Discus University

The Discus University should be open and operational now. There are two methods for submitting pictures:

1. Submit photos anonymously by sending them to ryanthehutt@yahoo.com. RyanH will post these photos for critique by our volunteers.

2. Submit the photos yourself by starting a thread. Please do not post where the discus came from. Breeder/reseller politics should not come into play in this section of the board. The critiques will be based on fish quality, and fish quality only.

This section is for anyone who would like an honest opinion about their current discus. The pictures submitted here must be pictures of your fish and you must own rights to the pictures. DO NOT post pictures that you find online.

No personal attacks or criticisms will be allowed in this section. All conversation is to remain constructive and on-topic. Anything else will be removed and the poster(s) will be dealt with accordingly.

Do not feel obligated to post in this section. If you do not want your fish judged for fear of getting your feelings hurt or hearing something that you might not like, please do not submit photos.

Read the rules for the Discus University carefully before agreeing to them.

How delicious Ryan! This sounds great yes? I shall get some photos together:p


Marie~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_4_10.gif

I'm gonna have to bust ouyt the digital camera, hopefully soon!! I would like to hear everyone's opinion

Well, it appears that no one reads rules before posting. There was far too much general chit-chat and conversation, even after I asked for it to stop, so I have locked down all replies in the University. You may submit photos anonymously to RyanH or you may post a thread and attach a picture, but you will not be able to make replies to other peoples' threads. This should cut down on the BS. This also means that only our University panel (ShinShin (Larry/Mat), John Nicholson, Willie, and Paul) will be the only people allowed to critique fish.

Ryan

Hi Ryan,,,being new around here I'm not familiar with all the posters and their history of keeping fish or their judging abilities or how discus judges get their qualifications...

..In the show koi end of the hobby, which I am familiar with, the candidate judges have to go through a set of courses, write regular exams, plus a final exam, chair shows, judge a number of shows around the country as a candidate judge and a number of other things...all of it being very expensive and at thier own expense...over a two year period, before they are hopefully awarded the certification of being a AKCA or ZNA judge.

Is any of this type of thing applied or used in the judging of discus, within the NADA............

There are a number of koi judges that will post on the koi boards but anytime that they do critque a fish, it has the disclaimer, that this is based totally on a picture...which may be crap. Personally having seen fish on the web and then in person and I know that pictures do not do fish, of anykind, justice.

When one of these judges does judge a fish, on line, the members are allowed to question them as why they see a fish in a certain way. The discussion back and forth educates everyone....this is why I played with photoshop the other night trying to understand what Larry was saying..........banter/discussion can be educational....


Graham

The original poster of the message will be allowed to reply to the thread after it's been posted. Everyone else will not be able to.

Yesterday and today I went through and edited out about 20 messages that said, "Oh that's a pretty fish" or "great colors!"... Those types of posts aren't necessary in the University. If people want to post stuff like that, it can be done in the Gallery.

This is not a formal thing, as far as I know there are no standards in discus grades. If NADA is working on something along those lines, I have no knowledge of it because I'm not a member.

The panel of people selected here are long-time hobbyists with lots of discus experience. They have been posting on various forums for a long time and are well-known to most of the "old-timers." That is why they were selected.

Yes, photos play a big part in the judging, but the judges know this and I've seen them say, "we need a better pic" before. You can only work with what you've got. People posting images should know that the critique of their fish is only as good as the quality of the picture they use.

Ryan

Ok That explains it...



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Correct me if I'm wrong here but Seville is about an hour above Orlando ?? ... March 9, 10 11 there is a major koi show in Orlando...like to get a chance to meet you....Graham

Graham,

Dick Au, international discus judge, author, and longtime breeder of many species of fish (just in case you haven't heard of him ;) ), has been working with NADA, training judges. Currently, NADA has only two judges ready to go and they both, along with Dick, judged the '06 NADA Discus Show at the ACA last week. I was present during the judging process serving as clerk and judging trainee. There is a form used to judge, awarding a total of 100 points in various catagories. This is the criteria I used this past week to offer my opinion of the posted discus. Perhaps, a number would have been better than comments, or maybe both. A disclaimer, for our purposes here, would be unnecessary as this is nothing official, and we know a pic doesn't always do justice to the fish.

If you need more detailed information about the judging criteria by NADA, PM Carol Roberts, current president of NADA.

Mat

Thanks for the info, Mat.....

Regards Graham