Invites everyone to our 16th Annual Koi & Goldfish Show, Oct 11-12, 2008            Check back often as new show information is posted frequently

16^th ANNUAL TEXAS KOI & FANCY  GOLDFISH SOCIETY SHOW           October 11-12, 2008

It is with great anticipation that TKFGS is preparing for our 16^th annual show. We are dedicated to make this year’s show one of the premier gatherings of koi, goldfish, hobbyists, lecturers, and vendors from across the country. We enjoy sharing our beautiful aquatic pets with fellow Koi and Goldfish lovers. Our show’s primary objective is to make this event a valuable educational and enjoyable social experience. Our show vendors will be sheltered under a huge tent that will also contain the goldfish show aquariums. The vendor area is only a few feet away from the area where the koi show tanks will be located on the beautiful grounds of Water Garden Gems. Water Garden Gems is located just a few miles east of San Antonio outside Loop 1604 on Interstate 10 East  (between exits 593 & 595 on the north frontage road) Water Garden Gems phone number is (210) 659-5841. For the very latest in show information check out our club website at http://www.texaskoi.com/.

We are fortunate to have some of the most respected and experienced judges in the U.S. handling our show. Our Koi Judges are AKCA or ZNA certified or candidates. Our Head Koi Judge is Bob Finnegan, Assistant Head Judge is Joan Finnegan, Assistant Judge is Joe White, and we will be hosting two candidate koi judges from Holland, Willem de Graaf and John de Luer. Our Goldfish Judge is Tony Reynolds of Richardson, Texas who is certified by the American Goldfish Society. All fish will be shown “English Style.” This means that specific tank/s will be reserved for each individual owner to quarantine their fish from all other fish in the show. We require that everyone wanting to show fish make reservations and advance payment for their goldfish and/or koi tanks. Please see additional information about tanks/reservations and show rules in the sections below.

We already have confirmation of entries and visitors from California, Florida, Holland, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, and all over Texas. If we can be of any assistance with your plans to visit our show or show your fish please give us a call. We also have a special program for show visitors that want to participate in the fish show but not bring fish to or from the show. Anyone can purchase a fish from one of our show vendors and place it in the show at no charge and either take it home or donate the fish after the show to the club auction. Yes, you get to keep any trophies or awards. Many of our fish vendors have given a special discount at past shows for fish that will be entered in the show. We are very excited about this year’s show and looking forward to seeing old and meeting new friends. Please drop by the TKFGS booth and introduce yourself. We will also be selling cold drinks, raffle tickets, new and previous show pins, and special show T-shirts to help us defray the costs of the show.

VENDOR/EXHIBITORS: We expect over 15 expert vendors traveling from all over the U.S. to display and sell products as well as share their wealth of knowledge with us. Our show features U.S. koi and goldfish breeders selling pond and show quality koi, long finned koi and goldfish. We will also have a large assembly of pond and non-pond related vendors displaying a large array of products and services. At this time our confirmed vendors include: 

Tank Hollow Fisheries(Long Fin Koi Breeder), Bretts Fish Farm (Koi Breeder), Ornamental Pond Fish (Koi & Goldfish Breeder), Out of the Woods Koi Farm (Koi Breeder), International Filter Solutions (aquatic filtration products), Hikari Sales USA (Koi food, medications, water treatments)  Water Garden Gems (Pond products), Austin Pond Society, and TKFGS. 

Our fish vendor spaces are sold out but if any “non-fish” vendors are interesting in attending our show please contact Ray Jordan - 210-494-2034 or visit our website at www.texaskoi.com. and click on the show vendor link at: http://www.texaskoi.com/2008show/showvendorinvitation.htm

JUDGING: You are welcome to view the judging but please refrain from talking to the judges or indicating a fish’s owner during judging. We suggest you visit the vendors and attend the educational seminars and plan to view fish after the judging is competed about mid-afternoon on Saturday or anytime on Sunday. We are planning special educational seminars on Sunday morning for the judges to discuss the “standards” for each variety and answer questions.

2008 SHOW SCHEDULE     (all events except banquet located at Water Garden Gems)

FRIDAY – Oct. 10th

SATURDAY – Oct. 11th

* Show Awards Banquet is at Menger Hotel located in Downtown San Antonio – See banquet information below:

SUNDAY – October 12th

SHOW VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: We need/welcome volunteers to assist with all aspects of the show. This is a great way to learn more about shows and enjoy the entire show experience. In particular, we need help setting up on Wednesday October 8th through Friday October 10 from 9am to 5pm daily. Also we especially need help cleaning up and putting away club equipment on Monday October 13th from 9am to 3pm after the show. We also need help staffing our club booth during the show. Please call Ray Jordan at 210-494-2034 to volunteer.

SHOW HOTEL: To be announced

Motel Info: Here is some information on motels near Water Garden Gems which is between exits 593 and 595 on IH-10  just east of San Antonio. I would strongly suggest that if you are thinking of coming to our event that you go ahead and make a motel reservation as soon as possible if your plans change you can always cancel. San Antonio area motel rooms are always pretty hard to come by and several other nearby motels are already full. These rooms are about 10 -15 minutes from the event location. 

RAFFLES: You can help keep our show growing and win some great prizes. You need not be present to win (except for live fish), Non fish winners will be notified and responsible for picking up your prizes within seven (7) days after the event or prizes will revert back to club for future use. Proceeds go to help pay cost of the Show.

