SHOW REPORT 2002 by Klaus Bertich

I'd like to start out by saying that the show was a success. Not a huge success but a success nonetheless. I would have liked to have a few more entries but then all of the other clubs are going through the same thing. Our membership is down. The old members are not keeping as many fish, and it is lot of hard work. I watched one person for most of the day setting up his tank one plant stalk at a time. Now I don't want to sound like I'm criticizing, and I'm not if I had this kind dedication I would have been happier with the show. Thanks Gary maybe this is just the nudge needed to get me to do something with my fish room.

I had a lot of help this weekend and I would like to thank those who pitched in. I'dlike to start off by thanking Jim Miller for bring the trailer to the hotel. He went to Beldt's the Saturday before and picked up the trailer and took it to his shop and then on Thursday dropped it off. He's also going to haul the trailer back to Beldt's on Saturday the 28th I hope to help him on this trip.

On Friday I had Randy Ison, John Van Asch, Ed Millinger, Mike Hellweg, Derek Walker, and Jim Thale. These people took off a day of work to come and give me a hand so the club could save $300.00 room rental. This was very generous guys, thanks again.

I'd like to thank Jack Berhorst for being the trophy chairman. He ordered the trophies, picked them up and then lined it all out for me to hand out. He also does the plaques and awards for the monthly Bowl shows. Thanks Jack.

I was dreading the job of picking the judges. I knew whom I wanted but I don't really talk with them that much. Well I thought all they can do is say no, but they didn't. Thanks, Ralph Huenenburg, and Jim Thale they were there early and took over the judging and were finished by 11:00. This was great.

Ed Millinger showed up about 12:00 o'clock and watched the room for most of the afternoon. I hope that he at least got a few more people interested in our club. I think he stayed until around 5:00. Thanks Ed.

I'd like to thank Brian & Michelle Compton of B&M Aquatics for their most generous donations to the auction. I would also need to thank Beldt's for their equally generous donations to our auctions. These two companies donate fish, and plants; what ever to the club and it's a 100% donation to the club. This is very important part of our budget every year. No realizes just how much these people give and give and give. Thanks a lot from all of the members of M.A.S.I. We couldn't do it without your most generous help.

I'd also like to thank Beldt's and Arnold pet shop for their continued support of our club through the year. The newer club members could do a lot worse than go these our sponsors and buy their fish supplies. Some of the so called discount stores really aren't that much of a discount especially if you consider that some of the sales force there knows less about fish than I do.

I also need to thank Mike Hellweg for doing the rules with Reet before he passed on.This made my job a little easier. Also Jack Berhorst and Mike help me with the layout on Wednesday night. That took about 3 hours. Thanks guys. Last but not least Gary Lange, Videographer, This was his first time doing the awards banquet with a video. I liked it. The slides would have been sharper, because he does take some awesome slides, but the video was a pleasant change.

