By David Marshall, Y.A.A.S. Newsletter Editor & Editor of The Aquarium Gazette CD magazine

On Sunday 6th July the Y.A.A.S. held their annual Open Show at the Village Hall, Stockton-on-the-Forest, nr York.

At this special event the prestigious Fish of Fishes and Exhibit of the Year contests are held. To qualify for Fish of Fishes the single fish on view must have scored 85 points or over at an Open Show during the past 12 months. For the Exhibit of the Year the same ruling applies to the matched pair or breeders team on view.

Results: -

Fish of Fishes

1st place - Mr. Roy Blackburn (Castleford A.S.) with an Akysis prashadi.
2nd place - Mr. Bernard O'Neill (Workington A.S.) - Characidium fasciatum.
3rd place - KPJ (Select A.S.) - Aulonacara stuartgranti.

Exhibit of the Year

1st place - Mr. Roy Blackburn - pair of Akysis prashadi.
2nd place - Mr. Bernard O'Neill - pair of Limia vitt\ta.
3rd place - Mr. M. Walters (CSG) - breeding group of C113

U.K. Guppy Championship

30 very varied Guppies made a wonderful display. After much deliberation 1st place went to Derek Jordan. As I, along with Trish Jones and Edward Cheatham, had the honour of judging the above contests I can honestly say that the standard of fish exhibited was excellent.

Open Show

Y.A.A.S. 'A' Class judges Mr. Steve Grant, Mr. Trevor Douglas and Mr. Kevin Webb were joined by guest FNAS judges . Mr John Cowan and Mr. Brian Walsh.

The Open Show drew a total of 230 entries. The variety of fish on show was excellent and included Phallichthys fairweatheri, LDA 40, Crowntail Betta splendens, C18, Pygmy swordtail, Crenicichla 'species' alta and Butterfly barb.

The Best in Show award would be presented to David McAllister (BLA) and Best Exhibit to Les Wharton (Workington A.S.)
.
Special showing award

Badges for 50, 100 and 250 First Place cards were awarded to the father and son showing team of Kevin and David Lawton of the Wyke Show Society.

Auction

A busy and lively affair. Well done to Auctioneer Steve Jones and his team.
The Anabantoid Association of Great Britain were in attendance with their stand. The members put together an impressive display of Betta and Microctenopoma species.

One aquatic trader came along bringing an excellent selection of dry goods and aquarium foods.

This was a special day for the Aquarium Gazette (the U.K.'s only bi-monthly aquarium magazine for computer users) stand as it marked the production of the first copies in PDF format.

Finally a big THANK YOU to the small army of helpers for all of their hard work with catering, administration and various tasks that helped to make another memorable day.