70th anniversary Open Show for Bradford club

To celebrate its 70th year, Bradford & District Aquarists’ Society designed this special trophy for the Best in Show at its event on November 12.

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: DR DAVID FORD

It wasn’t a Golden Arowana that won at the Open Show but a Southeast serpent loach, Serpenticobitis octozona, owned by the Brown family of Preston AS. 

Held on Remembrance Sunday, at the Bradford Academy, there were 242 entries in the 37 Classes. The winning loach received 86.6 points from the three Yorkshire Association of Aquarist Society judges via YAAS rules.

The next important award at this event is in the Pairs Classes. The Best Exhibit in this class was a pair of North American Rainbow shiners, Notropis chrosomus, with 86 points, belonging to John Hetherington of STAMPS (South Tyneside Aquatic Marine & Pondkeepers Society). Again, a special 70th anniversary trophy was awarded.

The Open Show also included an Auction with over 100 visitors bidding for the 22 lots of aquatic items with auctioneer Steve Jones of YAAS.

As part of the celebrations there was a projection display of the members, their fish and past shows, especially the aquatic tableaux that used to be built in past exhibitions. This was shown on a screen all day long. It was interesting to see members looking at this screen, reminiscing and even taking photos (on their iPhones) of ancient photos that were once slides, now digitised and displayed. Not all 70 years though — that was before technology!

A real Festival of Fish

The weekend of October 7–8 of saw the UK’s penultimate Festival of Fishkeeping at Hounslow, Middlesex. The show, directed annually by the Federation of British Aquarist societies, and now into its 31st consecutive year, acts as host to various members of numerous clubs, who come together to display the best of the best of UK show fish.  

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: NATHAN HILL

Over two days, contest categories included the British Open, the Diamond Class Final, the Supreme Breeders Final, the Supreme Pairs final, and the crème-de-la-crème, the Supreme Championship Final. Winning this last category is ‘the’ coveted position for fish showers, and this year the prize went to Allan Finnegan for an outstanding Aulonocara maylandi. 

For those unfamiliar with fish showing, the initial layout would come as a surprise. After years of associating fish care with large, filtered aquaria, the sight of numerous small display aquaria, completely barren and without any life support equipment can be unsettling to those outside of the ‘scene’. As always, it requires the newcomer to actually look at the fish on display to see that they are, contrary to what might be expected, far from showing any symptoms of stress.  

Your mind is put at some ease when you speak to the showers themselves and get a feel for the love and effort that has gone into conditioning the fish throughout the year. Most of those you meet at this level have admirable fish houses, and a significant amount of time and effort is put in to their livestock – the shows are a way of showing off these efforts. 

For those looking to pick up outrageous bargains, many of the pristine show fish were sold off after final judging on the Sunday afternoon. Specimens like the Sawbwa resplendens Asian Rummynose seen here were snapped up for a mere £3 each. For collectors of unusual fish, Sunday afternoon became quite a harvest. 

As well as the traditional shows, the Festival hosted other attractions over the weekend. Set on an urban farm, the site is home to various semi-exotic animals and visitors were treated to unusual, non-fishy spectacles like owl flying. Reptiles were also displayed, for the more adventurous folks to investigate. From the perspective of those attendees with children, arts and crafts and play zones were present. 

This year also saw the first FBAS Betta Show, which was notably the largest (by numbers) of any category. Combined with the Betta displays provided on the day by LJB Aquatics, 2017 constituted what was easily the most Betta splendens oriented show to date. 

Flowerhorns played a large part of displays and sales on the day, again hosted by LJB, but for folks looking to buy, plenty was available. 

Availability of fish played a large part of the weekend, with surplus home-bred fish providing some serious bargains. High-tier Potamotrygon supplied by Freshwater Stingrays were a particular draw, in both buyers and casual admirers. All manner of fishkeeping paraphernalia, from mugs to aquarium filtration all made an appearance. Supporting companies included Rolf C Hagen, Simply Koi and Fish Science, with staff on hand to offer technical advice to hobbyists.

Sadly, absent from the year’s event were one of the Koi displayers (and subsequently his Koi) as well as Discus (usually a firm favourite) so the event was a little thinly spread compared to previous years. 

To repeat, this show is the penultimate Festival of Fishkeeping, so the last chance to attend one of these historic occasions and see what the fuss is about will be in Autumn 2018. 

Allan Finnegan (left) collects one of his many awards at this year's Festival.