2002 Show Award Winners

Class Winners (Winner is pictured)
Class 1 — Aquarium Beautiful Must be a naturalistic aquascape, may include artificial materials, will be judged on overall artistic impression and impact. Lighting is required. Must contain fish. 1st — With a 20 gallon Gary Lange. This was entry no 12-B. 2nd — With a 10 gallon Gary Lange. This was entry no 8-A. 3rd — With an Eclipse was Mike Hellweg this was entry 8-C.
Class 2 — Novelty Theme tank designed & built by entrant, must contain at least one live fish. 1st — Kelly Lynch with a Parrot Cichlid
Class 3 — Family Class Adult pair and at least 10 fry/juveniles no more than 120 days old - spawned and raised by entrant) 1st — Patrick A. Tosie II with a Julidiachromis Ornatus
Class 4 — Domestic and Fancy Fish All man-made and domestic colors, veils, long fins, not occurring naturally: includes Bettas, Goldfish, Guppies, and all popular color/finnage variants of livebearers and egglayers) 1st — Marcus & Kathy Daly with a Betta 2nd — Gary Lange with some Long Finned White Clouds 3rd — Steve Hoffman with a Gold Fish
Class 5 — Wild Livebearers 1st — Gary Lange with a Limia Sulphurafila 2nd — Gary Lange with a Limia Garniri Type-New -Species 3rd — Pat Tosie Redtail Goodied Male
Class 6 — Cichlids 1st — Mark Dierker with an Apisto Cacatuoides 2nd — Jim Miller with a Pike Cichlid 3rd — Gary Lange with a Pelvicachromis Pulcher
Class 7 — Anabantids 1st — Ed Millinger with a Betta Macrostoma 2nd — Mark Dierker with a Pearl Gourami 3rd — Patrick A. Tosie II with a Betta Coccina
Class 8 — Characins 1st — Gary Lange with a Hyphessobrycon (Feather fin) 2nd — Gary Lange with a Cardinal Tetra 3rd — Mike Hellweg with a Crenuchus spilurus
Class 9 — Cyprinids Includes Barbs, Danios, Rasboras, Minnows, Sharks, Loaches and their kin. 1st — Gary Lange with a Barbus Pentazona 2nd — Pat Tosie with a Checkerboard Barb 3rd — Ed Millinger with a Kuhli Loach
Class 10 — Loricariids A ll suckermouth catfish. 1st — Patrick A. Tosie II with a Bristlenose Pleco
Class 11 — Callichthyids All armored Catfish - Corys, Aspidoras, Brochis, Hoplos, and their kin. 1st — Randy Ison with a Corydoras Aeneus 2nd — Randy Ison with a Corydoras Axelrodii 3rd — Bruce Mayhew with a Corydoras Aneus
Class 12 — All Other Aquatic Life Fish that don't fit into the above classes: i.e. Eels, Gobies, Nandids. 1st — Jim Miller with a Synodontis Schoutedeni 2nd — Jim Miller with a Synodontis Eupterus 3rd — Jack Heller with a Fundulopanchex Gardneri
Class 13 — True Aquatic Plants 1st — Gary Lange with a Rotala Macrandra 2nd — Gary Lange with a Mermaid Weed 3rd — Gary Lange with a Java Fern
Class 14 — Photography Must be taken by entrant, includes photos, slides, CD's and video. 1st — Pat Tosie with a Slide 2nd — Gary Lange with a Lion Fish (Close up slide) 3rd — Gary Lange with a Shrimp Slide
Now The Top Awards!
Best Of Show Jim Miller with a Synodontis Schoutedeni
Best Catfish (The Ralph J. Wilhelm Award) Jim Miller with a Synodontis Schoutedeni
Best Livebearer (The Reet Thomas Award) Gary Lange with an Alfaro Cultratus
Best Egglayer Gary Lange with a Hyphessobrycon (Feather Fin)
Judges Award Gary Lange with Long finned White Clouds
Fish Raising Contest (Barbs) 1st place — Jim & Rosie Yaekel 2nd place — Gary Lange 3rd place — Charles & Mary Ann Lenau
Fish Raising Contest (Corys) 1st place — Gary Lange 2nd Place — Charles & Mary Ann Lenau 3rd place — Jim & Rosie Yaekel

Photos courtesy of Gary Lange. Thanks, Gary!

Special Thanks To The Judges

Well that's about all of the awards for this year. Congratulations to all that won. I would also like to thank all of the people that entered. I saw some really nice fish in the show I also know that there are some better fish out there that could have been entered. Mine being some of those. I looked at some of the fish and said to my self "Self you have a better fish than that why didn't you enter it". Just lazy is the only excuse I can come up with. We will try to better next year and I hope to see a lot more nad a lot better entries next year. May be we can also take some time here to encourage some of the members to enter the monthly bowl shows. We sure need the turn out there. If the monthly shows don't pick up we may have to cancel them for a while until we have some people that show some interest. Enough of that you all know what I mean. Lets all get involved a little more. Thanks to all who helped and I hope I didn't miss anyone but if I did it was unintentional and I hope to see you all in next years show.

Klaus (K2)