De Discusvrienden show at Vivarium (Rosmalen Netherlands)

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The Belgian association De Discusvrienden had organized the 11th edition of its show in the Netherlands in the town of Rosmalen… The lair of an event that starts to be really important: the Vivarium (or Vivariumbeurs).

I reveal here my VIDEO and PHOTOS report…

(Report Video at end of the article!!!)

Few words about the Vivarium…

The Vivarium finally came from a simple idea. It all started on a Dutch aquarist forum.

The Netherlands, which saw the birth of the "Dutch style" aquarium have no event

Impossible!

Marco Aukes
Aquarium planted Vivarium 2018 Netherlands
« Dutch touch? "

And it is in 2008 (Date of Fanatik-Discus birth!!!) that the idea to create an event in the Netherlands was born. It will be named "Vivarium" or as some call it the "Vivariumbeurs"…

It is Marco Aukes who took the risk to vouch for banks for this project… A real risk for this hobbyist aquarist.

Vivarium Rosmalen
A small part of the Vivarium…

Easy… You think so?

Terrarium geant Vivarium 2018

This adventure will not be easy! The first edition will take place in still nearly 2000 m2 hosting 1200 visitors.

It is in 2013 that without sponsors, Vivarium was canceled… To come back stronger in 2014.

Metynnis fasciatus Vivarium 2018
Metynnis fasciatus in their black water tank

The event remains in deficit, and it was only last year that the accounts returns in the green.

The edition 2018 (the tenth) will be the first in the city of Rosmalen. The Vivarium will held at Autotron in nearly 12500 M2.

A success you can discover in my video report dedicated to the discus competition organized by De Discusvrienden club. A video also showing also the overall event.

I think we can congratulate Marco Aukes for his perseverance and tenacity and the team of around 25 volunteers who help him.

Betta4all stand Vivarium 2018
Betta fish competition on the stand of Betta4all.nl

Aquascaping, Reptiles, Betta, shrimps…

40 plants an aquarium vivarium 2018

The Vivarium also get attractiveness from its numerous competitions. The discus fish of course, but also aquascaping, shrimps and Betta.

Terrarium Vivarium 2018 Rosmalen

Many booths were dedicated to reptiles and insects of all kinds. very interesting…

A beautiful area dedicated to marine aquarists was also proposed.

Aquarium plantes Aquaflora Ruinemans Vivarium 2018
One of the several planted aquariums…
stand insectes Vivarium 2018
Aquarium Biotop XL - Terrarium XL Vivariurm 2018 Rosmalen
XXL Aquarium and Terrarium…

Dozens of stands… A real kingdom for passionate people!

Balbi Vaquero Spain Vivarium 2018 Rosmalen
Balbi Vaquero Spain aquascaping champion in Rosmalen
Balbi Vaquero Champion Aquascaping Vivarium 2018
Balbi Vaquero Champion Aquascaping Vivarium 2018
Realization of Balbi Vaquero… Congratulations to her!

The Discusvrienden show and its eleventh edition!

The competition organized by De Discusvrienden is "simply" one of the most capped in the world!

It was indeed the eleventh edition organized by the Belgian association. An European record in this field.

This club who remains discreet on the European field have no less than one hundred members, witha beautiful magazine, and a dynamic involved President in the person of Eddy Leysen

This former soldier of the Belgian Army is an early hours passionate. His troops are motivated and have offered us a nice work!

Elysabeth et Eddy Leysens
Integration of notes of judges… (Elisabeth et Eddy Leysen)

More than a discus fish competition

De Discusvrienden doesn't only propose a competition. Because the competition tanks were as usual flanked with exhibition aquariums.

Passion Club De Discusvrienden before they planted aquarium
Inspire Youngers to maintain discus

Visitors could also admire the hundreds of photos taken by the President Eddy Leysen. This one is gone 1 months in the Amazon.

Although the president did not hide his preference for wild discus, this does not prevent De Discusvrienden to present two large demonstration aquarium: One dedicated to wild discus, and a second dedicated to breeding forms.