Show results

British Open Champions

1st place – Aulonocara maylandi Sulphur head Eccles Reef (92 points). Allan Finnegan

2nd place – Aulonocara jacobfreibergi (91 points). Allan Finnegan

3rd place – Neolamprologus leleupi (90 points). Alan Finnegan

Supreme Champions

1st place – Aulonocara maylandi Sulphur head Eccles Reef (92 points). Allan Finnegan

2nd place – Paraneetroplus argenteus. Tansie Harrison

3rd place – Sawbwa resplendens. Mollie Edwards

Diamond Class

1st place – Otopharynx lithobates Sulphur head (86 points). Allan Finnegan

2nd place – Phallichthys fairweatheri (85 points). Terry Hewitt

3rd place – Sawbwa resplendens (84 points). Roy Chapman

Supreme Pairs

1st place – Ambastaia sithimunki. Allan Finnegan

2nd place – Xiphophorus xiphidium. Terry Hewitt

3rd place – Nannostomus marginatus. Roy Chapman

Supreme Breeders

1st place – Xiphophorus milleri. Tims Edwards

2nd place – Sawbwa resplendens. Tims Edwards

3rd place – Brachyraphis rhabdophora. Allan Finnegan

National Goldfish show season draws to a close

The Nationwide Goldfish Societies UK held their final Open Show for this year in Telford’s Village Hall on September 30, 2017.
 

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: Dr DAVID FORD

The four clubs, Northern Goldfish & Pondkeepers Society, North East Goldfish Society, Association of Midland Goldfish Keepers, and the Bristol Aquarist Society, competed to find the Best in Show and Best Exhibit for this year.

The winning fish – both Best in Show and the Best Exhibit - was owned and bred by the Scottish member of the Northern Goldfish & Pondkeepers Society, Alex King. Here he is receiving both awards from the Nationwide Chairman Sherridan Moores.

There were 166 entries in the 63 Classes all judged to the Nationwide Goldfish Standards UK. The judges were Bill Ramsden (Bill is President of the NGPS and is now 91 years old — still attending and judging Goldfish), Sherridan Moores, Dean Roberts, Andy Barton, Marty Clare, and the above Alex King representing the four clubs in Nationwide UK. 

The auction was run by Mick Smith with 57 lots of home bred fancy goldfish, most of which sold for just a few pounds.

Sponsors included Aquarian, FishScience, Biffa and Vitalis, so every First in each Class received a pack of their products.

After judging, the Goldfish were available for free viewing by visitors. Here are just a few of the winning fishes that gained a First...

 The beautiful tail of the Jikin.

The First among the Ryukins.

A Team of Four Nacreous Veiltails.

This is the end of the year for the Nationwide Goldfish Shows, hope to see you visit all five shows that will take place in 2018. See Practical Fishkeeping for where and when.

Spadetail wins at Telford Guppy Show

Leg number seven of the countrywide competition to find the year’s best Guppy was held at the Open Show of the Nationwide Goldfish Societies UK in Telford on September 30, 2017.

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: Dr DAVID FORD

Judges at this event were Jane Handley, Angela Galbally, Steve Elliott, Tina Smith,
and Bill Galbally.

The Best in Show was a Spade Tail — a Grey Snakeskin/Filligran by member Jack
Tseng with 80.67 points.

The Best Pairs was a Delta tail Albino Red by Steve Elliott, which is pictured above.

The FGUK will hold its final event for the European Championship Show on
October 5–8, 2017 at the Holiday Inn Express, Rockingham Road, Kettering, NN14 1UD.
The owner of the Best Guppy for 2017 will then receive this European Championship
trophy.

Top winners at Sheaf Valley Aquarists

The annual Open Show and Auction by SVAS (Sheaf Valley Aquarist Society) took place at The Rockingham Centre at Hoyland Common, Barnsley on Sunday, September 24.
 

WORDS AND PHOTOS: DR DAVID FORD

Two of the top aquarists in the country won the ‘Best in Show’ and ‘Best Exhibit’ awards.

The Best in Show Metriaclima lombardoi achieved 86.5 points.

The owners are Terry and Shirley Nelson of Ashby Fishkeepers Society who are recently gained a special award for their 1000th show First — and that was just in the YAAS (Yorkshire Association of Aquarist Societies) area.

Here is Shirley collecting the Award (Terry was busy de-benching).

They have attended six Open Shows in Yorkshire this year and won Best in Show in five of them.

The top aquarist from SLAS (Southend, Leigh & District Aquarist Society) is Roy Chapman who visited all the way from Southampton. He brought 36 entries to the 190 in the Open Show. Roy says he has lost count, but is certain the number of Firsts he has been awarded over the years is now more than 2,800!

