Un"enhanced" apistos don't sell?????

[Apistomaster]

I raise domestic discus for money and keep wild Discus out of personal preference. People who visit me do oo and ah my Turquoise Discus but they seem to gravitate to my Heckel Discus display tank. I am trying to breed wild discus again because I think there are enough people interested in having some wild type discus but the colorful domestics will always dominate the discus market.

Apistogramma actually do quite well in the marketplace compared to many more arguably more colorful Killiefish. It's too bad we can't mail Apistogramma eggs around the world.

I think it will always be the case that colorful strains of the most easily bred Apistogramma spp will remain the most popular. I think the longer and deeper one goes in this hobby, the more appreciative one becomes of the original wild types, whether they are discus, angelfish or Dwarf Cichlids.
Which one of these would you buy? First, a wild Heckel Discus.

Or would you rather have these, Brilliant Turquoise Discus?

 

[fishme.]

of course the heckel discus :wink:

have you ever bred them ?

 

[Zack Wilson]

I'm sorry, but I'd take my wild royal blue heckels anyday over turuoise.

 

[Alex.]

Apistomaster: I agreee with you, those wild discus are far nicer looking in my opinion. The blue turquoise are a bit too...bright and artificial for my liking. But each to their own :tongue:

 

[Apistomaster]

Hi fishme,
Symphysodon discus Heckel, has proven to be a difficult discus species to breed in captivity. It has only been done in a well documented way a very few times compared to wild Green and wild Blue/Brown Discus.

Hi Zack,
Very nice Heckels and collection of wild discus you have.

You see what I mean? The more experienced the aquarist, the more they seem to appreciate the original wild forms. This tends to apply across the board from Apistogramma to Symphysodon. The wild fish's brooding instincts and colors are un-altered by the breeders art but the masses of aquarist buy the captive bred color forms in far greater numbers than they buy wild fish. It has always been this way and always will.
This is OK. The bred forms are frequently the gateway through which new fish keepers pass through and some of those will go on to become serious fish breeders and their tastes often change as they evolve in this hobby.
The wild fish are generally more challenging than their bred derivatives and the more experienced one becomes, the more likely one is to be drawn to the greater challenge that most wild fish present.
However, it is the more casual fish keepers that keep this hobby big enough to be a viable business for others.