the 3 hours he came.... and when thinking about it realized that when I picked up discus from those far away places the sellers had either oxygen, or bag buddies, or had put more air and less water..... basically they had packed them as if they were being shipped....
Anyways the person came back today and we used bigger bags with hopefully an adequate amount of water, more air and added bag buddies which he was nice enough to pick up for me near his house because I couldn't find any local stores that sell them. I don't have the oxygen to put in but we both felt they should be fine this time. It was quite the inconvenience for this person to make the drive again, but I tried to make allowances for this in what he ended up taking this time and am hoping that he feels satisfied.
After the fact....and as long as I've had Discus you'd think I would have heard this before...... When transporting / bagging your fish..... "3 times as much air as water in the bag". It doesn't matter how good your water is if they can't breathe.
Mike
So here I am being the semi-pro Discus hobbyist and after many years of keeping them I start getting some fry from some of my better quality specimens and really have hopes of getting a 1st class showcase going in my home. This of course means that I have quite a few extra fry that are not the ones I singled out to grow for myself, and so I have been selling them locally.
Well things had been going pretty smoothly and quite a few local people have been getting some of what I think should turn out to be pretty high quality discus if they continue to get fed right and their water is good. I had a few people take 30 at a time, and come back for more.... some acclimating them into regular tap water and not having any problems.
So anyways, I've got all kinds of people requesting that I ship and I can't.... not set up for it, and don't really want to get that extensive into selling because I really just want to get the best ones that I can for myself... and if I have extras then I spread them around .... most of what I have sold have been at the $10/each starting point but then end up less because I really just sell them to free up tank space, but don't just give them to everyone that calls and wants to put them in with their goldfish....
Getting to my point... after thinking I was doing ok, and everything is going smooth I get a person from Pittsburgh, PA who wants some and is going to drive up to get them...about a 3 hour drive. He shows up, we do a lot of talking, share some experiences.... all while I am catching and bagging up his Discus, which takes quite a while with all the chatting going on. Now ...... a little info fill in .... the "fry" I am selling are a good 1.5" to 2" body size (not including the fins) and I have medium sized bags which I was filling about half way with water and putting 6 in each bag which looked comfortable for them.....
......I guess I had my head in my a##.... too much chat and not enough attention to what I was doing and the situation at hand... I guess I was so used to having everyone local (within and hour drive from my house) buying them and not having any problems, I didn't think to allow for the extra time being bagged up and then driven 3 hours away. And when you aren't thinking...things go wrong!
When he left with the fish I though everything went pretty well. I thought he was happy with everything and was glad he made the trip. I had it in my head that if there was anything to worry about it would be the temperature in the bags dropping on the drive home and his acclimating them to his tanks.
I got the call the next morning..... all had died except 2 larger fish that had been bagged separately, and 10 of the smaller ones. He thought that it was the ones that were bagged last that ended up living. So there it is..... 3 hour drive, too many in each bag and / or without enough air instead of water... and apparently the ones that died, had suffocated. To say the least I don't feel real smart at the present time and felt really bad for the person that bought them. I should have known / allowed for this having picked up enough of my own.... some from greater distances than the 3 hours he came.... and when thinking about it realized that when I picked up discus from those far away places the sellers had either oxygen, or bag buddies, or had put more air and less water..... basically they had packed them as if they were being shipped....
Anyways the person came back today and we used bigger bags with hopefully an adequate amount of water, more air and added bag buddies which he was nice enough to pick up for me near his house because I couldn't find any local stores that sell them. I don't have the oxygen to put in but we both felt they should be fine this time. It was quite the inconvenience for this person to make the drive again, but I tried to make allowances for this in what he ended up taking this time and am hoping that he feels satisfied.
After the fact....and as long as I've had Discus you'd think I would have heard this before...... When transporting / bagging your fish..... "3 times as much air as water in the bag". It doesn't matter how good your water is if they can't breathe.
Mike