Another First was added with his Best Exhibit (top points for Pairs Class) — this colourful pair of Nannostomus marginatus pencilfish. 

Roy collects his Award from Steve Jones of YAAS.

Many other Clubs attended and won Firsts in the 41 Classes — SVAS, Select, Ashby, Robin Hood, and Otley. The auction was attended by 80 visitors and ran all afternoon with SVAS member Wayne Morton selling 14 lots of fish and aquatic accessories.

The SVAS offer space for the FGUK (Fancy Guppies in the UK) each year and the sixth Leg in their nationwide competition was held in the main hall at the Rockingham Centre. The FGUK judges assessing the 38 entries were Jane Handley, Stan Collinge and Bill Galbally. The Best in Show was a Full Red Delta Tail Guppy owned by Derrick Clayton of FGUK.

The FGUK will hold their final event for the European Championship Show on October 5–8 2017 at the Holiday Inn Express, Rockingham Road, Kettering, NN14 1UD. See their website for more details.

Generations of goldfish at Northern show!

The Northern Goldfish & Pondkeepers Society held its annual Open Show on Saturday, September 16 at St Matthews Church Hall in Stretford, Manchester, reports Dr David Ford.

This event includes an auction of home-bred fancy goldfish as well as a competition with 76 Classes of Goldfish, from the Common to the Bubble-eye (pictured above), which is the one Millie collected that award for….

There were 160 entries in the competition. Best in Show was a London Shubunkin bred by NGPS member Alan Ratcliffe.

A grand raffle included aquariums and many aquatic accessories and there was a
lecture by NGPS Vice-president David Ford on ‘The History of the Aquarium’.

The final Open Show for this year by the Nationwide Goldfish UK members will be
on Saturday, September 30. This will have all four clubs, Northern Goldfish
& Pondkeepers Society, Association of Midland Goldfish Keepers, North East Goldfish
Society, and Bristol Aquarist Society, combined to compete and auction their
Goldfish at Horsehay Village Hall, Bridge Road, Horsehay, Telford TF4 2NF.

Here are just a few of the Firsts from the NGPS Show — which will be competing
again at Telford ….

Ryukin

Metallic Fantail

Calico Veiltail

Metallic Veiltail

Great day out for cichlid fans!

If you love cichlids, make a date in your diary for Sunday, October 22, when the British Cichlid Association is holding a very special event at The Oak Hotel in Hockley Heath, Warwickshire.

'Best of British' features talks by some of the top names in the hobby: Mike Whitaker, Mark Evenden and Steven Chester. There will also be table sales at the event, with fish and dry goods for sale.

Doors open at 9am. Entry costs £5 for members; £10 for non-members (the entry fee for non members includes a 12-month BCA membership). Tickets are available to purchase from the BCA website.

The Oak Hotel is at 8640 Stratford Road, Hockley Heath, B94 5NW.

Nationwide Goldfish Show at Bristol

Bristol Aquarist Society held its annual Open Show and Auction on Sunday September 3, at the new venue of Hengrove Community Centre in Fortfield Road, Bristol. 
 

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: DR DAVID FORD.

Best in Show was a Metallic Fantail bred by BAS member Bob Jones.

While the eight Nationwide goldfish judges assessed the 230 entries by 23 breeders, the auction was held where an audience of more than 40 bid for 65 pedigree fancy goldfish at bargain prices....

The Club has over 80 Classes of Goldfish with 10 Special Trophy Awards. Here is the Best in Show trophy being given to Bob Jones by Lifetime BAS Member Clive Weeks.

The Bristol Aquarist Society is famous for their development of the Bristol Shubunkin with its long fins and blue background colour. This breed was well represented with young and adult classes plus teams of four. 

Not forgetting the original Common goldfish ...

The Nationwide Open Shows and Auctions continue with the Northern Goldfish & Pondkeepers Show at St. Matthews Church Hall, Chester Road, Stretford, M32 8HF on Saturday, September 16.

The final Open Show, where all four Goldfish cbs in Nationwide UK will compete is at Horsehay Village Hall, Bridge Road, Horsehay, Telford, TF4 2NF on Saturday, September 30.

1000 fish show Firsts for Terry and Shirley!

Terry and Shirley Nelson of Ashby Fishkeepers Society have received a special award for 1000 Firsts at Yorkshire Association of Aquarist Societies (YAAS) shows.

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: DR DAVID FORD

The award was presented by Ray Stansfield of Bradford & DAS at the annual ‘Friends of Yorkshire’ Open Show and Auction by YAAS at Stockton on the Forest Village Hall on Sunday, August 13, 2017. The Nelsons said it was a lifetime’s achievement for them — they have been committed aquarists for 40 years and attended every YAAS show, winning badges for 25, 50, 100 Firsts — but a special trophy had to be made for that 1000.

