Brazil... there is no disputing about taste, but after having had the privilege of looking at so many hundreds of Discus at shows, contests, breeders, imports, etc., I have come to the conclusion... that there are no fish more beautiful than wild fish !! Well, but for that you need to see also many... wild ones ! Unfortunately it is difficult to see good wild fish in Europe. Apart from Germany, few countries in Europe receive good specimens. A large share of the best native fish are nowadays in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, where they go as far as paying fortunes for a single specimen. Few people still know how to appreciate a good wild fish, perhaps because they are also increasingly rare and only the wild fish of the poorest quality are found for sale in commercial outlets. This is a very personal opinion that everyone will have to respect. In truth, this experience in Brazil of selecting and exporting and selecting the best wild fish led me to develop a special taste for natural species . Without a doubt a leopard snakeskin or a Nebula or a White Yellow are wonderful fish with unique colours and with thousands of spots ... but the wild ones !!! The blends of tones, of reds and browns, blues and greens make these fish unique .
There is still an enormous taboo about wild fish. The parasitic diseases, the poor conditions in which they arrive after leaving Brazil due to poor packing for the journey , the anorexia to which they are exposed after being captured, the mistreatment in the way they are captured, etc. Besides being a taboo, it is also a reality in the way they are "worked". As in everything, there are amateurs and professionals. Perhaps because of amateurism, such poor fish are found on the Portuguese market, where only price matters, the cheapest possible for a wild fish. Perhaps that is why it is so rare to find good wild fish in Portugal, in fact in Europe, with the exception of Germany.
The Brazil experience leads me to believe that wild Discus , when quarantined, with good water quality and fed correctly and effectively with foods rich in protein and fat, are fish that recover in about a month, minimum ! Obviously , for that the adaptation to the new water must be done in the most correct way, where no mistakes happen, such as pH shocks, badly administered medication, mixing with other fish and other waters, in short a dozen factors that can contribute to the recovery of a fish previously taken from its natural environment. You need the knowledge to place them in perfect conditions, after suffering enormous stress on leaving the rivers where they were born.
After that recovery the fish stop suffering from stress feeding voraciously and returning to their natural colour. Beforehand, when selecting them, the so-called "clinical eye" is important for spotting the best specimens that are still dark, often almost black, which hide their true colours, the face masks or even the spots in the case of the Tefés or the orange in the case of the Alenqueres , etc.
For information about buying Wild Discus, we have distributors in Europe and Australia. Contact vitordiscus@gmail.com
Alenquer Red Wild one of the fish we intend to take to the next World Championship in Duisburg in the wild fish class. With an excellent shape, very parallel stress bars, red eyes and about 18-19cm, it is one of several fish selected and being prepared for the assessment of the international jury
Another of the fish selected to be present in Germany, a Nhamunda that is perfect in shape (round), balanced in size, colour, reds, blues and browns, with small red eyes, parallel bars, etc. A perfect wild fish. (click on the photo to enlarge)
At the invitation of a Brazilian exporter, I accepted the offer to live in Brazil for a while. The dream of working with wild fish and gaining knowledge about them could only come true in their homeland. On seeing hundreds of fish, the same thing that happens with hybrid fish happens also with wild ones: we never find two fish that are exactly alike. Their colours differ from river to river, as in the case of the Téfés where the river water, being rich in iron, made the fish show spots along the body. Some more than others, naturally, but fish of rare beauty, made by nature and not yet by man. The aim of breeding wild fish and crossing them from the various rivers remains a goal, even while also in the role of exporter. Finding good wild fish, selecting them, recovering them and, after a few months, exporting them is my job nowadays. Always with the philosophy that we sell quality, we do not sell prices.
Nhamunda - Fish from the last collection of 2007. Round, with very red, small eyes, they were probably among the best fish we exported. Sold entirely to the Japanese market.
Alenquer Red - Another of the fish chosen by me; various shades of red appear later, after releasing all their stress. Fish of unusual beauty.
Royal Nhamunda - With a fabulous " shape ", incredibly round, these Royals only began to release their colour 4 weeks after entering our facility. 
Heckel Cross and Heckel Blue Face are some of the fish most desired by wild fish lovers. These ones, from the last collection of 2007, were in my opinion the best of all. Fish of 18cm with very small eyes, which shows they are still very young.
Royal - Some large fish of 18-20cm with countless spots and strong blue blotches along the body. 
Nhamunda ? Some of the fish selected by us reveal different and unusual colours. In this case the fish showed very strong tones near the head and stomach, which over time turned an intense red. These are the rarities we look for deep in the Amazon, searching for rare, high-quality wild discus
