Discus breeders in Bloemfontein

A buddy of mine is looking for dicus for his tank an i would like to know if there are any discus breeders in Bloemfontein. Since the pet shops ask ridiculous prices for bad quality fish.

 

Doubt it. The shop across memosa told my brother there was a guy but they haven't heard from him in years and yes the worst discus I've seen where in Bloem petshops. It would be a mission breeding them in bloem water, the water quality is bad for discus. There's many a warning on the radio about bacteria in the supply and that people shouldn't drink it. The TDS is also to high for breeding so you'll have use a RO system. The PH is also not very stable, some days it comes out the tap at 7 others at 8, the highest I've seen is 9. Discus don't mind a little higher ph than 7 to much but it must be stable. I'm very lucky that the water where I live is perfect strait out the tap. It's soft and the ph is quite stable at 7, my tank ph's are all at 6.5-6.8.

When growing out discus they need plenty fresh water daily and in bloem this must be a nightmare. If you run a huge tank it will be easier as the nitrates will creep up a bit slower in the bigger water volume so you don't need a daily water change but you still need to dump water at some point and prepping a ton of water will be a hassle. JoJo's, carbon and RO filters everywhere haha.

Your best bet for good fish would be to get in contact with the guys in GP and make the drive up and select and collect them. Your friend has decided to take the plunge and keep discus so going the extra mile shouldn't be a problem. I do a 150km round trip to collect food for my fish and I do it with a smile. They aren't a casual species to keep, they are a hobbyist species and by hobbyist species I mean going out of your way for them and striving for perfect results. If you let it slip there's problems.

When people say they are easy to keep they are telling the truth but always forget to mention the demanding part, they are the most demanding animals I've ever kept.

 

I would recommend NEVER buying ( Discus) from a pet shop ( sorry sponsors) unless the owner is a true Discus person.
I have seen some shops where the fish are underfed, stunted and generally look terrible - because of lack of interest or maybe sufficient knowledge by the owner, about raising young discus ( and most fish in shops are young ones). I have also seen in some shops, single fish in tanks on their own trying to hide in the corner. If a young Discus is badly treated it seldom comes right - you are buying trouble and heartbreak. I think many newbies to Discus keeping, have bought bad fish from shops at big prices, , and then lose them and then say - Discus are too much trouble and they lose interest in trying to keep them and sadly, also gives the species a bad name. As @BoelderBeestie says above, they are easy BUT demanding !!

 

Alright thanks i'll pass along the info