Just to add to their success, they also won the Best in Show with this Metriaclima lombardoi, with 85.7 points from the 205 entries at the Open Show. That was award number 1001!

The judges were Trish Jones, David Marshall, Mick Price and Edward Cheetham, of the YAAS. As always, Steve Jones of YAAS was the auctioneer and an audience of more than 40 attended to buy the usual aquatic bargains.

It is also a tradition for the Fancy Guppy UK to hold a leg of the Fancy Guppy League at the YAAS show, which took place in a separate hall with FGUK judges Tina Smith, Carl Stewart and Stan Collinge. This was their 5th Leg for the 2017 Showing Season and it was Stan Collinge who achieved the top award of Best Guppy with his Spade Tail Moscow Snakeskin.

Traditionally the YAAS also awards ‘The Best Exhibit’ in the Pairs classes. Kerry Hardy of Sheaf Valley won this award with his matched pair of Cuban livebearers, Girardinus falcatus, with 85 points.

Discover a festival of first class fish this October

Hounslow Urban Farm in Feltham, Middlesex will once again host the 31st Festival of Fishkeeping over the weekend of October 7–8, 2017. 
 

Hounslow Urban Farm, one of the UK’s largest community farms, is expert at giving local children a real life experience of a working farm and hosting really fantastic events. So, during the weekend , families will be able to enjoy both the interactive contact with domestic farm animals that the Farm offers, including rare and unusual breeds, as well as the Festival of Fishkeeping — all for the cost of standard entry to the farm!

The Festival of Fishkeeping is the UK’s biggest display and competition of rare breed, tropical fish and reptiles. It’s a unique and fantastic opportunity to get up close to exotic, weird and wonderful fish and reptiles that can’t be seen elsewhere, all in one place at one time. You certainly don’t have to be nuts about fish to appreciate the splendour of the fish on display, which include Japanese Koi, Discus, killifish, Jinchu Kai and many more, plus the chance to buy some quality fish.

If the weather is inclement, the undercover, fully-heated environment will ensure comfortable viewing of the very best quality of fish and reptiles in full adult size and prime condition, brought together by fish breeders and hobbyists from around the country.

Supporting Companies this year include Rolf C Hagen, Fish Science, Simply Koi, LBA Lisa Bradshaw, Devotedly Discus — and those amazing stingrays will be back this year, along with the fabulous flowerhorns and Betta splendens.

In addition to the regular fish competitions, there will be Discus and cichlid displays plus Societies’ information Stands.

FESTIVAL FISH COMPETITION DETAILS

This is the last chance for exhibitors to show off their fishes and plants in the FBAS Show season and for the public to be attracted into the hobby by viewing the very best in the aquatic world.

Saturday, October 7

The 2016 winning fish.

FESTIVAL A.S. OPEN SHOW
FBAS Championship Classes (winners qualify for 2017 Supreme)      
Cb (Pencilfish), 
M (AOS Tropical Egglayers)
V (Twin-tailed Goldfish) 
Diamond Class (qualifies for 2018 Final) –  J (Rasboras)

The winner of the 2016 British Open championship.

BRITISH OPEN                       
Fishes gaining ‘Best in Shows’ from any Open Show in 2017 qualify for this end-of-the-year ‘Head-to-Head’ final shootout.

DIAMOND CLASS FINAL    
Relying on the ‘Home Game’ advantage’ theory, winners of the Society nominated Class have to do it all again in this popular Final Round.

Sunday, October 8

SUPREME CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
This is the BIG ONE! Whichever fish wins, it’s ‘Simply the Best.’ Qualifiers come from successful 2017 Championship Trophy Class winners.

SUPREME PAIRS FINAL                    
Favourite twosomes. Or fishkeeping’s equivalent of ‘Mr & Mrs’. 2017 Pairs Classes winners qualify.

SUPREME BREEDERS FINAL        
Four of a kind, or, Familiarity breeds!  (2017 Breeders’ Classes winners qualify)

Other attractions throughout the weekend include:

DISCUS COMPETITION  
Some see these magnificent fish as the ‘Rolls Royces’ of the aquatic world. Do you envy the Judges’ job deciding the winner from such a collection?

KOI COMPETITION 
‘Big is Beautiful’ so they say.  Apart from admiring their beauty, spare a thought on the effort required to get fish into this condition and getting them to the Show as well! 

