I was invited by the organizer of the German Betta Contest 2025

I was invited by the organizer of the German Betta Contest 2025 to be a judge for this contest during 25-27 April 2025. I would like to share my experience with Betta brothers and sisters here.
This contest was held in Hamm, northern Germany. It was part of the Aqua Expo XXL. The atmosphere was similar to our Royal Fisheries expo in Thailand, but the scale was smaller. Visitors came from all over Europe. There is an ornamental fish event there once a year, which is not very often. Therefore, it should be the biggest event of the year.

Let’s cut to the Betta contest. Since the organizer is a transhipper who has worked with me for more than 20 years and has organized many Betta contests, and since last year I was elected as the president of our Plakad Association (Thailand) , it was a good opportunity for him to invite me to be one of the judges. I will be able to share my knowledge about looking at fish shapes, colors, and more with German breeders.
The Head Judge of this contest is a Frenchman named Jean-Michel Jeannerat. There is another trainee judge named Zvonimir Mircovic. The judges used the IBC International Betta Congress standards as the criteria for judging. This event had more than 400 betta fighting fish competing, with more than 250 Thai fishes participating, which is considered a lot for a competition there.
The first day of the competition was quite problematic because the head judge drove from France and arrived at the event late in time, so the trainee judges and I had to start judging first. Let me describe the aquarium there first. It is similar to ours, where clear plastic tanks with betta fighting fish are arranged on shelves and there are lights above. The fish are selected from the shelves and placed on tables inside, similar to ours. Each judge looks at the fish and talks to select the fish with defects, according to the standards, one by one, until there are only 123 fish left on the tables. After judging each class, the fish that came in first place from each class will be judged to find the Best of Variety, and then the Best of Variety will be used to select the Best in Show.
I have three little stories to tell. The first story is that since the head judges could not speak English at all, at first we had to use Google Translate. However, another problem was that after translating, we had to translate it from English to English again, which took quite a while. So later we did not use Google Translate. Talk until you understand each other (it seems like the head judge understands what we say but cannot speak in English). Use mostly sign language. Later, we became more familiar with each other and did not need to use Google anymore. Second, the trainee judges in their country are very enthusiastic. Their knowledge is not inferior to normal judges. What is lacking is experience. And before being promoted from trainee judge to judge, we had to participate in judging more than three times and receive signatures from the Head Judge each time. It is not easy.
The last thing is after the competition, the next day will be the day that people can come to see the exhibition. There will be people coming to see the exhibition all over the place. The owner of the exhibition has no time to rest because many people come to buy fighting fish from Thailand. It is rare to have beautiful fish. Some breeders who send fish to the competition will ask me what are the good points and bad points of their fish that need to be improved.

In this event, the Best In Show for both males and females came from Thailand. The Best In Show for New Breeder was from Germany. Congratulations to everyone. Oh, this event also has a betta fighting fish painting and photography competition. There is a work from Thailand that came to join and won a prize to take home.

Thank you to the organizers who took such good care of me. I arrived in Thailand safely. If I have the chance to go again, I will share my experience for you to read again. Thank you.