wild caught discus suppliers

[nevsfish]

i was wondering does anyone on the forum know of a retailer that has wilds or knows who can get them.for some reason they are not very easy to get.regards lawrence

[m.ingram]

Good luck with that one they arent avalible very often and when they are they cost an arm and a leg .

[Nev]

Give Adrian a pm he should be able to get F1's.

[nevsfish]

i was up there 2 weeks ago and asked about wilds. no luck on wild caught but f1 offspring from wild parents .it never crossed my mind to ask maybe next shipment

[Nev]

See river and reef, spoke to them on weekend and they can get wild greens. Probally F1 or 2's.
But expensive, was quoted $370 each!

[nevsfish]

thanks nev will drop in there tommorow .where they from aquarium industries in melb

[Nev]

Yep, pretty sure that was the web site he was looking at.

[swifto]

Hi,if u want premium fish then the price is to match,when I get the tank it will b stocked with such fish.

[Nev]

Don't mind paying a reasonable price for good fish, but resent some of the huge markups most lfs put on em.

Paying $20 for a fish they bought for $10 ain't the same as paying $350 for something they got for $120.

[biggie1985]

Saw a couple of wilds blues that looked quite nice at an aquarium in Springvale.
If not maybe Justin at Subscape may still have some from his last shipment.
Although Adrian from Exotic Aquatic is always keen to fulfill difficult orders and he's a top bloke too!

[tran.nguyen]

Aquarium Industries is the only place I know of that has wilds. Apparently they get stock off Heiko Bleher sometimes, not 100% positive though.

Also have seen a couple a while ago at Crystal Palace in Fivedock.

[prenzi]

Hi all,

I purchased a bunch of Alenquer, Santarem and Stendker Tefe from AI a while ago and am extremely please with their quality and price (100 bucks for a 7 cm adolescent discus including all import and quarantine costs is not bad). While they are not 'true' wilds they look very authentic, are super-hardy and defending their territory well against our Sajicas and Bolivian rams. Great fish !

Ring AI, ask for Trudy and give her my regards; she will make you an offer you can't refuse !

Cheers, Florian

PS: Within a few months the chaps are now at approx. 10 cm size, feeding like mad on Merrilyn's beefheart mix ! Great stuff, should feed it to our grandson as well :cheers .

[Nev]

Never though about ringing them direct!
Might have to make room for some newbies.

[nevsfish]

i thort ai was wholesale only .it states that on the website.regards lawrence

[prenzi]

AI is a wholesale importer, correct, but you can coordinate your order with them and ask for delivery through your local fish store. Obviously they will charge a mark-up, but it's worth the effort - of the 18 discus we ordered 2 died out of our own stupidity (didn't turn off the CO2 over night), and 1 succumbed to illness and served as food for the others. The rest is superb, has grown now to about 12 cm and they eat like dogs.

All in all I can wholeheartedly recommend to have a chat with AI; they have access to all fish from Glaser in Germany (and these guys DO have some fish...), as well as Stendker for the discus.

Caveat: don't mix German discus with Asian ones - it'll wipe out your fish.

Hope this helps !

[Ghoti]

AI is a wholesale importer, correct, but you can coordinate your order with them and ask for delivery through your local fish store.

Just as a matter of interest...if you have a registered business and ABN would they deal direct, even if the business was not a LFS?


Cheers,
Scott

[nevsfish]

yes i have done the same thing(ordered through my lfs but the lfs owner and i came to a agreement on a fair price so everyone was happy)not retail price

[Merrilyn]

AI is a wholesale importer, correct, but you can coordinate your order with them and ask for delivery through your local fish store.

Just as a matter of interest...if you have a registered business and ABN would they deal direct, even if the business was not a LFS?


Cheers,
Scott

I doubt it very much Scott. They'd risk upsetting a lot of retailers if they start dealing directly with the public. They also need to deal in large quantities to make it worth their while. Best to ask your local fish shop to get your fish in with their next order.

[FinVision P/L]

Don't mind paying a reasonable price for good fish, but resent some of the huge markups most lfs put on em.

Paying $20 for a fish they bought for $10 ain't the same as paying $350 for something they got for $120.

I can see your point but i must add that importing wilds is a risky business and the DOAs can sometimes be high, if an importer is willing to take the risk , then he will try to reduce that risk by increasing the sale price to recoup some of the losses he may have endured. Wilds just don’t travel well. Australian importers can not import directly from S America because Au Bio Sec do not recognize the health certification procedures in S America , so the fish need to have a middle man in a country excepted by Au Bio Sec , and then they need a minimum 2 weeks Quarantine in that country before sending to Australia.

By this time the fish has been extremely traumatized depending on the care given by the middle man and most likely hasn’t eaten yet, so when we get them hear they are absolutely spent and well and truly on the down hill run. It should also be noted that the middle guy will put his margin on top as well. So when all these things a taken into account it is easy to see how the price can be justified. You can get some fish from other counties that have had them for a while where the fish has had plenty of time to readjust, but these fish are few and far in-between. This is why the f1s are a favorable alternative for all sorts of reasons. and the obvious one is that most Australian importers have no control over the middlemans fish keeping. Although in our case this has be accounted for through our partnership holding facilities in the USA.
In Japan some of these fish will cost 3 times what we pay, the difference in Japan is the price is primarily driven by demand and origin of fish.
I hope this helps with your understanding of the pricing structure of the wilds imported into Australia

[Merrilyn]

Nice to have you on board finvision.

Love to see some photos of your fish when you have the time.

[FinVision P/L]

Nice to have you on board finvision.

Love to see some photos of your fish when you have the time.

