pet expo & discus show

[fozziwozzi]

So has anyone bee yet to the exhibition at Rose Hill?

I plan on going tomorrow, so I am just wondering what peoples experiences have been so far?? :wink:

[africandiscus]

Just got back. Dragged the wife along.

I was disappointed. Don’t get me wrong some of the fish were magnificent. I don’t think it was worth $14, fair value is around $5. If you want to see the same quality fish go to SLS, and it’s free. (my opinion)

The only things for sale are resun products and two books “Penang Discus” ($90) and “Malaysia Discs II” ($50). I bought a copy of Penang Discus.

If you have interest in dogs there is heaps to see. My wife enjoyed the different dog breed stands.

Below are picture for interstate people whom could not attend.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/share/view?i=EeENGrdqzZN3Bw&open=1&x=1&sm=1&sl=0

[Billy]

I just got back from the show as well!!

Ok to be honest i was a bit disappointed as well!!

The fish was so nice and so many of them, but seem better ones b4.

Yeah i agree with psx2doctor go to SLS to see it for free !! :lol:

I end up bought a 4 ft light for $70 and the tube for $10.

The dog and cat section was great for all the dog and cat lovers!!

i spent more time in the dog breed stand then discus section :D

I still recommend ppl to see if you got time!!

[africandiscus]

My wife loved the Hungarian Puli (dog)

[Proteus]

I am going tomorrow (if time permits)

After being to a few other International shows I understand why they have the admission prices, but $14 sounds a little too much. I mean you pay roughly the same to go to the Easter show and they have thousands of animals on display (ok, I realise they dont have Discus).

Havings just visited the American Cichlid Association Convention in Denver a few months ago, if you wanted to walk around and check out the fish, or buy something from the vendors/sponsors, the cost was $0... yup, nothing, nada, zip...

Most of the money to fund the convention was provided by sponsors and the rest from people registering to hear speakers such as Oliver Lucanus, Ad Koning, etc etc... I am sure they made a healthy profit.

[Trebs]

Yeah pretty expensive. There were no other tropicals besides the discus either. If the plan was to get all the other expo patrons to have a look as well as just discus people they needed to keep the ropes further away from the tanks and the tanks higher. The fish in the bottom row looked pretty stressed.

All in all not nearly as good as last year. I wonder how many people decided not to enter because of fear of fish being contaminated?

[A1pryo]

Just got home from expo. Very disappointed no real fish for sale. I thought there would've been discus from certain breeders available to buy. The show fish IMO, some were good, some very rough! The trip was not wasted, went to SLS and gave a nice pair of checkerboards a decent home.

[Trebs]

The winner of the brown catagory was one of the best fish I've ever seen - I love the classic brown.

[chris_d]

ditto... li love browns aswell. Ii remember a few years back when they held a show in penrith exclusively for fish/ discus, there were quite a few breeders there and they also gave talks tooo which were great... sadly they didn't have that this year. They gave daog/ cat talks talks there though.

[weird]

Here is a cutey. As being the first discus show I have been to ofcourse I was impressed, but thought the "pet show" entry fee was way too steep !

I was also hoping to buy some discus ... ended up going to SLS that afternoon ... had more fun there than at the show :lol:

[sunshinediscus]

I'm with you Trebs, loved that brown as well. One of the best i have seen, very classic and classy discus.

Rod

[fozziwozzi]

I made it to the petshow,

I actually enjoyed the pet show (dog show) more than the discus there :? (oops did i say that?)


I am a dog lover too and bought a variety of things for my dogs - food, shampoo, toys.

IMO last years fish show was heaps better as there were more stores and things off interest to purchase.

[jim]

I spend $14 for pet show entry and only stay there for 15 mins...as I was only there for discus..bought the Penang Discus book

Went to SLS afterwords and stay there for 2 hours, and back home with 2 beautiful discus...and found out SLS have the Penang Discus for sale as well..

bit disappointed with the show.

[sunshinediscus]

I can't believe all the negative comments, so sad to hear. There were at least 2 dozen excellent quality discus on display that far exceeded any discus i saw in sydney shops while i was there, and yes i visited SLS as well. Then at least another 2 dozen discus that were high quality and worthy of being in a show, and then there were the rest. Overall that is similar to what most discus shows achieve around the world, 1/4 great, 1/4 good and the rest average. I've been to discus shows in asia as well and they do no better percentage wise, the only difference is the number of entrants.

