a judges view of the fish show

best fish in show is chosen from a list of all class winners. this years winner was a discus, a large clown loach was first reserve and a lab. careleus second reserve. the overall standard was very good and the african and american cichlid classes were excellent and closely contested . other notable fish were the killies and corys and some impressive plecs and synos. my personal favourites were three lovely and well cared for angelfish and a young male placidochromis phenocheilius and a nice breeders team of met. aurora. the trade stands were top notch and the planted tank and organic marine and cichlid tanks were brilliant. finally well done to darren, nessa and everybody else who helped for a great show.
i'm sure nessa will post a list of all class placings when she recovers

i am trying to provoke a discussion on the show, has nobody any questions or comments.

Hi Derek
The show was well organised, credit to all involved, i was impressed by both the amount of entries and variety and quality of stock. It was fantastic to see a massive turnout, both by members and the public, i spoke to lots of people who "just popped in for a look" and were considering starting up. Was also great to see people i hadnt seen for a while, put faces to names on the forum and to see lots of fish i sold to people looking so well!!!
roll on next years show!!!!

i am trying to provoke a discussion on the show, has nobody any questions or comments.

This was the first time I benched a fish at and apart from a flying visit to a show in Bray about 20 years ago which hardly counts it is the first show I attended. For the weeks coming up to the show I had no idea what to show if anything, most of the fish I have are new within the last 6 months and therefore not the ideal size and any corys I have bred were too young to be moving around etc. In the end on Darrens advice I just showed some nice looking or interesting fish regardless of size. I did not enter any fish with the idea of winning and that was the least of my concerns. Of the four fish that did place somewhere, three of them totally surprised me, the Hockeystick tetra, Wild Gold Tetra 1&2 in Ca class and a Glass Cat, 3rd in H from memory. I expected more exotic or "intereting" fish to win, so that was a lesson learned.

Next time I will have caught the fish further in advance and have them in a bare tank for at least a few days before the show where they are easy to catch, so they arrive less stressed. Where possible I would also bring all my own water from the tank the fish have been rested up in. A couple of my pleco entries and the one Syno still had not coloured up by the time I was debenching.

I also had no idea of the detail the judges go into on each fish and the time it takes to judge them all, or all the paperwork involved. I thought it would be a quick glance and walk on. But no way each fish is evaluated under five headings and sized etc.

The show was better and bigger than I imagined and the range of fish fantastic. I loved the Irish Eel, the three fantastic angels, the discus (a fish I usually don't give a second glance too) and there were some fantastic cats too. I fell in love with the planted tank at the enterance an quizzed Zygon it for ages, I will have to give serious consideration to a planted tank, something I would never have thought of before seeing that.

Overall an excellent show and a great education, looking forward to the next one already. Oh and it was great to put faces to a few of the names on here.

Daragh

Next time I will bring my own water and do it properly.
I did not ener to win but won best catfish. Clean sweep planned for next year. Who owned the small Syno. I can`t remember the name but I think it is a Tanganyikan.
Would love to buy it.

The small Syno? The Petricola on the bench near the fire exit? That was JohnH's and I don't think he is selling :shock:

You cats were the cream



Daragh

I don't know what the visitor numbers were but from what I saw there was a lot of interest & hope it becomes an annual event.
I for one was looking forward to it for weeks only to get caught to work on the day (but managed to sneak away for a while).

For the next one I will definitely be entering fish and helping out as much as possible. I, as all on this forum would love to see the Show of the future not only an annual event, but an Annual Event In The RDS/Point lasting a weekend with the sponsors selling products, tanks & fish.

And putting Ireland on the Fish keeping Map.

credit to everyone involved (in a Cork accent)

An ITFS show at the Point, now there is something to aim for. Though I think it might be a couple of years yet. I was at the door most of the time and regret not doing some sort of count on the numers but I know they were much greater than I expected anyway. Everyone I got to talk to on the way out was impressed, so I would say we will get even more the next time.

Glad you got a chance to come along. I would have been a bummer to miss it.