SIAMESE FIGHTER DISPLAY  
LJB Aquatics will be putting on a big display of some awesome fish that just can’t be missed. Along with sensational stingrays and flowerhorns , the LJB stand will include stunning and vibrant Betta splendens, with every tail type and colour you can imagine, all of a very high standard — with plenty of fish for sale!  

SURPLUS HOME-BRED FISH SALES
It’s surprising what you can pick up (at bargain prices too!) in this hobbyists-supported feature. To reserve tank-space for your sales (which you must supervise personally), contact Paul Corbett as soon as possible on 01983 522448 or 07926 354669.

FURNISHED & BREEDERS AQUARIUMS DISPLAY presented by Hounslow & D.A.S. 

Activities and events at the farm will include the best in family entertainment including children’s animal encounters, bouncy castle, bird of prey displays, pig and ferret racing, animal feeding, children’s play zones, face painting, art and craft and animal games competitions. This year the farm has also installed go-carts, paddleboats, a paddling pool and sand pits.

Just set your satnav to Faggs Road, Feltham, Middlesex TW14 0LZ.

For further details about the Festival of Fishkeeping, contact The Festival Organiser, 8 Acacia Avenue, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 8NR. Tel. 020 88473586 or email joenethersell@gmail.com

Saturday, October 7

Goldfish in the North East

The next stage in the Nationwide Open Shows of the Goldfish Societies of the UK was held in Redby Community Centre, Sunderland on Sunday, July 16, when the North East Goldfish Society (NEGS) saw 65 Goldfish entries in its annual Open Show, reports Dr David Ford. 

The Best in Show and the Best Exhibit was won by the same fish — a Tosakin (pictured above) by Chairman Alan Race. Alan was also handing out the prizes to the winners in the 26 Classes of Goldfish that they displayed, so he here he is handing over the Best in Show Trophy to himself...

The auction of locally bred Goldfish varieties saw nine lots, all sold at bargain prices. Five judges from the four Goldfish Societies of the UK assessed the Goldfish to their own Nationwide Standards. Each of the 26 Classes had a First (and second and third).

Here are a few of the Firsts...

The best Common Goldfish. 


This Fantail Oranda won a First.

The winning Shubunkin.

Gorgeous Comet.

The ‘Pairs’ Class has separate aquaria but the fish have to be from the same brood. These won the First in the Twintail Class. 

Diary dates

If you want to see, or even buy, pedigree Goldfish, the dates of the next Nationwide Open Shows are...

Sunday September 3: Bristol Aquarist Society at The Hengrove Community Centre, Fortfield Road, Bristol BS14 9NX

Saturday, September 16: Northern Goldfish & Pondkeepers Society at St. Matthews Church Hall, Chester Road, Stretford, Manchester M32 8HF

Saturday, September 30: The Nationwide Open Show (with all the UK Societies) at The Horsehay Village Hall, Bridge Road, Horsehay, Telford TF4 2NF.

Fish of Fishes 2017

The Yorkshire Association of Aquarist Societies annual Open Show and Auction at The Village Hall, Stockton on the Forest, took place on Sunday, July 2 2017.
 

WORDS AND PHOTOS: DR DAVID FORD

This Distichodus teugelsi took the Fish of Fishes award. It is one of nine wild-caught species owned by Bede Kerrigan of STAMPS (the South Tyneside Aquatic & Marine Society) — unfortunately all of them are females.

The YAAS show was once YAF (the Yorkshire Aquarist Festival) and so retains the ‘Fish of Fishes’ award. Dating from 1975, the grand trophy has been awarded ever since.

There were 10 entries in the Fish of Fishes competition — fish that have already won a First in the YAAS clubs shows.

The other YAF annual award is the Best Exhibit. This is for pairs of fish that have achieved 85 points or more in previous shows. This year there was only four entries but the winner was a pair of South American Banjo catfishes, Bunocephalus larai, by Roy Chapman of Castleford Aquarist Society. This pair of fishes are regular winners in the Pairs class and have featured on the PFK website over several years.

In the Open Show there were 230 entries, assessed by four YAAS Judges, with the Best in Show being awarded to Mr and Mrs Nelson of Ashby AS for their Metriaclima lombardoi.

Shirley Nelson also won the Best Exhibit with a pair of Rainbow shiners, Notropis chrosomus.

These awards mean that Mr and Mrs Nelson have passed their 1000th award for YAAS firsts. Presentations will be at the next YAAS Show.

A 50-strong audience attended the auction, which lasted most of the afternoon. 

The next Open Show and Auction will be ‘Friends of Yorkshire’, Sunday, August 13, also at Stockton on the Forest (postcode for your sat nav is YO32 9UR).