JMO

Rod

[Proteus]

Rod, I dont feel there is any negative comments, just disappointment by some, which they are entitled to state that.

I did not go, due to other commitments, however, I have commented previously regarding another event I attended recently relating to Discus.

Yes, it would be great to see 24 excellent Discus and maybe another 24 high quality Discus, However, to put that in perspective, $14 to see 4 Dozen fish.... ummm, sorry, I would have been disappointed as well. If I did go, it would be purely to view the fish, not the dogs, cats, etc... so value for money would be hard to justify.

Instead of continuing this path of disappointment, why not turn things around and make suggestions, provide some solid, constructive feedback and help ensure the next one is out of this world.

I have my theories as to how things could have been improved based on what I have heard, plus the preparation process that was made open at recent ADA meetings, but I will reserve my thoughts until the time is appropriate.

Lets go forward with this, however I am still interested to hear opinions of others who went.

[Escher]

I note the general disappointment but perhaps someone missed the point: it was not a Discus show with attached a pet expo, but it was the other way around: a Pet Expo which included a Discus Competition. Being at the pet expo it meant promoting the discus as the king of the aquarium, as we know it, to the rest of the public. By promoting discus to the public we can hope it will generate more interest at LFS in general, hence improving availability & quality & hopefully reducing price overall. Some of the overseas entries in the Discus Show were from good discus farms, and one would hope these people managed to get some contact with LFS.
ADA position is not to sell fish and compete against LFS, but promote discus. The products on sale at the expo were items from the two ADA sponsors: Resun and White Craine products.
To me it was more disappointing to see that no other LFS, contrary to many other kinds of pet shops, or fish product brand bothered to promote their fish sales and services, besides the killfish soc.. Perhaps the marketing people at the Pet Expo need to lift their game. Certainly the ADA had no imput on the other stands.
Maybe we should push for an Aquarium Expo to take place.
Having said that, although I would have liked to see even more discus, I enjoyed the show as my interest lays with dogs and other animals as well.

[Escher]

By the way the Grand Champion, the spotted one (in one of the pics above), and the winner of the blue diamond were great, but I thought the 2nd placed in open, the albino (which, being yellowish, I though it was a lemon) was awesome!

[flukes]

From what ive seen it didnt look all that bad, as someone stated it was a pet expo featuring a discus competition. Although i didnt go, i wish i could have. $14 was a bit steep, but for people who were intrested in other things other than fish it would have been well worth it.

Iam with Ro, for people that have been, make some suggestions too make the next one a real hit.

[Proteus]

ADA position is not to sell fish and compete against LFS, but promote discus. The products on sale at the expo were items from the two ADA sponsors: Resun and White Craine products.
To me it was more disappointing to see that no other LFS, contrary to many other kinds of pet shops, or fish product brand bothered to promote their fish sales and services, besides the killfish soc.. Perhaps the marketing people at the Pet Expo need to lift their game. Certainly the ADA had no imput on the other stands.

OK, there are a few points that need to be cleared up.

I can tell you why there was no other LFS's or Manufacturers there (heck, I have close to 30 e-mails and private messages asking me what was going on) It was because they DID NOT KNOW about it.

The marketing people of the Pet Expo had nothing to do with what was displayed within the Discus section. Sponsorships, Retailers, etc were solely the responsibility of the Australian Discus Association.

An example of the problem I have, for which I was holding back before, but heck, let the truth be known, I was amazed and totally gob-smacked back in August to learn that an official organising committee for the show had not been formed. Yes, current ADA committee members were making arrangements and I am not having a bite regarding that, but for something this big, specialist input is required, and a more diverse group is needed to pool ideas and opinions.

This website was the major financial sponsor for the recent Discus award category at the American Cichlid Convention in Denver (July 2004). I secured the sponsorship over 1 year ago, and had my plans in place to visit the event in July/August 2003, a year prior to the event.

What is needed to really promote things regarding our favourite hobby, is long term planning, I mean next years show should already be confirmed, and being promoted already.

OK, fair enough a lot of my experience and expertise is in marketing and getting out there, but not once was an opinion asked for, and as per the words of a major aquatic goods manufacturer,

"How can we jump onboard, if we are blindfolded as to what is on the agenda..."

food for thought maybe???

