Minnesota Aquarium Society Show 2014

Minnesota Aquarium Society Show 2014

This weekend was a whirlwind!  On Friday my husband (who should win an award for the best fish show supporter) and I packed up and drove down to Fridley, Minnesota to participate in my first fish show, the Minnesota Aquarium Society‘s annual show.  In deciding which of my fish to bring, I considered which one would be the most eye-catching, and which one conformed best to the ideal butterfly telescope in body and fin conformation.  I chose to bring Clyde, my male panda butterfly.  He also has very excellent swimming motion and balance, and is very active and personable, which makes him a great choice for a show fish.

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Clyde, a male panda butterfly telescope goldfish.
Clyde was very personable and swam actively at the front of glass all weekend long.
Clyde says “Get my good side!”.

We arrived at the show venue in the evening, and most people had already finished setting up their tanks.  We chose a spot next to a cute calico willow (single-tailed telescope) shown by a local breeder and had a good time chatting with him about goldfish while setting up.  In the goldfish and koi category, there were only five goldfish and one koi participating.  When we got Clyde set up in his show tank, it was time to make a Walmart run for some Command hooks to hang up my artwork; a pencil drawing of a ryukin, and a photography print of a butterfly telescope.  Finally, around 10pm, everything was all set and the fish room was closing for the night.  Judging would be finished by the time the fish room opened to the public again at noon on Saturday.

Jennie with her panda butterfly telescope, Clyde.

Jennie with her drawing and photography print.

On Saturday we listened to some guest speakers, checked out all the awesome fish in the show, and entered some raffles.  Before the award winners were announced at the end of the night, we played a few rounds of “Bubble Bingo” in which I won a box of aquarium goodies!  Most of it is not actually very goldfish-oriented, so I may be using them for giveaways in the future for those of you with other types of fish, so keep an eye out for that!  Show winners were finally announced and we found out that Clyde had won second place in the goldfish and koi category (he was beat by the koi), my ryukin drawing won first place in the art category, and… Clyde won the Peoples’ Choice Fish award!  I was awarded two plaques, which will be proudly displayed in my fish room I’m sure. 

12 Comments

  • Ricky Dillard Posted April 9, 2023 9:30 pm

    Nice video! I was hoping for more of the goldfish…think I saw only the Ranchu and Willowtail. I’m wondering what kind of koi it was. Anyway, some of those fish were beautiful.
    On a side note, I’m getting my first butterfly from Dandy’s…A Purple Metallic one. It should be nice!

  • Ricky Dillard Posted April 10, 2023 12:06 am

    I do enjoy your warning of seemingly friendly goldfish being cannibalistic since they eat their own young. It’s cool that the discus takes care of its young though!

  • Ricky Dillard Posted April 10, 2023 9:47 am

    Also…Congratz to Clyde!

  • Ocean Truth Posted April 10, 2023 7:25 pm

    Congratulations on all the awards!!! You’re first time out too! I think you need to make your husband a plaque too. Lol.

    I love the drawing you did and that Minai was at the show in some fashion as well. 🙂

  • Jennie Posted April 11, 2023 4:00 am

    I was thinking the same thing!He needs one that says Best Fish Show Supporter or something along those lines.:)

  • Ricky Dillard Posted April 11, 2023 9:19 am

    Too bad there wasn’t just a goldfish category….since koi and goldfish are descended from different carp types. Anyway, First place to Clyde in the goldfish category!

  • Jennie Posted April 11, 2023 10:42 am

    I agree, and think that maybe in the future the group would be willing to separate the two categories.It seems like it’s a matter of not having enough entries in the categories for them to be separate.There was only one koi shown and five goldfish.

  • Ricky Dillard Posted April 11, 2023 10:56 am

    Yeah, hopefully your presence will draw more participants. Just knowing about it might help attendance. It would be interesting if they did a trick contest too.

    There are so many goldfish varieties that you’d never see live without shows like these.

  • Alisa Pacha Posted April 11, 2023 3:57 pm

    Wow how great is it that you won!!! Good job. I was thinking it would be cool if you had a place where people could upload a short one minute clip of their own goldfish. Id love to see pictures or what not of everyone’s fish that have been following you.
    Cheers-
    Alisa

  • Taylor Simmons Posted May 16, 2023 8:53 am

    Do you spray paint your tanks or just paint with acrylic?? I love the black background!! Thank you for sparking my interest in goldfish! Love your videos!

  • Susan Abdey Posted September 12, 2023 9:35 am

    Dear, I like your blog very much, I can get many useful information. Hope that we can communicate with each other. By the way, have you ever used ? Unfortunately I lost my partition. I do not know how to do.

  • Mary Ann Tracy Posted November 9, 2023 2:44 am

    where do I find these panda goldfish? I have been trying to read on them and I can not tell what is true and what is false on websites. One site says the panda changes color after a while. is this true? Your fish has beautiful vivid colors! I would like to know where I can get one.

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