Is this something you want? SHOW FISH related

Hi all ,
We used to have a section on the forum called the University where people could post pics of their adult fish and give some back ground.Experienced members would then attempt to critique and rate the fish along Discus show standards and score cards. The idea was to try to promote a general understanding of what show quality discus really are. It was a great idea on paper and initially worked well but there were inherent flaws with the system. Predominantly the lack of qualified judges that had the time to donate for this and wanted to use that time in this fashion. Theres also that members didnt always follow the submission rules and honestly judging fish in images is not the same thing as judging them in person. After having trouble getting judges that had the time and desire to help out we decided to scrap the idea.

I do think the general concept was very good and useful.Its never a bad thing to learn more about your hobby.. Some people will never get to a fish show and this forum is the extent of their interaction . I am considering revisiting the general idea if we have a good discussion on it and members will participate.
I would do.it differently this time. The system I see is as follows.

Members would post a fish from multiple angles and include criteria such as age and size. We can have score cards available that call out general traits.. not as detailed as whats used in the real discus shows like the ones NADA puts on or instead of a card we could use sliding scale of 1-10 .To make this scale meaningful we could possibly try to come up a pictorial guide but Im not sure thats needed. ALL members would be able to rate the submitted fish on this general scale. If the participation is good and we have enough submissions we can then do a more aggressive grading closer in line with a fish shows scorecard of the top rated fish from the general scoring system.A few members here have been trained in Judging fish.It may be possible to recruit their help in these periodic judgings... and among our membership theres certainly people that though they lack formal "judging" are more than capable to judge from
a score card with a tad guidance.

So my question is would you want this here? Is it your goal to raise show quality fish? Would you participate as submitters and raters?(is that even a word?)

My goal with the forum has always been to educate and since we took down the "University".I think we are lacking in educating on the subject of quality and grading of discus. I would like to try and fill that gap with something new that all members can participate and learn from.

This project though would require members to participate. You actually would be the back bone of the project. Posting pictures and rating fish require members to post.:) Would you? Does this interest you enough for you to take ownership of it and help the hobby and forum grow?

Id like to hear your thoughts before we commit time as a team to this idea.

Thank you,
Al

I think it would be positive, having a more formal section to submit your fish for appraisal. Even for someone who is probably never going to take a fish to a show it would be very educational to learn if his/her fish are "in the ballpark" (i.e. would not be loughed out of the show room), in the car park of the ball park or not even in the same post code. I think the tricky thing is to judge size from a photo -would we have to use some kind of ruler? I would be happy to submit the ones amongst mine that I think look best but also the ones I think have flaws to see if the judgement matches mine and for the above mentioned educational purposes

I think to get a fair assessment we need to have an accurate size so netting the fish makes the most sense and using a ruler.It only takes a moment . That plus the general age of the fish tells us alot.
-al

Agreed, I think good photos from various angles, a video and measurement (as I net mine I will also weigh them).
Maybe have a deadline for submissions every 3?-6? months and then have the judges evaluate that lot all in one session?

Paul, If you want to weigh them that would be very good info but thankfully its not a criteria used in discus show fish judging. Alot of hobbyist have a hard time just netting and measuring the length. I think they worry its going to hurt their fish.
Al

Absolutely, I was just mentioning the weight as I thought the aim was to educate rather than compete, weight would not be a mandatory requirement but, when possible to check it, it would give us "learner drivers" a direct comparison between 2 fish of the same length, how their body mass actually differs beyond just appearing more svelte or more built for comfort. So far I netted only 2 of mine (one of the biggest and the smallest) 3 months ago when they had their first birthday, was planning on doing it again in 3 months (but could do it ant time). Plopped them on a paper plate, measured, weighed then subtracted the 18g weight of the plate, I was a little apprehensive but no dramas, except for The Wife who threatened to slap me if I did not put that poor fish back in the water IMMEDIATELY!

I definitely think this is worth considering. I think it would be worthwhile of members rated their own fish (if they wish). While we all want perfect fish that is generally not the case so looking at our own fish with a critical eye is an education in itself. :)
Pat

I'm up for it. I think the sliding scale score card is a really good idea.

My first generation Giant Flora 7"-7.5" from my own breeding project except the Giant Blue one on the bottom.
Attachment 118464

I use to enjoy the critic from Eddie and some of the other experts on here in the past, and always tried to compare scores.
One of the reasons i come on here is to learn... everyone here thinks they have nice discus and most do, but this will be a good way to gauge the fish, and may even help people decide which ones they should keep from large batches to breed... like im doing at the moment. Im sure it will also help people pick any fish they wish to buy in the future.

So yes..id like to see this come back

I’d like to know the criteria for rating discus. I also like sliding scale for scoring.
Patty

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pices

I’d like to know the criteria for rating discus. I also like sliding scale for scoring.
Patty

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Hi Patty,
This is a score card we used in the university a bit... unless its been changed since then, its the one NADA uses...

Attachment 118481

This form or one close to it we would use to judge the best fish from the all the submissions based on the sliding score ..It wouldn't be used for all the fish people ask to get rated.


al

Evaluation and standardization of discus quallity are the one subject I have found least info about on-line.
This area is pretty blank in my book and I would gladly like to participate on such project and fill the gap on this subject.