Quality discus Fish

[niceguydave]

Hi all
Im new

Ive been doing alot of research on discus. im looking to buy some soon. what makes a good quality discus how can i find really good show quailty fish. the breeders have thousands. how do i pick the best.. what do i look for?

[Harry Marsh]

Read on here.

And read on here for a few more hours to see who is full of chit and who is not

And then order that person's fish :)



regarding practical advice:
Most of the sponsors here have quality fish or they'd be publicly lambasted. Your definition of 'show' and others may differ. Are you wanting a $200 show fish? Or a $2,000 show fish?
Wanting to grow your own out, or buy an adult?

[niceguydave]

i want to grow my own out. im very fussy and want the prefect fish. 6-8 of them. from what i hear its going to cost me a fortune.

[dghby]

i want to grow my own out. im very fussy and want the prefect fish. 6-8 of them. from what i hear its going to cost me a fortune.
if you want to grow them out i don't think it is a fortune. but of course ever opinion is different. as Harry said, check out the sponsors here on simply, IMO there is no need to go anywhere else.
many of the sponsors have put out fish that have won best of shows. i will not call out any particular Sponsor as they are all top knotch and you should make the final call. but you are definitely at the right place.

[Harry Marsh]

Yup. Agreed with dgyby

Pick your favorite strain/color and then go to the sponsor that provides that

[BobDaniel]

Mike Beals Altum Snakeskins are a nice fish. The ones I 've seen pictured turned out to be magnificent fish. In fact a Cobalt he shipped recently to a customer went to a fish show and made third place. Kraig Kootz has a NADA best in show fish spawning in one of his tanks. Kraig gets his fish from some of the worlds finest breeders.

The sponsers on the forum are all heavyweights in the discus world.

If you buy babies, they will need a strong commitment from you to grow show quality fish. Look at the websites, read the threads and your tastes will lead you to a decent sale.

[Poco]

Welcome to SD!

As all have said check out the sponsors.

On a side note is it your first discus venture? If yes, I will suggest to go with some good quality healthy stock and not yet go after the show side of things. You need to learn how to care for them in the first place and when you have mastered that then venture into show quality discus. Just my honest opinion.

[warblad79]

I would buy the most unhealthy or sickest and apply all the stuff I've learned here. We'll see if the fish make it for about a 6 months.

[yim11]

You are talking about 2 different things - if you want to grow fish out there is really no way to know which ones will be "show fish" at 3.5-4". You can certainly tell which ones would have more show potential than others at that size but still plenty of margin for error getting them to show quality and size. If you just buy adult show grade fish then as you say, it will be expensive. There are thousands of very nice discus for sale. Only a few show grade fish for sale.

You will get very nice fish, some with show potential, from many of the great sponsors here IME.

[DiscusDrew]

There is zero way to guarantee you show fish if you plan to buy small.... If you are new to discus that truly should not be your focus to begin with honestly speaking. Quality yes, but our standards of "show" quality are generally speaking very high and honestly you have much to learn that can only be done by experience. Reading helps, and will save you hundreds of lessons, but yet you will inevitably have hundreds of lessons to learn regardless. Even those of us that breed and otherwise can be baffled by these incredible fish at times. Focus on good quality stock, most if not all of the sponsors here will do, then start your adventure towards "show quality"..... Kinda feels like your trying to skip about 3 thousand steps on the path, and you wont like your results.

[warblad79]

If you really looking for show quality fish contact John's Discus. They used to have show quality fish for sale 2 months ago as long as you willing to pay $3000-$5000 per fish.

[Skip]

Naw.. Hans has jumbos...$350

Ps...i had 3 fish at a discus show.. Cost me a total of.$50 for the 3 I grow out.. lol

[niceguydave]

wow...
ive had discus for about 2 years but you guys are right ive got a lot to learn.
thank for to learn

[Chicago Discus]

wow...
ive had discus for about 2 years but you guys are right ive got a lot to learn.
thank for to learn

welcome to simply discus just take your time and research and look at different strains and there compatibility with you and what your planning.......josie

[pastry]

hmmm... wondering if OP was a breeder/sponsor incognito... "Ive been doing alot of research on discus. im looking to buy some soon"... then later, "...ive had discus for about 2 years..."? hmmmm... ah well, doesn't hurt to survey i guess.

either way, i re-prioritized what i look for now after what eric of carolina discus opened my eyes to... a nice round shape. not saying that i don't like a good colored discus but i (personally) now rather awesome shape as a priority ahead of color.

[a volar]

wow...
ive had discus for about 2 years but you guys are right ive got a lot to learn.
thank for to learn

???????????

[tonytheboss1]

:bandana: Have only 2 words "DISCUS HANS" "T"

[fdlacy]

Naw.. Hans has jumbos...$350

Ps...i had 3 fish at a discus show.. Cost me a total of.$50 for the 3 I grow out.. lol

+ the $1000 or more on water for growing them out :-)

[Orange Crush]

I would look at these 4 threads before you go buy discus. Too many times I have seen posts on here from people who bought overpriced discus from a LFS or breeder and got poor quality discus. Not only do they end up being far from show quality, they should have been culled rather than sold. hth
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?33300-Selecting-Discus
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?46982-What-not-to-buy
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?25561-What-Not-To-buy....
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?37909-What-s-the-best-discus

[Skip]

+ the $1000 or more on water for growing them out :-)

i live in apartment complex.. they split the bill for all tenets.. :) its usually about $13 a month :)

[Wjmulder]

. they split the bill for all tenets.. :)

Do your neighbors know they're paying for your water changes? My water bill is nearly $100 a month bd (before discus), no wonder you don't worry about water usage!

[Skip]

Do your neighbors know they're paying for your water changes? My water bill is nearly $100 a month bd (before discus), no wonder you don't worry about water usage!

NOPE!!!! lol

and i don't know what they do either.. :)

[a volar]

i live in apartment complex.. they split the bill for all tenets.. :) its usually about $13 a month :)


Lucky you!!

[Donno]

$13 a month is damn cheap for water. Count your blessings while they last. I'm surrounded by fresh water lakes and rivers and my costs are much higher compared to yours.

[pastry]

well definitely go direct to hans if you choose or hell, go direct to any of the sponsors. absolutely NO disrepect to hans, but there's a distributor/lfs that is great in my area for everything BUT discus. i got 3 discus from them that were from hans and the pair that i got out of the 3 were my favorite pair ever (because they were able to raise young in a community tank) but the 3 were stunted when i got them after knowing they'd been in the shop for awhile (and had a huge sale and i felt bad for those 3).

if hans reads this (and probably sees my location and will know what store), i still love that store so please don't call me out! i just don't buy my discus there after that experience.