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Chapter Three 



Judging Goldfisn Competitions 



■a 



Among aquarium societies there is a certain demand for competi- 

 tive exhibitions of goldfish varieties. The difficulties of making satis- 

 factory awards are considerable, due in part to varying ideas as to 

 what constitutes standards of perfection. To reduce this difficulty to 

 a minimum the Aquarium Society of Philadelphia instituted a series 

 of conferences of leading fanciers in order to establish a satisfactory 

 and uniform scale of standards. The diagrams shown herewith repre- 

 sent a composite of the best ideas obtainable. The majority of lead- 

 ing societies have adopted them as a whole. 



The "point system" of judging, as it is called, is too slow and 

 laborious for use on an entire large exhibition. The two or three 

 best fish, selected on general appearances, should be set aside from 

 the others and judged independently by three judges, on points. The 

 totals are then averaged and awards made. 



In those classes requiring double anal fins the fish is penalized 

 three points for having only one. 



In the Fringetail classes the tails must be fully divided to receive 

 consideration. 



The Longtail or Fringetail group is divided into two classes, the 

 Veiltail and the Ribbontail. These are also called "broad-tail" and 

 "swallow-tail" or "cut-out-tail." In the Veiltail the centre of each 

 tail is indented or forked less than one-third of its total length. The 

 swallow-tail is cut in to one-third or more. The diagram on page 45 

 will plainly show this. 



The making of these classes has caused some confusion. The 

 author believes that fishes of these two types and those on the difficult 

 dividing line should all take their chances together. The division was 

 undoubtedly made as an expediency in order to make more awards 

 and thereby please as many people as possible. So far as can be deter- 

 mined, no such divisions of fin shape have ever been recognized in 

 China or Japan, and the same was true here until the period of 1910-12, 



