Tropical Fish Hobbyist - October 2010

ask jack
Dear Jack,

I plan to enter a small number of my discus into the International Discus Championship in Duisburg, Germany in September and October 2010. Can you give me a few pointers as to what I must show on the fish in order for them to compete?

Peter Miller Toledo, Ohio

Jack Wattley is worldwide the most recognized name in discus breeding. Breeder, judge, collector, scholar, Jack is the foundation on which modern discus keeping has been built. He has been sharing his experience and knowledge— and the discus he breeds—with aquarists throughout the world for decades, and just one of his many awards was his recent Lifetime Achievement award from the ACA. Long past the age at which most people retire, he still serves as ambassador of discus and goodwill across the planet.

jack wattley
Dear Peter,

I’ll give you the general guidelines that are used in most of the national and international discus shows, many of which I judge in. I will be at the International Discus Championship in September and October to give a discus presentation and will be happy to see you there.

The panel of judges at these discus shows should be experienced in having judged discus in the past, and they will be presented with a number of categories to be judged. At least a few of these will be of fish that are favorites of the judges.

Before explaining some things to look for, I want to include this brief disclaimer. I personally move toward fish that are at least close in looks to my original “turquoise” and “coerulea” color forms that I developed and named, and other judges may have similar biases. However, good judges will not allow that to affect their final scores.

Another consideration is that a discus breeder may have worked through as many as three generations of discus breeding to develop a beautiful new color form. That fact may be taken into consideration based on a judge’s preferences.

There is a general agreement among discus groups as to how the fish should be judged in a fair manner, and you have planned to enter your fish at the Duisburg show, so you might want to consider these brief points.

The size, shape, and color of the discus
eye can many times be the first things that
judges look at when judging. If the eyes of
your fish look even a bit enlarged, your
discus will be placed into the 50 percent of
fish that won’t be judged. In many discus
shows there are too many fish to be judged,
so the bottom half of these fish in quality
will be red-carded.