Make tracks to see some top class Guppies!

This was the Best in Show at the 4th Leg of the FGUK (Fancy Guppy League of the UK). It's owned by member Henry Smith, and it's a Viennese double swordtail variety.
 

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: DR DAVID FORD

The FGUK hold their mini-shows around the country using facilities of other Fish Shows. This leg saw 41 entries, and was held alongside the Association of Midland Goldfish Keepers annual Open Show in Coventry.

The next stages of the FGUK will be at: 

The Friends of Yorkshire Fish Show, The Village Hall, Stockton on the Forest, Near York YO32 9UJ on Sunday, August 13, 2017

Sheaf Valley Aquarist Society Open Show, The Rockingham Centre, Sheffield Road, Hoyland Common, Barnsley S74 0PY on Sunday, September 24, 2017.

Nationwide Goldfish Open Show, Horsehay Village Hall, Bridge Road, Horsehay, Telford TF4 2NF on Saturday, September 30, 2017.

And the finale will take place at the FGUK Convention, with the International Guppy Show at the Holiday Inn Express, Rockingham Road, Kettering NN14 1UD, on Saturday and Sunday, October 7–8, 2017. This event sees lectures, competitions, and an auction of Guppies and other livebearers.

Goldfish show season gets under way

This gorgeous Pearlscale goldfish was the winner at the AMGK (Association of Midland Goldfish Keepers) in Coventry at its Open Show on Saturday, June 24, 2017.

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: DR. DAVID FORD

This club starts the season of shows by the Nationwide Goldfish Societies of the UK.

The Nationwide Clubs also include NGPS (Northern Goldfish & Pondkeepers Society), BAS (Bristol Aquarist Society) and NEGS (North East Goldfish Society). There are hundreds of pedigree varieties of UK-bred goldfish on show and each club holds an auction where the goldfish can be bought at often low prices.

There were the 211 entries in the AMGK Show, judged to the Nationwide Standards in the many classes of the 20 varieties of goldfish. 

The auction saw 66 lots of different goldfish varieties being sold to over 40 visitors.

The Show ended with certificates and trophies being awarded to the Best in each Class. That Pearlscale is owned by NGPS member Dean Roberts...

These were some of the other winners at the AMGK Show...

Ranchu.

Oranda.

Nacreous Veiltail.

Common goldfish.

Tosakin.

There was a grand raffle and hot and cold food available all day — as at all the Nationwide Shows. If you are a goldfish lover, try to attend at least one of their shows.

Their 2017 calendar looks like this:
Sunday, July 16: NEGS at Redby Community Centre, Fulwell Road, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear SR6 9QU.
Sunday, September 3: BAS at The Hengrove Community Centre, Fortfield Road, Bristol BS14 9NX. 
Saturday, September 16: NGPS at St. Matthews Church Hall, Chester Road, Stretford, Manchester M32 8HF. 
Saturday, September 30: Nationwide (with all the above Societies) at The Horsehay Village Hall, Bridge Road, Horsehay, Telford TF4 2NF. 

Ryedale A.S. reports good news for fish club scene

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: DR. DAVID FORD

Ryedale Aquarists Society's 17th Open Show and Auction was held at Kirby Misperton Village Hall in North Yorkshire on Sunday, June 18. Despite it being Father’s Day (and the hottest day of the year so far) the show had record numbers of entries, auction items and visitors. There were also younger aquarists taking part.

The Best in Show was a Scarlet plec (L025) from Brazil, owned and developed for the last three years by Marc Taylor-Olsson. He is the grandson of a founder member of the Ryedale AS and this was his first entry to a fish show.

Marc receives his award from Steve Jones of the Yorkshire Association of Aquarist Societies.

Another young aquarist was Ollie Blackburn of Sheaf Valley AS who won a First with his killifish Nothobranchius rubbripinis.

Here's Ollie, receiving his award...

...and here's Ollie's winning killifish.

There were 254 entries, all judged by the YAAS judges, Trish Jones, Trevor Douglas and Kevin Webb. Steve Jones also ran the auction to an audience of 70 visitors. There were over 26 lots, which took most of the afternoon.

As always, there were hot and cold beverages all day, a grand raffle and aquatic goods on sale by Fishphilosophy.

Here are some of the other winners at the Show:

An albino Rainbow shark, Epalzeorhynchos frenatum, took a First with 84 points.

In Loaches the First was a Pangio pangia with 84.5 points.

Best cchlid was a Rift Valley Aulonocara baenschi with 85 points.

