Exporting Discus fish back home.

[Jaddis18]

Hello,

I will be flying to BKK next week for a few days. I am planning to purchase a pair or 2 of discus fish back home.

Plan is to pack it in my luggage or a box, in my same flight back home. I am unsure of Thailand process.

Regards,

Jad

[TobiasML]

You might need to supply more information. Such as to where.

Did you checked if any permits are needed for export and import? Do you have the correct packaging? Did you checked with your airline if they accept live animal transportation? Do they require specific licenses? Just a few points which come to my mind.

Sometimes it is cheaper to let it handle by an experienced exporter or the supplier and be happy that they arrive in good health.

[alfalfa19]

I checked into this about 10 years ago, when I was an avid raiser of discus. I could buy them for 2 or 3 dollars apiece at jj market, nice specimens too. I was hoping to get about 100 and have them shipped to sfo, where I always flew from. It turned out to be not feasible, because of fees, paperwork, red tape, etc. The entire process was pretty confusing, and I was told that if anything was not correct when the fish arrived at sfo, the fish would simply be confiscated and destroyed. Another time, a friend of mine gave me a few bettas in BKK. The fees and paperwork would have cost me 200 - 300 dollars for a few dollars worth of fish shipped to sfo. There are some businesses in thailand that do this for a living, you could simply buy the fish from them, and let them worry about everything.

[Jaddis18]

You might need to supply more information. Such as to where.

Did you checked if any permits are needed for export and import? Do you have the correct packaging? Did you checked with your airline if they accept live animal transportation? Do they require specific licenses? Just a few points which come to my mind.

Sometimes it is cheaper to let it handle by an experienced exporter or the supplier and be happy that they arrive in good health.

Yes I have researched as much as I could. From what I know as of now is that I will need local import permit, which will be inclusive of a 'health cert'(which I'm very unsure of how to acquire in Thai) and invoice(which is accomplish able).

As for the airline, it is allowed based on local fishery requirement, which is for my case a limit of 6 pieces of adults. Where I am planning to search a max of 2 pairs for breeding purposes locally(very limited varieties available).

From Thailand, is the mystery for me. Just that I need to acquire a copy of the shop's export license for customs, still unsure.

I will be staying around Siam Paragon in BKK.

[Jaddis18]

I checked into this about 10 years ago, when I was an avid raiser of discus. I could buy them for 2 or 3 dollars apiece at jj market, nice specimens too. I was hoping to get about 100 and have them shipped to sfo, where I always flew from. It turned out to be not feasible, because of fees, paperwork, red tape, etc. The entire process was pretty confusing, and I was told that if anything was not correct when the fish arrived at sfo, the fish would simply be confiscated and destroyed. Another time, a friend of mine gave me a few bettas in BKK. The fees and paperwork would have cost me 200 - 300 dollars for a few dollars worth of fish shipped to sfo. There are some businesses in thailand that do this for a living, you could simply buy the fish from them, and let them worry about everything.

I am grateful for you sharing your experience. I'm just a little confused about businesses doing this for a living? As in the shops or farms?

This will be my first time being in Thailand. I do intend of going to jj market and thank you for reassuring me of going there.

[sirineou]

aside from all the export and import issues, there is the issue of keeping them alive doting transport.

There is the maintaining water temperature issue, and the keeping the water oxygenated.

[alfalfa19]

You can just google: thailand discus exporters. make sure they guarantee live delivery. they have special techniques for shipping discus to the states, such as not feeding them for a day or two, so they don't excrete any waste into their bag of water, also, filling the bag with oxygen. i think the fish reach the states in a day or two. Are you hoping to get a breeding pair? It's very very tricky to breed discus. The best way to get a breeding pair is to raise a group of 15 or 20 youngsters together, with luck, a couple or a few will pair off as they reach adulthood. I used to buy baby discus in San Francisco, for about 10 dollars apiece, and raise groups of them together. However, even having a breeding pair is no guarantee of anything. I have had about 12 breeding pairs in my life, and only one pair was productive. This is because if the fish don't know how to care for the babies, all babies will die. For the first couple weeks of the lives of the babies, they must attach to the skin of the parents, and eat a slime the parents produce. If the parents don't accept the babies onto their skin, all babies will starve to death. It is truly a thing to behold, to see the babies schooling with their parents, and feeding on them, but very hard to attain. There are professional breeders who have techniques for making artificial food for the babies, and coaxing them to eat it, but it's kind of an art form, which I was never able to master.

[Jaddis18]

The flight back home will take roughly 2 hours and 30mins. I have successfully breed discus, at the moment I have 6 week old fries. The mother I lost due to poor water quality even after 50% WC. I have now replaced the female. Lucky for me they have been spawning every 5 days. This is the 3 rd spawn of this pair and today seems to be the day of a successful spawn. Fingers crossed.