Sure, ill send some to you, there are a few quick snaps already in my album, thanks for the warm welcome and appreciate the opportunity to be on this forum. I think it is well run and i am sure it will continue to grow at the pace it historically has been, Thanks again, Best regards Brian

[Discus Planetarium]

welcome all of us would love to see some photos of your wilds when you have time thanks..

[Exotic Aquatic]

hahaha this thread is so troubling. You all have jobs i presume? what if your job was running a fish shop and nothing else? Not only do you need to feed your family, you also have to cover all your costs, and these may include EXPENSIVE DOA's. If you order through AI a wild that arrives to some guys store in bad condition for whatever reason (these are discus we are talking about so theres an unknown factor of risk we all accept as hobbyists), are you still going to pay for it? no. So often a profit margin is there to cover losses, let alone rent, electricity, water, insurances, staff, etc.

Being angry if a store doubles the wholesale price is insane. If anyone has ever priced fish for an lfs or sold fish to an lfs and seen the retail later you would know most stores add 300%!!!! but your begrudging 100%??? If we do it for cost whats the point? how do we survive, and why do we do it?

I know theres going to be a million smart ass replies to this, but bottom line i wont be a part of this calling AI direct BS, in fact i will call them today to ask more about whats going on. As a retailer with no other source of income, and a family this is bad news for me.

I wont be custom ordering any wilds for any of the people in this thread, although some have just contacted me please consider this a cancelation of any agreement to help.

Further more i find the discus scene getting uglier and uglier. I will be doing a massive forrest shipment VERY SOON, and it may very well contain wilds or f1's or f??, but i know whatever i get from our beloved exclusive supplier it will be AWESOME. And even with my markup i can sell them at AI's prices. But i wont be discounting for anyone who has commented about ordering direct or begrudging someones survival as a retailer.

Yes this is my first crazy rant... but honestly this kind of thing is out of control!!! I welcome anyone to compare our prices to any other business in the country including online ones (all retail)... Theres no way you could complain! Yet you want me to sell you a discus i buy for $200 plus gst plus freight, wear the risk of its death or you simply not wanting the fish, and then only make $20????

Not going to happen. Theres 8 hours in my days and 5 days in a week, i need to do anything i can to pay the bills both at the shop and at home. My profits are low enough compared to others, so i wont be participating, conversely ill do my best to stop it in order to survive an apparently "dying trade" in a "crappy market" as im told.

Im sorry to come across so angry but for those of you who know me, this is very rare im usually a very happy and content person. Again i apologise if this has upset anyone, but im also sure anyone reading it twice rationally will understand my frustration.

Dont make the trip down to my store if you are part of this ordering direct thing, i dont want to discuss it anymore, and i dont want to feel any more negativity.

I dont care which retailers you buy from, i hope they all survive well and prosper! My best wishes to everyone!! Its only cutting someones lunch so to speak that gets my goat.

Forrest shipment will not be televised for now. I need to re-think what im doing here.

[ILLUSN]

In all honesty as a retail customer I have to side with Adrian on this one.

If I want something rare and its available I have to pay for it.

This isnt like walking down to hrvey norman, then JB HiFI then bing leee then back to Harveys to screw down a price. Personlly i have nothing but DISTANE for anyone who would do that.

I think a 100% markup is more then fair on something as rare and as unique as a wild fish fish. If I was buying from a wholesaler and onselling it to a customer my margin on a live fish (= HIGH RISK) would be ALOT more then 100%.

Please people a FAIR price for a product, we all got bills to pay and I for one DO NOT WORK FOR FREE! I would not expect anyone else to either.

I would personally like to thank all suppliers and retailers who go to the effort and risk of making wilds available to me.

[swifto]

As a discus lover,,I say if u want anything that is quality then U MUST PAY the asking price regardless of the mark up.And if u have champagne taste on a beer budget well thats just tough luck.Every body has to make a living.Just my opinion.

[LEG-IT]

Adrian dont bother with discus anymore, Set up some Coral Frag tanks instead and sell some to me :lol:
I'd love a few SPS Frags and maybe a few maxima or crocea clams lol

[Exotic Aquatic]

Hi all, sorry to get so worked up like that, hopefully no one is too offended by it.

I stand by not custom supplying AI wilds for pocket change and baring all the risk, but we will continue supplying boutique high end discus strains from around the world in limited numbers. We would hate to see this country fall further behind the global scene with the same only melons and turqs.

For an idea of what else we're doing:
Anything planted
Micro fish
Show and wild bettas
Nano stuff
Massive led range
Biggest hardscape variety I've ever seen anywhere
Paludariums and vivariums
Boutique brands of Japanese and Taiwanese dry goods and co2
Apistos
Shrimp (6-7 kinds in stock, all grades of crs available by order)
And much more

We have 11 fully aquascapes displays by Australia's top ranking artists.

Wishing you all pearling plants, free swimming fry, and endless success with your endeavors

[prenzi]

Hi all,

as my impression is that some folks here misunderstood my earlier thread I want to clarify that you cannot order fish directly from AI, as they are a wholesale importer only, and they also don't make the final prices, but your LFS. However, you can still talk to them & they will let you know what they have or will have coming in, and you then can coordinate your order through your LFS. My suggestion is that you talk to your LFS and judge by their conduct in relation to your enquiry whether & how you want to place your order with them - there are really excellent, very cooperative and supporting-the-cause ones out there, and obviously also less excellent ones. With whom you go is your choice, as you're the customer and you fork out the cash.

Those folks ringing up Trudy and talking in a not too nice manner to her should do this again and apologize, as it's not her fault, but mine. However, I stand with the above and am sure that the good LFSs did not misinterpret my earlier post in this thread, but understood where I was coming from.

Cheers, Florian