5th-7th October 2012 saw the launch of the Best of Discus, the 1st East Mediterranean International Discus & Biotope Aquarium Competition located in Athens, Greece. C.E. Fish Essentials were there and here is our account..
The 1st East Mediterranean International Discus & Biotope Aquarium Competition was organised by Nidal Rezeq (Owner of Animal Station) and was part of the larger event Pets Today which was coordinated by Vassilis Goulielmos and which saw approximately 40,000 people through the door over the weekend. There were cats, dogs, reptiles of all kinds and birds all exhibitied on displays, in competitions, shows and within stands containing information / products and services for all.
Nidal (Animal Station) with a young Caiman Yianni Xynogalas (C.E. Fish Essentials)
The Best of Discus event was the first of it’s kind in Greece. Featuring approximately 70-80 tanks each holding one discus fish to be judged by the highly credible international judges Heiko Bleher (Italy), Jeffery Tan (Malaysia) & Cuneyt Birol (Turkey). There were 7 categories, Wild, Solid Turquoise, Striped Turquoise, Patterned, Red, Spotted and Unclassifiable and 3rd, 2nd and 1st prize places were awarded in each. One overall winner was also chosen as the Grand Champion of the event (Photos and information can be found below).
The Judges: Heiko Bleher (Left) Jeffery Tan (Centre) Cuneyt Birol (Right)
Nidal and his team of passionate and dedicated friends and helpers worked tirelessly to ensure that this event ran smoothly, and following water quality problems at another European event just the week before, it was vital that this new event got off to a positive start. With meticulous maintenance and individual monitoring and rectification of water in each specific aquarium Nidal’s team left no margin for mistakes and preparation was perfect. All fish settled into the tanks easily and very quickly began to display their colours, males and females were also displaying to each other and by the end of the event there were even a few tanks found with eggs on the sponge filters! There was much care taken and here (below) you can see Mr Bleher introducing one of the fish into his temporary home for the weekend.
Introducing the fish by hand to reduce Preparations taking place
markings and stress
The discus display aquaria (above) with awards showing for new guests to see
The judging of the event took place on the Friday (whilst all was quiet) and the three judges, who have considerable experience with both judging and with discus fish keeping were able to decide which fish in their professional opinions were the ones most deserving of awards. Below is a list of all of the winners of each category.
Wild Category
1st place: Teo Koumadaros
2nd place: Teo Koumadaros
3rd place: Teo Koumadaros
1st place 2nd place 3rd place
90% of the wild discus at this event, including these 3 winning fish were fed with C.E. Discus Wildheart! or another C.E. Fish Essentials food.
Solid Turquoise Category
1st place: Michael Pikis
2nd place: Matthew Monogios
3rd place: George Giannopoulos
1st place 2nd place 3rd place
Striped Turquoise Category
1st place: Vasilis Garoufalidis
2nd place: Michael Pikis
3rd place: Nektarios Stavrakis
1st place 2nd place 3rd place
Patterned Category
1st place: Michael Pikis
2nd place: Michael Pikis
3rd place: Michael Pikis
1st place 2nd place 3rd place
Red Category
1st place: Babis Tsokas
2nd place: Michael Pikis
3rd place: Panagiotis Karamesinis
1st place 2nd place 3rd place
Spotted Category
1st place: Michael Pikis
2nd place: Michael Pikis
3rd place: D. Papagiannakis / G. Zablakos
1st place 2nd place 3rd place
Unclassifiable / Open Category
1st place: Michael Pikis
2nd place: Nick Baviolis
3rd place: Vasilis Garoufalidis
1st place 2nd place (Fed with C.E. Discus Pro) 3rd place
After the winning results were announced, there was also the Grand Champion trophy awarded for the fish classified as the Best in Show. This is a prize for the fish which is considered the best fish overall and the Best of Discus 2012 Grand Champion belonged to Babis Tsokas with his 1st place fish in the red category (Below).
The Grand Champion 2012! Babis receiving the Grand Champion trophy
The Best of Discus 2012 was a fantastic event organised by a very dedicated and passionate team of people and of the large consignment of our foods available for sale over the weekend, only a very small amount was left available which was testament to the desire of the greek discus community to feed only the best foods to their prized pet possessions. We were very pleased to be part of the event and honoured to finally meet and converse with many of the skilled Greek and international discus keepers present for this competition. An event that we will definitely be supporting again in the future.
Chris & Yiannis from the C.E. team with Heiko Bleher The Greek Discus Freaks!