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Do you know how there are Dog shows? Well are there Fish shows? I am very interested in going to one, are there any websites or associations for them? Thanks.

Chris

Yes there are fish shows. They have websites devoted to them with hundreds of pictures and it is really interesting. There are some really unique fish and plenty of great specimens. Definitely worth checking out. Let me see if I can find one of the websites I have seen and I'll get back to you lol.

Took part in several myself.

The one BIG fact you have to take on board, however, is this. In the world of fish shows, size IS everything. If your fishes aren't as big as they can possibly be, you'll lose points right from the start, before the rest of the judging criteria are applied. So if you are unable to grow fishes to really huge sizes, then you would be advised to skip showing adult fishes.

Your best bet would be to find a fish show that has a category for fry exhibitors. Most of the major UK shows have such a categvory (labelled 'Breeders'), and in this category, you have to exhibit a minimum of six fry complete with a spawning date (for egglayers) or a birth date (for livebearers). You can also exhibit the parents (if known). If you can exhibit parents AND fry, this will probably stand you in good stead when it comes to racking up some points and possibly acquiring a trophy of some sort for 1st, 2nd or 3rd place.

Be advised that if you branch out into the exhibiting of adult fishes, and you're able to produce the fishes of the requisite size per the tables of standards (tables of standards can be obtained from the appropriate authorities - FNAS and FBAS are the two principal ones in the UK), then the competition will be quite literally cut throat. There will be instances where everyone else settles for 2nd or 3rd place because someone with an utterly unassailable fish turns up (e.g., among my own acquaintances, the late Ted Derrick with his huge Acanthicus adonis Catfish in the 'Large Catfishes' category at BAF - that one ALWAYS took first prize) but if there's no clear runaway winner, the fight to claim the top slot has to be seen to be believed. Quite a few aquarist societies put together organised show teams for the express purpose of running away with lots of nice trophies from the major shows, and if you find yourself as a lone entrant in a show battling an organised show team, you'll have a tough fight on your hands to do anything other than come away with a reasonable points score.

The situation is even more cut throat in specialist events such as Betta shows, where there are groups of breeders each pushing their particular fancy strain to be the one that is 'fashionable' at the show, and if you turn up at one of those with a 'regular' Betta, you'll get nowhere - the specialist Betta shows revolve around very highly bred strains, some of them the result of years of intensive cultivation by professional geneticists among others, so with that calibre of opposition to face, you might find a fancy Betta or fancy Guppy show to be rather daunting. Likewise, specialist Discus shows are fraught with pitfalls for the newcomer, not least the fact that some fancy Discus strains are waiting to be recognised.

Oh, and it goes without saying that if you are entering a fish for show, it MUST have a valid scientific name, the possible exceptions being L-number Plecs for which an L-number or and LDA-number has been granted by DATZ, C-number Corys subject to the same granting of an appellation by DATZ, and certain Cichlids that have yet to be fully described but which are likely to be ratified as either valid new species or new population variants of an existing species. The rules for this with respect to some of these fishes are complex, and you will have a hard time picking your way through the bureaucratic minefield without a kindly 'guardian angel' among the old hands to help you. As a conesquence of the requirement for exhibited fishes to be valid recognised species, you won't find Flowerhorns exhibited at a general fish show, at least I haven't heard of anyone allowing Flowerhorns to be exhibited here in the UK outside specialist shows particularly for those fishes. Just to let you know the kind of fun and games you are likely to encounter if you enter the world of fish shows.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

LDAs are from Schraml and Das Aquarium, not DATZ.

Thanks - database duly updated with this info.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Did you show any fish Calilasseia? If so I would be interested to know what you showed.

I once showed Cardinals and otocinclus but my specimens were too small to garner enough points to make an impact. However, I also showed photographs of fishes and won prizes for those.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002