General Raffle: $1.00/tickets. Again this year we will hold our general raffle with drawings every 30 minutes from 10:30 am - 4:30 pm on Saturday and 11:00 am to 1:00 pm on Sunday. We have a large array of items including fish and pond related products and services as well as non-pond-related prizes. 

Special Raffle: $5.00/tickets. We will have our special raffle prize drawings Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm. You can specify which special prize you want your tickets drawn from. Discounts for purchasing five or more tickets. Special raffle items are llive fish or generally valued at $100 or more. Special $5 Raffle: We will have the special raffle drawings Sunday at 1:00pm. 

If you have a product or service you would like to donate to our raffle please contact Kathii or Barry Tackett at (210) 822-9820 or email ktack1@grandecom.net

SHOW BANQUET: 7:00 pm Details to be announced This is a casual fun dinner party not the awards ceremony. Make checks payable to TKFGS and send to Ray Jordan, 15514 Elm Park San Antonio, TX 78247.

AUCTION: We will conduct an auction of show and pond quality fish Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm. We are very grateful to everyone donating fish for this event. We need to have all donated auction fish delivered in individual sealed fish bags with water and oxygen delivered to the auction site approximately about 1 hour before the auction begins. Anyone may bid and buy fish at the auction, however, only TKFGS members or show vendors may donate fish to help insure only healthy fish are offered for auction. Here is a sample of baby koi donated by tank Hollow Farms to the auction. They will be bagged and sold in lots of about six koi per bag.

TKFGS members that donate fish to the auction will receive 50% of the proceeds. 

 WATER QUALITY: Jennifer & Tom Walker of the Dallas club will be in charge of our water quality again this year. We will have thirty (30) koi show tanks set up for the show this year. This includes ten (10) eight foot tanks reserved for larger koi. Our specially plumbed tanks use a unique flow through fresh water system supplied by pure well water. (water is constantly replaced every six hours) This system greatly reduces the chance of ammonia build up and the need to add chemicals to treat the show tank water and is the state of the art for fish safety. We will have two air stones supplying aeration for each koi tank. Also, we will have thirty - 20 gallon aquariums set up for goldfish. The goldfish aquariums are not on a flow through system so the water will be closely monitored and treated with Amquel to neutralize any ammonia excreted by the fish. 

TANK Reservations: Show Competitors please read very carefully!           Because of the “English” style show system we need to know in advance how many koi tanks and goldfish aquariums to set up. Fee for the koi tanks will be $100 for an eight foot tank, $75 for a six ft. tank. If want to share a tank with someone that is fine also. Find your own tank buddy or we will try to find one for you. Fee for goldfish will be $5 per fish. Please call Ray Jordan with the following information: (1) The number and size of koi tanks you want, (2) The number of 20 gallon goldfish aquariums you want. There will be a limit of three (3) koi tanks per family and only one can be a eight foot tank unless all ten are not reserved. A waiting list will be utilized. We will strictly enforce the following tank stocking rules. Please use the following system as a guide to determine how many fish can be placed in each tank. Plan on 2-4 small to medium goldfish per aquarium. With larger goldfish plan on 1-2 per aquarium. With koi use the following formula: Multiply the size class (1-8) of your fish (see registration form) by the number of fish you are showing in that size class. Do this calculation for all your koi. For example if you bring one-size 5 = 5 points and two-size 4 = 8 pts, and 3 size 3 = 9 points. If you brought these six fish to the show they would total 5+8+9 = 22 points. The show guidelines for the six foot tank capacity is 25 points and 40 points for eight foot tanks. Since your point total is “22” in this example you would need a single six foot tank. We have 10-eight foot tanks and 20-six foot tanks for the show. We recommend that unless you have several size 7 or larger koi that you use the six foot tanks. This is intended to be a guide only. We do not want to over crowd anyone’s fish. If your fish load is too great for the tank/s reserved we will require you take another tank if available. Koi show entrants need to bring a standard koi net and koi tub appropriately sized for their koi for each of their reserved tanks.  A single koi net can be utilized for two tanks if necessary. In order to keep everyone’s fish quarantined from other fish we need dedicated nets and tubs for each tank. If you do not have your own nets & tubs you can rent them from the club for $5 during the show. Once you have determined your tank requirements please call Ray Jordan at 210-494-2034 to reserve your koi tanks and goldfish aquariums. We have already received a number of tank reservations and predict a complete sell out of available tank space again this year. We require that you send your tank payment as soon as you make your reservations. Deadline for tank reservations/payment will be Tuesday October 7^th. Make checks payable to TKFGS and mail to TKFGS, 15514 Elm Park, San Antonio, TX 78247. This procedure will insure that we have enough tanks set up to handle everyone’s fish. Fish will be monitored routinely for any problems and show tank water will be tested for ammonia as needed. All koi show tanks will be covered with netting except during the actual judging. Security will be provided. A separate quarantine tank will be available to hold any disqualified or over capacity fish not allowed in the show.

TO SEE 2008 SHOW TANK RESERVATIONS FOR KOI - CLICK HERE

        TO SEE 2008 SHOW TANK RESERVATIONS FOR GOLDFISH - CLICK HERE

TKFGS Show Awards and Regulations 

THE FOLLOWING 18 AWARDS WILL BE GIVEN FOR GOLDFISH

These 18 goldfish awards will receive trophies or plaques.

 THE FOLLOWING 4 AWARDS WILL BE GIVEN FOR LONG FIN KOI 

These 4 long fin awards will receive trophies or plaques. 

2008 - YOSHIDA SPECIAL GROWING CONTEST

 THE FOLLOWING 41 AWARDS WILL BE GIVEN FOR KOI