There were 50 entries which is half of what there were in prior years. We took a two year break because of the covid pandemic and probably this a residual effect of the pandemic. In fact a number of people who were active and entered multiple fish in the BOWL SHOW did not enter this year.
Surprisingly the Schooling Fish had the most entries with 8 entries. The All Livebearers class was second with 7 entries. Also surprisingly is that the Shrimp class had only one entry seeing that everyone in the club now must have at lease one kind of shrimp.
There were ten sponsors of individual classes. This money goes a long way to cover the costs of the BOWL SHOW. But the shortfall might mean changes to future BOWL SHOWS.
The People's Choice Award went to a large black veiltail angelfish entered by Jeff McGary. This was voted on by all who were present at the event.
The Best In Show Award went to the beautiful veiltail blue marble pearlscale angelfish entered by Jeff McGary. The judges selected this fish as the best.
1. ANGELFISH sponsored by James Chitty
First place a blue marble pearlscale angelfish entered by Jeff McGary
Second place a black veiltail angelfish entered by Jeff McGary
Third place a Bulgarian angelfish entered by Manuel Moro
2. DWARF CICHLIDS (rams, apistos, small Africans, [max 4 inches]sponsored by Shawn Michanco
First place a julidochromis marleri entered by Mark Kaprow
Second place a neolamprologus caudopuncatatus entered by Manuel Moro
Third place a German blue ram entered by Frank Cowherd
3. ALL OTHER CICHLIDS sponsored by Carol Cowherd
First place a blue dolphin entered by Manuel Moro
Second place a red checkerboard discus entered by Manuel Moro
Third place a geophagus altifons entered by Frank Cowherd
4. CORY CATFISH (corys, brochis, and apistodoras …sponsored by Shawn Michanco
First place a corydoras schultzei black entered by Frank Cowherd
Second place a pair of corydoras rabauti entered by Michael Barber
Third place --
5. SUCKERMOUTH (ancistrus, plecos, …sponsored by Linus Chen
First place an ancistrus sp. super red entered by Andrew Blumhagen
Second place an ancistrus megalostomus entered by Andrew Blumhagen
Third place a L128 blue phantom pleco entered by Aly Usmani
6. ALL OTHER CATFISH (synodontis, …
First place a synodontis schoutedeni entered by Frank Cowherd
Second place --
Third place --
7. SHRIMP [Must have at least 3 shrimp in each entry, max 6 shrimp]
[shrimp bowls can have a small piece of mesh or plant in each bowl]
First place a group of tangerine Tiger shrimp entered by Karthryn Lawson
Second place --
Third place --
8. LIVEBEARERS (swords, platys, guppies, variatus) sponsored by Manuel Moro
[Livebearers must be shown in pairs]
First place a pair of red velvet swordtails entered by Frank Cowherd
Second place a pair of dumbo-eared black Moscow guppies entered by Shadi Alhusary
Third place a pair of N-class endlers entered by Skanda Abeyesekeve
9. SCHOOLING FISH (tetras, rasboras, danios, rainbows …sponsored by Patchin Curtis
[Must have at least 5 fish in each entry]
First place a school of longfin white clouds entered by Gerry Hoffman
Second place a school of emperor tetras entered by Manuel Moro
Third place a school of melon barbs entered by Skanda Abeyesekeve
10. ANABANTOIDS (bettas, gouramis …sponsored by Shawn Michanco
First place a copper koi female betta entered by Barbara Day
Second place a hellboy male betta entered by Barbara Day
Third place --
11. GOLDFISH AND KOI AND OTHER POND FISH sponsored by Frank Cowherd
First place --
Second place --
Third place --
12. KILLIFISH [Must be shown in pairs]
First place a pair of orange australe entered by Frank Cowherd
Second place a pair of fundulopanchax gardneri entered by Manuel Moro
Third place --
13. ALL OTHER FISH (natives and oddball fish …sponsored by Aquatic Life Farm, LLC
First place a satinfin shiner entered by Sean Lin
Second place a torpedo barb entered by Manuel Moro
Third place a peacock gudgeon entered by Manuel Moro
14. ODDBALL INVERTEBRATES (crayfish, snails, etc.)
First place the now famous entertaining leach entered by Gerry Hoffman
Second place a Hercules snail entered by Barbara Day
Third place --
Frank, PVAS BOWL SHOW chairman
What a fun day, thanks Frank for all you do with the bowl show. It was so nice to see all the fish entered and how beautiful they all were. Congrats to all the winners.
Many thanks to Frank for his dedication to making the Bowl Show a success year after year. As Frank mentioned, this year's Bowl Show was about half its normal size and we were missing the many children that often attend, but it was great fun to see so many beautiful fish anyway.
I've received some emails since Saturday from folks who sent their regrets but came down with COVID after traveling over the 4th of July holiday. No one's in the hospital that I know of. Hopefully next year we'll be back up to where we usually are in terms of entries.
Congratulations to Jeff McGary for his Best In Show and People's Choice Awards. He works magic with angelfish. And congratulations to all of our other winners and thanks to all those who took the time to bring their fish in to share with others. The prizes are nice, but for me the best part is to see such a variety of well-kept fish, shrimp, and invertebrates all in one place. Even the leech. Should we have a separate prize for Ick Factor?