Jack Wattley Discus

[BobB]

How would you rate Jack Wattley Discus?

[samir]

very highly. he's about half a century ahead of me but i'm catching up :D .
i'd rate the south east asian bred discus as the best in the world. i think presently, thats where the action is.

[Dkarc]

How would you rate Jack Wattley Discus?

Sub-Par. I live about 3 hours from the Wattley "hatchery". He has a nice impressive setup, but all the fish in the place are either imports from Indonesia or from a local breeder in Tampa (about 2 hours from there). He will swear to you up and down that all the fish he has are ones that were bred by him (Gabe), Jack or Jack's son...when in truth, there isnt a single believable pair in the whole hatchery. He will say that Jack or his son brought these in from their hatchery...Jack hasnt bred discus in forever, neither has his son. The ONLY time I have EVER seen fry in his tanks was the last time I was there...and even then, it was only a few dozen from various mixed pairs. He even has an entire back room as a QT room for his imports. And you can definetly tell they're imports because those tanks have a lot of LSS, Leopards, etc...that are hormoned. And when you ask him about the bright colors of them, he'll claim its due to the "Polish food", which is a flake food that was made in Poland under the Jack Wattley name, but never took off due to licensing issues from another company. He put a big handful of the flake into a 180 gallon tank with about 100 BD's...they just stared at is the entire time. Yes, he has a few tankfuls of nice fish, but the ones that are nice are way over priced. IMO, if you want "Wattley" fish, it would be better money to go and pick fish out of the tanks...otherwise, you may get crap fish....or just buy locally.

Just my 3 cents.

-Ryan
Orlando Discus

[FishLover]

Hans Discus are better. That's what I heard. Jack's are good too. Never bought anything from him but his name is everywhere.

I would check to see if there is a Hans Discus dealer close by. You can actually go there and take a look at the Discus before you buy them. That's always a plus. AND, if you pick them up, you will save about $70 for shipping charges and much less stress on the Discus. Something to think about.

[BobB]

I have checked around for Hans Discus and the few LFS that have them are way overpriced.

[Dkarc]

BobB, where exactly are you at?? There may be a local breeder near you where you can go and hand pick your own fish.

-Ryan

[BobB]

I live in Mn. just south of the Twin Cities.

[Dkarc]

Oh, well then I think you are in luck. There are several other hobbyists in the MN area....let me find their contact info and you can drop them an email to see if they have anything they want to sell.

-Ryan

[Robdog]

Well I was going to get Jack to sign my year book but I'm having second thoughts now! :)

[Merrilyn]

Jack Wattley is quite an old man now (must be in his 80s at least) but he is still regarded as the Godfather of Discus.

I have no idea what he's doing now, or the quality of his discus, but if the opportunity arose, I'd be getting my book signed :P

[Robdog]

I'll just get a photocopy from Brilliant and save myself the airfare

[mistakes r crucial]

Surely Jack's credentials cannot be debated at this late stage regardless of any current situation. I agree, he is the God Father of Discus. IMHO leave him be!
MAC

[goldenpigeon]

Rob while your at it can you please get me a copy too? :D

but im going to need scientific evidence thats its real. cheers

[Dkarc]

Jack still is the man believe me on that...its just that when he sold the Jack Wattley name to Gabe several years ago, things went down hill....fast. When Jack was still doing it he had some amazing fish. But now that its Gabe running the place, it has really turned into something entirely else. Jack doesnt even breed discus anymore. He is doing more with his poison dart frogs if anything else.

-Ryan

[Merrilyn]

Sounds like the end of an era then. Thanks for the info Ryan.

[Dkarc]

Here is a link to a ton of pics from the "Wattley" hatchery....

http://chuckbam.com/photos_from_of__the_jw_hatchery.htm

Notice the Leopard discus...they are that bright blue/red colored, have that red "ring" at the base of the dorsal and anal fins, and the tail is not clea...sure sign of hormone use. Now I know that if Gabe (or even Jack) were breeding....surely they wouldnt use hormones on fish that go along with a legendary name, would they??

-Ryan
Orlando Discus

[Dee]

Hi All,

Regardless of "Wattley Discus's" current stock and situation, You can't lose sight of what the man has done for the Discus hobby in general. With his strain development and dedicated research to understand Discus, we have a lot to thank the grand old daddy of Discus. IMO, he brought Discus to the masses and helped make the hobby a lot easier for the general hobbyist.

Cheers,

Dee :D