Bonus! My Visit to Jack Wattley Discus Hatchery

Bonus!

A Visit to the Jack Wattley Discus Hatchery in Miami, Florida!

Before I begin, I have to say that this is one of my absolute favorite fish-nerd places to geek out at in Miami. If you know about discus fish, you will easily recognize the name, Jack Wattley. Mr. Wattley is one of the best-known authorities in the field of discus breeding around the world. In fact, he is one of the principal founders of discus breeding culture in the United States, having published several articles and books, and lecturing at national and international conferences over the last several decades, ever since discus-keeping took off in the United States beginning in the 1960's. Needless to say, I really wanted to write about this hatchery for a long time.

Last March (2016), I decided to visit the world-renowned Jack Wattley discus hatchery in Miami, Florida (https://wattleydiscus.com). Unfortunately, Mr. Wattley does not run the hatchery himself anymore, having retired and delegated that responsibility to one of the hands-down coolest and most knowledgeable fish-breeders you will ever meet, Gabe Posada, who is doing an outstanding job of running the hatchery for Mr. Wattley nowadays. Luckily, the hatchery is in very good hands. Gabe is extremely knowledgeable about discus-keeping, and I find him to be a very open and friendly guy with everyone who stops by, not just me. That's a character trait I admire in the people I meet, and I am happy to see that the legacy of Wattley Discus is in such capable hands. Gabe is always happy to share all sorts of valuable information for both novice and experienced discus hobbyists, so I'd strongly recommend you pay him a visit there whenever you're in town. Just call ahead of time to make sure he knows!

Here are some pictures of my visit last March. As you can see, there are many outstanding, high-quality specimens of several different varieties of discus.

The wild discus fish shown below are the biggest I have ever seen! They are about as large, maybe larger, than my fully open hand!

I found these albinos to be particularly eye-catching. This picture does not do them justice, but I'll post it anyway.

Here are some Heckel discus (some "wilds" too, I think)...

Again, the albinos...

This is me, showing one aisle of the hatchery, from about the middle.  I strongly recommend you visit and support this valuable contributor to the development of the discus raising hobby if you are interested. It's worth the detour on your way to the beach!

See you next time!