I realise some will take this the wrong way, and some noses will be out of place, but I am one who insists on going the extra mile, and if anything can be contributed to ensuring the next show, or another event is even more successful, then I have achieved the point of my message...

To go forward, look at what can be done better, and improve from that.

[Proteus]

Sorry Ed... :wink: (you know who you are) lol

this may some folk an idea of my frustrations...

http://www.ausdiscus.com.au/


22/09/04


Due to Trevor being very busy organising and finalising outstanding issues from our recent trip to Penang, we are yet to have a committee meeting. The committee meeting will be held prior to the normal monthly meeting. This isn't ideal we realise, and one of the agenda items at the meeting will be that we set the date for the next committee meeting so we can be sure to work out whats going on and inform you as to what is going on at the next meeting.

The next meeting at the lions den this coming Saturday 25th (September) will be a truly pleasing experience for all who choose to attend. We will be discussing the upcoming International show that we are hosting in November. It is also the first meeting where are newly elected Committee members will be struting there stuff.

ok, my first suggestion is that if the show is going to be held in November, bring forward the AGM so it is well and truly dealt with by the time the show comes around. To have it in the preceeding couple of months makes things very difficult to manage, especialy when positional changes occur.

I realise the date is probably set due to when the association was incorporated or formed, but an exception, or change to help the overall promotion of the association in my mind has to be a step in the right direction...

any thoughts???

(and please, dont hold back on anything, if you feel a certain way state it, otherwise we will never know how you all feel about things)

[Trebs]

Yeah, a lot of negative stuff has been said. I think this is mainly due to the comparision to the previous year. There were a lot more people to talk too and a lot of stalls to look at. There were also some speakers. These 2 elements added a lot to the overall setup.

It's natural to expect each year to be a little better than last year - I think people in general expect that of every annual event, rightly or wrongly. It wasn't terrible but didn't stack up with the previous year for mine.

I'm also allergic to dogs and cats so the rest of the show was lost on me.

[Proteus]

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a general "Aquarium Show"

:roll:

[Escher]

There are always ways to improve something and hopefully some suggestions brought foward here can be used for next year. You are probably right in suggesting that the ADA should let other industry parties be aware they organize a National competition that also attracts international entries.
BUT the ADA show should be an added incentive for industry parties, not the sole reason for partecipating at the Pet Expo. Given that Discus would only represent a very small part of the aquarium world in NSW why were not there any stand from Sera, Wardley, Tetra , Eheim (just to throw a few names) or other aquarium shops like Strictly Aquariums that with a few shops around Sydney should be more than interested in a show such as the Pet Expo. The interest of these would go beyond the Discus, so IMO it was disappointing not to see their envolvement and we should not expect the ADA to let them know that a PetExpo is on.

[Proteus]

Gianluca, did you see or hear any of the ad's for the Pet & Animal expo???

There was barely any mention, except in the immediate 2 weeks prior to the show that there was something from the ADA appearing there.

We must remember, that the stores have one focus on there mind, to look after there customers, AND to stay competitive. That doesnt allow a whole lot of time to sit back and read the paper, where they might have learnt about the show, or at least that there was an aquarium section as part of the show.

In hindsight, and if I was the one calling the shots, I would be on the phone, sending out letters, e-mails, faxes.... because at the end of the day, companies such as Resun paid to promote their products there. I am sure many other businesses would have done the same which gives us a WIN, WIN, WIN situation...

We as hobbyists WIN by being exposed to new dealers/products

The retailer WINS by increasing there exposure

The Association WINS as the more business partners/sponsors that are involved, results in more revenue and greater exposure...

:wink:

[africandiscus]

The only place I heard about the show was on this forum.

I would have liked to have had an oppertunity to buy products.

[Escher]

To be honest, I have not heard any ad. There was probably a better marketing (at least as far as the radio I normally listen to) for the Expo at Panthers a few months back!!! Most people I talked to did not know about its existence. I know more because of my envolvement with dog training than anything else!
There is never enough advertising for an event, so the more with discuss it the better it is. Then again the PetExpo has been happening for a few years; so if you are in the pet retail and/or service sector and do not know about it, I am not sure whose fault it is. But I would point the finger more at the PetExpo marketing section who may be complacent with their big crowds on Sat & Sun and may be unwilling to actually improve its content.
Why don't you write a letter to the PetExpo people complaining and/or pointing out the hole in the aquarium sector? For what it's worth it, I did. Hopefully they will listen for next year.

