stendker discus vs. asian discus
- Thread starter Aro Dat
- Start date
Aro Dat;3837279; said:
It all depends on the care they receive. Either will produce nice fish if they are given proper care after they are taken home.
It all depends on the source. You know Stendker Discus come via Hans. And you know that their fish wont be bringing some unknown disease with them. But if you want some of the "newer" looking strains, your best bet is to go through a reliable source like Kenny's Discus. And remember cheap discus=crappy discus. With discus you truly get what you pay for.
Of course it wise to contact your local fish club and see if anyone is selling any bred juvi discus, there you again don't have to worry about what diseases may also be coming in with the discus.
Of course it wise to contact your local fish club and see if anyone is selling any bred juvi discus, there you again don't have to worry about what diseases may also be coming in with the discus.
If you are getting discus from your LFS, regardless of where they come from, that LFS has to maintain them well for them to still be healthy. Hans' Stendkers are awesome, very healthy fish when they leave his facility. He can not guarantee, nor can anyone else, they will still be healthy once they are in a tank besides his/their own. Your best bet is to research what healthy discus look like and act like so you know what to look for. Ask your LFS lots of questions about how they keep their discus. Have them feed them in front of you. A healthy discus will eat vigorously. Find out if they QT or if they put all discus in the same tank. Are the discus on a separate filter system than the other fish in the store? Discus are easily diseased and you need to be careful.
I have both, and at times, only had one or the other. I am in the process now of moving out my Asian stock, to Germain(Stendker) for my own personal reasons and observations. Asian Discus are popular because they have always been the first to breed new colors and patterns. There is a VAST selection of colors and patterns in Asian Discus. The German stock not as much...mostly basic, or "classic" strains...which is what I like...Bill
It's important to remember to buy your discus from a source that is as direct from the original source as possible. This usually means from the breeder or a direct seller of a breeder. These fish will most always be healthier, and of better quality than you would find elsewhere, such as a LFS. Most LFS discus have been handled at least 3 or 4 times when you get them. They probably have been kept in questionable conditions at some point as well. It's not that the LFS is out to rip you off, it's just they often don't have the time, resources, or knowledge to properly care for discus. They likely only sell discus because people ask for them. They probably also have been sold fish sight unseen. Breeders will often sell their best fish to their best customers, and those that remain are sent to large wholesalers, and end up in the LFS. It's good practice to only buy from sellers that have a good reputation in the business, and to develop a good business relationship with a good seller. In this way, you will always have easy access to quality fish.
hillbilly;3840195; said:
I have to state that this is not true. Especially in Hans' case. In other words Hans sends the same exact quality of fish he would send to an LFS to the people that order from him directly. If he didn't he would quickly go out of business since LFS sales is roughly 90% of his income. So if he sent crudy fish to them they wouldn't order from him again. (He stated to me once that for the smaller discus when he fills orders he normally just scoops whatever one is on the top.)
As for large wholesalers... well I don't know how many of them sell/import discus in the US from asia but you would have to be very careful with anything from an unknown source.
That said I agree that the best way to buy discus is directly from the importer, or special order from your LFS. (Or again better yet find a local breeder.)
Finally remember with Discus in the long run buying the fish is the cheapest cost. (Water changes, heat, food, ect quickly add up over the years.)
ikevi;3840525; said:
If you read the post more carefully, I said breeders OFTEN sell their best fish to their customers, not always do.
Anyway, Hans is not a breeder, he is a distribitor for a breeder, and yes, he has nice fish. I don't know what the S brothers are selling in Europe. Also, large wholesalers do import large quanities of discus from Asia that they sell to LFS. Where else do you think they get them, Wisconsin? Discus fish are not always cheaper than taking care of them. Some rare strains can cost hundreds of dollars each. Even the adults that Hans sells exceed $100. I have my eye on a small group of 5 inchers now that exceed $200 each (not German). That is, if I can sneek them past the wife. 
Bah, putting the word often doesn't really do anything. And as for wholesalers and discus, like I said I don't normally see discus from wholesalers and I don't know any "breeders who send their fish to wholesalers" besides a few fish farmers in Florida and they don't deal with Discus. (And as you correctly stated Hans isn't a breeder, but is only an importer, yet still he is the closest person in the US that I would consider next to being a wholesaler that deals with discus.)
And again maybe it is just that Hans was good at his job down here, but the only Discus in LFS I see are from Hans.
And again I have to state that a 100 dollar discus is still cheaper than what I feed.
(I own ~50+ discus, yesterday I just ordered 6 more from Kenny, the price tag for that one shipment is 750...)
(And yes I have a lot of fish) But my water/heating/filtering costs me at least 100 per month. I easily go through $200 in frozen/live food every 4 months, and I tend to go through about 60 bucks of dry food every 3 months.
(And if I made my own food it would save some money, but not enough to make me want to deal with all the annoyances.)
Anyways if you add it all up = ~170 per month for ~50 discus. So if my fish lives longer than 2.5 years I am paying more than 100 bucks per fish just to keep it. (If my discus lives to be 10 years I would pay about 400 bucks just to keep it healthy...)
And again maybe it is just that Hans was good at his job down here, but the only Discus in LFS I see are from Hans.
And again I have to state that a 100 dollar discus is still cheaper than what I feed.
(I own ~50+ discus, yesterday I just ordered 6 more from Kenny, the price tag for that one shipment is 750...)
(And yes I have a lot of fish) But my water/heating/filtering costs me at least 100 per month. I easily go through $200 in frozen/live food every 4 months, and I tend to go through about 60 bucks of dry food every 3 months.
(And if I made my own food it would save some money, but not enough to make me want to deal with all the annoyances.)
Anyways if you add it all up = ~170 per month for ~50 discus. So if my fish lives longer than 2.5 years I am paying more than 100 bucks per fish just to keep it. (If my discus lives to be 10 years I would pay about 400 bucks just to keep it healthy...)
OK, TDFish, here is an example of a wholesale company that sells discus to LFS. Would I buy discus from there? No, because I don't buy pet store quality fish. They are more out there, but I don't feel like looking them up for someone that only wants to argue.