The Best Exhibit under YAAS rules is the highest pointed fish in the Pairs class. This was won by Bede Kerrigan of STAMPS (South Tyneside) with a pair of Puntius spp.

With entries from STAMPS, Southend, Bradford, Ashby, Otley, and more, the Open Show was a success and Ryedale are looking forward to the next one. This will be their ‘Fun Day’ with lectures and competitions as well as a Mini-Open Show at the same venue: Kirby Misperton Village Hall, YO17 6XN — on Sunday, July 23, 2017.

Well worth a visit.

2017 Fish show season kicks off in Yorkshire

Bradford & District Aquarist Society held the first fish show of the year on May 14, at the splendid facilities of the Bradford Academy in Yorkshire.
 

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: DR. DAVID FORD

The Fish Show season always starts in Yorkshire with the BDAS Spring Auction and Open Show. This year it saw 235 entries to the Open Show (from Bradford, Ashby, Preston, Workington, Ryedale, Sheffield, Otley, and even Southampton, clubs) and an auction audience of more than 80 visitors, showing that the club scene is still active and well supported.

All the members of the BDAS committee sported a red ‘70 years’ T-shirt for the event.

There are additional celebrations this year for the BDAS because this is the society's 70th anniversary. 

Roy's winning catfish: Leiocassis hosii.

Roy Blackburn of Castleford AS won Best Fish in Show, just as he did at last year’s show — and with the same fish — an Asian catfish, Leiocassis hosii. The difference was that this year he also won Best Exhibit with a Banjo catfish in Pairs.

Best Exhibit was also one of Roy's — this time a superb pair of Banjo catfish.

Here are some of the other winners at the show:

Angelfish First by Mr and Mrs Nelson of Ashby AS.

Large Cichlid First was a Tilapia buttikoferi by Bede Kerrigan of South Tyneside Aquatic & Marine Aquarist Society

Winning Guppy was by Jeff Hardy of Sheaf Valley AS

First in Fancy Goldfish was a Calico Fantail by Mr and Mrs Nelson of Ashby AS.

 First Swordtail by Ian Lee of Otley AS.

Judging was by YAAS judges David Marshall, Edward Cheetham and Steve Grant.

The main celebration for Bradford’s 70th year celebration will be at the Autumn Open Show and Auction at the Bradford Academy, Lister Avenue, Bradford BD4 7QS — this will probably be on Remembrance Day, Sunday November 12, but check with Practical Fishkeeping nearer the time. 

Or, if you live in Yorkshire, visit the BDAS meetings, every second Wednesday each month at the George Duke Social Club, Leicester Street (off Wakefield Road), Bradford at 8pm.

Great day out in Wiltshire for pleco fans

Have a passion for plecos? Suckermouth catfish fans in the south-west of England have a real treat in store on Saturday, May 20, as Wiltshire Plecos and the Catfish Study Group join forces to present a very special event, to be held at Maidenhead Aquatics @ Melksham.
 

There will be a talk by catfish expert Julian Dignall — the man behind the fabulous Planet Catfish website — entitled: Rio Xingu: ‘last chance to see’.

In addition, Mark Walters, who was featured with his amazing fish house in the Spring issue of Practical Fishkeeping, will be giving a talk on his experiences with breeding suckermouth catfish.

Doors open at 10am with the first talk at 12 noon and the second at 2pm, with lunch held in between. There will be experts from some of the leading aquatic companies on hand, plus a raffle with some great prizes to be won.

The event is open to everyone of all ages, so why not pop along and have a great day out?

Maidenhead Aquatics @ Melksham is located within Leekes department store on the A350, close to Melksham town centre. 

You can find it at Leekes, Beanacre Road, Melksham, Wiltshire SN12 8AG.

Check out the Wiltshire Plecos Facebook page.

A weekend of killies

Simon Cordey reports on the 2016 British Killifish Convention, which was held in October at the Mercure Hotel in Wetherby.

Arriving weary after a long tiresome trek up the delay strewn M1, it was with relief that there were lots of friendly faces to greet us when we arrived midway through Friday. After checking into our room at the Mercure Hotel we made for the fishroom to sample the delights of some of this year's entries. We weren’t disappointed. Lots of beautiful fish covering just about every genus of killifish — all of which were in fantastic condition.

The rest of the day was spent meeting (and greeting) many other killi nuts arriving and settling in for what was promising to be a great weekend.

Fundulopanchax gardneri ‘Jos Plateau’. Image by Kevin Webb.