[Proteus]

...or why not form a collective group and investigate the options of organising an event seperate to this expo, one which covers all areas of the aquarium hobby and aquaculture in general...

If you look at the options, it could be huge.

just a thought anyway...

[Escher]

I am all for it. It wouldn't hurt to start asking around and see what reaction we get! :D

[DiscusMan]

Hi people,

Lot of talk of dissapointment. I was at the show every day and i never even left the Discus stand to see the rest of the displays.

I talked to a lot of people but obviously not the ones who are dissappointed here. All i spoke to where happy.

Ok the ADA is a club not a company. Setting up a dipslay of 100+ tanks is a big job. We have done it on a show string budget every year so far. The show organisers stopped us from selling fish during the show. They did the adversting. The show was being organised well before the new committee was put in place. It is not our place to go to every LFS to ask them to come and pay $4000 or whatever it costs to get a stall to sell their products.

The club and show are the work of a very small and dedicated group of the members and when all is said and done the club needs people to get involved and help not talk on a board and say what they should do. Come along and join up and do it rather than talk about it.

The fish at the show where of world class standard, we had 108 competition tanks and not 45 as mentioned. I had one patron tell me how sick the albino was because its eye was red. There is a lot of so called experts out there with NO IDEA of what discus really are. All those people with these A-grade fish at home that are better than the fish entered in the show should put there money where there mouth is and enter them into the next show. My brother in law payed $15 for a fish and got a 4th place. I would like to see how many of your $400 + fish go any good.

There where about a 50/50 split between international fishes and local fishes, and all the judges agreed that the fish where of a good standard.

The ADA is about promoting discus in general and i think we achieved that with this show. The amount of enquiries we received about the discus was amazing.

The international breeders that we now have contacts with can import 'A' Grade fish to us a very cheap prices.

The club sells 'A' Grade white discus for $40. every fish shop i been to sells them for $80 minimum. Enough said.

Anyone who thinks they can help with the show come to the meetings and get involved. We are a club based on its members so if you wanna improve it, enter your fish or come and help or do both. Please!

Wayne Tolley
ADA Webmaster

[africandiscus]

The club sells 'A' Grade white discus for $40.

Where are they sold, at club meetings?

[DiscusMan]

The fish can be obtained by calling our club president. PM me if you wish to get his number and i will reply in PM to you.

The is also White face Malboros, Leopard snakes, even some albino babies to name a few lots more varietes that have been shipped to us by the breeders that where entered in the show.

Wayne

[Trebs]

Won't that undercut the ADA's sponsors?

[africandiscus]

I dont think any of the ADA sponsors sell discus of that quality


http://www.ausdiscus.com.au/sponsors.html

[DiscusMan]

The Major ADA sponsor has already stated that they dont consider the small number of fish we import and sell and competition to there large commercial operations, and if you think about it the more fish we all own the more products they sell to us to help us look after them.

Wayne

[Proteus]

...lets get back to the topic at hand.

Obtaining feedback on the '04 show, and putting together ideas to make sure that the next show is out of this world...

:wink:

(btw, Wayne, you have a PM waiting...)

[Trebs]

Discusman - Fair enough, I guess they would make a lot more on consumables anyway.

Psx2doctor - Of what quality? are there some pics available?

[africandiscus]

I am the one who wants to buy, I am not the seller. Please PM me contact details

[DiscusMan]

Ok I am open to any ideas for the show.

We all agree that we need to do our own advertising and I say sorry for all those that didn't get any info before the show was on.

We made an assumption that the advertising for the show was going to be done for us to an adequate level by the company putting on the expo. We were wrong.

Ok the problems we face as a club with putting on shows.

100+ tanks cost money.

Ok first 2 shows the club bought the tank themselves and we sold the tank at the show making no money from the sales of the tanks and in most cases losing money from theft etc. ( long story )

Idea - Buy our tanks and keep them for each Year. If someone has some cheap space where we could store 100 - 200 maybe 300 tanks please come forward as this would be an assume thing and would go a long way to making us self sufficient. Buying and selling the tanks every year is a big hassle.

The years show we had tanks hired to us by our sponsor. I dont know the full details of what happened and what the current situation is but from the clubs point of view the tanks where a bit better but the sponsor might say something different.

There is many small probs to solve so any more thoguhts on topic will be gladly read.

Wayne

[nicholas76]

I have found these comments interesting to say the least.