Daragh

It was my first show as well.Like Daragh I was amazed at what the judging involves,many thanks to the judges.I had looked at my fish for weeks,there were many I wanted to bring along and bench,but I was concerned about bringing some of what I would think too delicate to handle the experience.In the end I was in such a rush on the night I merely took what was the first into the net for each species I wanted to bench.It worked well,I got 1st and 2nd in the H(aspidoras,brochis and corydoras)section for 2 corys,and 3rd in the Ca(characins)section for my yellow tail congo tetra,which were all a total shock.Next year I intend to put some effort into it and try to do better!Unfortunately my tetra didnt get over the experience,and died yesterday.
There were a lot of people who put a hell of a lot of effort into various aspects of organising the show,and all of them deserve a huge thanks.Next year I intend to help out a lot more,before ,during and after,I know a lot of others would be willing too.
Hopefully next year the show will be bigger and better,with more,and varied entries,there was a good range of species,and all excellent specimens,but probably not as many as I may have expected.Thats not to take from what was there at all.
Like others have mentioned,it was great to meet others from the forum,and club,a friendly lot who had no problem approaching strangers to find out who they were,and what their interests were.
Well,thats enough waffling from me!

like nearly everyone else I never benched a fish before. I found catching them to be a real ordeal for me and for the fish. We were both stressed. I found that the fish didnt colour up and really didnt show their colours in the right light. My poor shark jumped out of the tank at least 3 times even with clingfilm over it ( thanks John for picking him up) I would bring much more water with me the next time and I would bag them better. I would also catch them a few days before hand as Daragh said. It was a learning experience for us all. But sure we will know better for the next time.

It was my first show also. I was amazed by the thoroughness of the judging the the quality of the organisation around the whole show.

I wasn't sure what to enter until the last minute so entered three Keyhole Cichlids and a Thick Lipped Gourami. I was delighted to get third in the Cichlid section with one of my male Keyholes. I wasn't taking it seriously, just wanted to be part of it.

Looking forward to next year where I plan to be much more competitive :wink: Even considering what I'll show at this stage

Will we see all the results for every fish in each category at some stage? It would be interesting to see. It would be also interesting to see what you look for when judging a fish.

I have been saying that for months about having the clubs competing against each other. Thank God this years was a success. Next year can only get better. I am already planning for the show.
I have big plans for the LFKS. All will be revealed at next months meeting.
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

I can sense the competition already!We will all need minders at next years show at this rate,sounds good!
I await these plans for the LFKS with baited breath.

:shock:

the one weak area was some of the show tanks. the small tanks with the yellow trim looked great and if we could get more of these and some in bigger sizes it would improve the presentation greatly. they are also easier to pack and store and less breakable.
daragh
corys show better when given time to settle, also your fish were nice young specimens and will improve as show fish as they grow. did you own the sterbai?
drew and acara i agree entirely with your comments and i was pleasently surprised with the turnout, and it was our first show since 2002.
the forum members i met for the first time were john h, valerie, ken and acara dave (all keen fishkeepers). we should have a poll to see how many forum members attended as some may not have come forward.
john hs idea of an inter club comp. sounds great, we used to have these before and they were great craic.

It`s fewking my idea

Derek

The Sterbai was Acaras (Dave) I could not catch mine or the Haraldschultzi on the night, so they got left behind and I brough a couple of young plecos instead.


Daragh

Who owned the virginiae cory?

JohnH owned the Viginiae. Lovely cory too.


Daragh

Yeah,sure was a nice one,I only have 2,but they're nice.

sorry anto i do remember you suggesting the club contest. you could set it up soon or even a trial version on one of the club nights. say six fish from each club.
daragh, dave and john.
as i said before the cory class was strong, they are rarely stressed by benching.i think darren keeps them as well.my favourite corys are sterbai and robinae, they are great in shoals

I have some Robinae and they are really lovely, but mine are only new and still very young - next year


Daragh

sorry anto i do remember you suggesting the club contest. you could set it up soon or even a trial version on one of the club nights. say six fish from each club.
daragh, dave and john.
as i said before the cory class was strong, they are rarely stressed by benching.i think darren keeps them as well.my favourite corys are sterbai and robinae, they are great in shoals

I think a little show between ourselves would be great. Next year it will be mega but we can have little prizes or even bring our fry to the meetings.

ken s
fish are pointed in five 20 point categories, size: body: colour: finnage: condition and deportment: we use size guides and a special size disc. it is important, that between us we are familiar with all species.
keyholes are normally bad showfish as they are very shy and timid and usually deport badly. but two of the three were nice and perky while being judged.

daragh
robinae are fantastic, they like a large tank when they grow, and can move like lightning
and thanks again for the straw, am i supposed to sink it or spread it out?

Derek

If you can not get it into the filter on retain it near the waterflow, I would say sink it.

Daragh