Saturday promised to be a full on day so as everyone looked through their free goody bags kindly donated by Mars Fishcare, people took their seats as Peter Riley hosted a new look Q and A session. With great topics about spawning mops (and mats!), live food and other topics killifish related, I think everyone got something from this session and the added interactivity made it even more absorbing.

Frans Vermeulen then took centre stage with the first of his two talks on fish collecting. Presented in Franz’s unique and entertaining way, there was never a dull moment.

Next followed the members auction which boasted some truly magnificent fish — many reaching very respectable prices. We then had a raffle with a plethora of prizes available including tanks, food, filters and much more from our kind sponsors: JBL, Hagen, Repashy, Ocean Nutrition, Maidenhead Aquatics, Interpet, Sera and Beaphar. Without the generous donations from these companies we would be stuck, so massive thanks go to each and every one of them for their support to our hobby.

We then moved on to the BKA AGM and then quickly rushed to our rooms to get changed for our evening dinner and awards ceremony with an extra raffle. A few beers followed then bed time in what was an eventful day.

Gnatholebia zonatus ‘Villavicencio’ Colombia. Image by Kevin Webb.

Sunday is the day of rest, of course... except at our convention, where I was up early preparing the sales tables and next raffle. Hopefully everybody enjoyed the sales table products which included several new items that had been asked for in previous conventions: T shirts, polo shirts, mugs and key rings seemed very popular.

Franz presented his second, extended talk on fish collecting and if it taught me anything, it was that Rivulus are not all plain brown fish — indeed, there were some stunning colours on show and I even persuaded myself to buy a pair in the auction later on!

The Convention finished with the auctioning of the show fish, which unsurprisingly saw some strong bidding on a number of the lots as people scrambled to get the fish they had their eye on over the whole weekend. Then it was sadly time to depart for home after a packed, but as usual, extremely enjoyable few days

Aphyosemion wachtersi wachtersi. Image by Kevin Webb.

I would like to thank everyone for coming, especially those that travelled from overseas to join us, the Convention organisers for their many months of hard work to make this event go smoothly, to the sponsors for their kind donations and to all the fish breeders who sent, brought or donated fish. Without these guys there would be no convention. See you next year.

Go catfish crazy in Lancashire!

The annual Catfish Study Group convention will take place over the weekend of March 17–19, 2017, at the Kilhey Court Hotel in Wigan, Lancs.
 

Guest speakers include Melanie Stiassny, (Curator of Fishes at American Museum of Natural History); Luiz Tencatt (University of Maringa State, Brazil); Peter Petersen (Blue Planet Aquarium, Demark), and Hans-Georg Evers (Amazonas editor, Germany).

There will also be trade stands, specialist societies and sales tanks set-up over the weekend.

Room rates are £90 per delegate (single) or £70 per delegate in a shared room (maximum of two adults per room). Breakfast and evening meal are included.

Day tickets are available at an ‘early bird’ rate of £20 per day or £35 for the weekend if booked before January 15, 2017 — there’s also an additional discount for delegates staying at the hotel.

More info: www.catfishstudygroup.org

The catfish return to Bradford show!

The last Open Show for 2016 in Yorkshire is held by Bradford and District Aquarist Society. This was held at the Bradford Academy, together with a grand auction, on Remembrance Sunday, November 13. Dr David Ford reports... 

This is a show where the catfish usually get the most points, a run that came to an end at the 2015 event — only to return this year, with awards for both Best in Show and Best Exhibit being taken by catfish.


Gareth Savage's gorgeous Duopalatinus peruanus.

The Best in Show was a Long-whiskered catfish, Duopalatinus peruanus, from Peru, owned by Gareth Savage of Castleford AS. It won with 87 points.

Gareth Savage receives his trophy and a splendid collection of prizes from Show Secretary Anthony Fisher of Bradford and District AS.

These Bunocephalus larai banjo catfish won Best Exhibit at the show.

The Best Exhibit (from the Pairs and Breeders Classes) also went to catfishes. These were Bunocephalus larai banjo catfishes from Brazil, with 86.33 points. 

Both of this year's winning catfish are peaceful, even shy, fish. Their owners say the catfish are finicky eaters — but that they are their favourite pets.

The show judges hard at work. While judging was underway, an audience of almost 100 were kept entertained with the traditional auction, run by Steve Jones of YAAS.

Judging was by YAAS Judges Chris Jones, Mick Price and Trevor Douglas.

Some of the other Firsts are shown below.

Common goldfish. 

Kribensis.

Ryukin goldfish.

Next year Bradford and District AS will reach its 70th year, with celebrations at the Spring Open Show and auction at the Bradford Academy (BD4 7QS) on Sunday, May 14, 2017. Make a calendar note!