All I can say is that I made the effort to travel from Melbourne for this show specifically and enjoyed what I saw and experienced.

A fine selection of good fish and several excellent fish I would happily pay top dollar for.

What were people expecting corrodors of fish a kilometre long?

I made the personal effort of approaching some of the Ada members and learnt a great deal about the fish on show, strains, breeding and what was for sale.

I actually ended up buying one of the second place fish for $200 ( pic attached ). Allan Clarke was most approachable and his Albino in my opinion was a clear winner. I dont see how they could possibly fault that fish to second place. But thats another discussion.


So in a nutshell

I saw some great fish!!! ( REFER to PHOTO SECTION )
I purchased a great fish PIC BELOW
I actually approached and met some nice people Allan and some other members.

I bit the bullet and wasnt afraid about spending the $$ to enjoy a lovely weekend in Sydney. ( im no donald trumph but geeez people we are talking about discus arent we? )

[SSSun]

I was one of the overseas guest at the show, and would like to thank the ADA and its committee members for making our stay a really enjoyable one.
It's is not easy to run an international discus competition .... mush less when it's run by a group of hobbyists (who themselves have full time jobs). Times spend away from the family (meetings after meetings), occassionally money from their own pockets, correspondences, etc etc etc. It was heartening to see Trevor running around with a swollen left leg ... organising things and entertaining the overseas guests, and Dave helping and carrying things etc etc just a few months after major op on his knees. It touch my heart to see their dedications to the success of the competition. Many of the committee members also took precious annual leaves away from their works to run the competition. Many of these things are not seen publicly! I was told that some members of the ADA stayed till late in the nights to set up the tanks and it took them another day to tear down the tanks .... surely, no easy job! :roll:
So, to me, an overseas guest ... the work that ADA had done was really magnificent. They have put Australia in the Discus world, and it's is now a big talking point in this part of the world :)

[DiscusMan]

SSSun & Nick

Thanks for your great comments on the show.

The show started to be assembled at 10:00pm on the tuesday night. A group of us where there until around 5:00am completing the jobs of tank erection and heatier and filter installation. This was so that we could get the water aged for as long as possible before the fish where put into the tanks.

Nick,

I am not sure if I actually spoke to you or not. I probably did. Anyways, The Open class fish. I actually own the winner of the class now, but asside from that your views are not incorrect in any way.

When judging the fish there is multiple points that are look at such as eyes fins gills etc etc. and also an overal impressions as well. Then these marks gets scaled to add up to 100%. Depending on the class of the fish being judged the scaling differs.

For example in a Solid Blue class. There should be no body markings on the diamond fish so the weighting on this part is lower but the structure of the fish is more important for how can you judge a pattern if it isnt there. . But in the open class in our show the weightings for body markings are higher and structure of the fish is not as high as solid classes. So if you look at the albino fish that was in the show. It was a beautiful fish but when you analyse it down to seperate components and put the wieghtings on the all the apsects the Golden Leopard snake got it.

The pattern on the albino would have scored low as it didnt have any. You could also argue that the eye is in fact a deformity as it is not like a standard discus eye. This is were standards evolve from and in discus there is new fish strains made every year and trying to fit them in to a class is very very difficult that makes everyone feel fair.

How we deal with these things is an ongoing issue that will be talked about before the running of every show we put on.

In malayasia they have 2 classes of open fish Solid and Pattern to help avoid these problems. In this australian show we are limited by the number of participants and have to make categories based upon these factors. As the years go by hopefully we can change and grow our categories by getting more entrants.

If anyone else has anymore queries as to the runnings of the show i would be happy to try to explain it a bit further

Wayne Tolley
ADA Webmaster

[nicholas76]

HI Wayne

thank you for clarifying what fishes are judged on.

With no discrespect to your fish purchase,, as fine as it may be my judgement however was based purely on what I considered to be the better fish.

why ?? , the simplicity of its beauty and the fact that they are not dime a dozen.

I'm no judge and dont use a criteria however I go by what I feel is the better fish. Perhaps my opinions may be reflected with the market some day who knows.

I do appreciate your comments however.

Regards

Nick

[DiscusMan]

Nick,

I always beleive that fish should be chosen by what you like yourself if we all liked the same thing that we would live in a very boring world indeed.

Hey i would love to have an albino myself, Allans was a very good fish i agree. If only funds where endless hey.

Wayne