This is the "young guard" which will be in charge of this work, with a very nice result. These tanks were also very appreciated by the public.

An example who encourage new vocations? No doubt an idea to remember…

Photos d'Amazonie Eddy Leysen Vivarium 2018
A small portion of Eddy Leysen pictures in the Amazon

A pleasure to be there…

Fanatik-Discus guys Vivarium 2018
Beautiful meetings

I have set the scene… Then you can imagine the pleasure I had to be contacted by Eddy Leysen President of Discusvrienden…

A legendary contest for its history because it is one of the oldest existing competition to date in the world.

Adolescent, I followed these events without being able to go there. And today being there as a French judge amid the international renowned world jury…

From left to right the jury

Yann Hoiret, Cüneyt Birol, Eric Hustinx and Michael Schonefeld.

Discover new visions, techniques, approaches is a privilege and I thank my Belgian friends (but also the Dutch ones!) for their confidence.

The cooperation of various associations you will see (in part) in the video report below is a pleasure to watch.

It shows a real associative dynamism and certainly raise vocations…

Cuneyt Birol Chris Lukhaup Yann Hoiret
Chris Lukhaup "The shrimp King" came to discus

The Discuskampioenschap of discusvrienden…

Discus show 2018 Discus Friends Vivarium
Overview of competition aquariums

The discus competition welcomed 107 fishes. These latter were divided into five categories: with body pattern, solid, with spots, wild and open.

An unusual element was noted: All categories were mixed because classified by owners and not by color.

This for prophylactic reasons. So, if an owner brought five fishs; they were placed side by side in order to limit the risk of disease transmission.

A specific approach of this competition. Who does not always make easy the judgment. But the jury did well.

Regular readers of Fanatik-discus know my positions about categories. And to sum, I think the Belgian club could increase the number of categories.

Clever…

Jan De Rudder Eddy Leysen Nikki Boumans
Jan De Rudder, Eddy Leysen and Nikki Boumans
A top team

The aquarium set up is itself very interesting and also specific. I have never seen such set up.

As you will see on the picture, Tanks are larger volume than those generally met. Filtration is hidden behind a black separation to reduce the space of the animal while not disturbing it with the flow caused by the filter. This also keeps a good inertia of the water thanks to good volume.

hidden Technical Elements

The winners received many beautiful trophies! I always particularly appreciate the care brought by associations for their trophies.

Here, trophies were carved in wood. Very nice achievement!

Trophees discus Discus show Friends 2018
In many beautiful trophies!

Spotted discus…

I think one of the lower categories of the competition, especially from a morphological point of view.

The fish had good behavior, and their pattern designs were generally successful. It was just a shame to have big morphology faults.

1st Spotted discus Vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
The winner from Royal Discus Milano (Daniele Cannilla)
2nd Spotted discus Vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
Living Colors NL -Jackson Keong
A fish with a better morphology but having a less accurate pattern.
3rd Spotted discus Vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
Royal Discus Milano (Daniele Cannilla)

Open Discus category…

Here we have good quality fish. A pigeon white butterfly discus, snakeskin, and leopard arrived on the podium.

Team Advice and Italian Giovanni Daniele Cannilla
Giovanni Consigli and Daniele Cannilla Italy who came together and having their entries in common.
1ST open De discusvrienden show vivarium 2018
Discus pigeon white butterfly winner of the Open category
2ND open vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
A snakeskin who got the second place Living colors NL – Jackson Keong
John Van Dam et Jakson Keong Discus show Friends
John Van Dam and Jackson Keong
3RD open vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
Fish third in Open close to leopard pattern Royal Discus Milano Italy

My position regarding possible improvement of categories is here very explicit.

The winning fish in Open (Solid 90%) could reach "Solid" category of the contest. While the two following could integrate the category "Pattern".

This is where I think we can work to provide clearer categories. But also ensure that the same fish can not register in two categories (According to the choice of the owner).

For more details on this topic, I invite you to read the identification section of the website. With currently seven articles (To read in the right order).

Pattern discus

A Pigeon blood for two turquoise discus on the podium. We can here congratulate the Dutch amateur breeder Dennis De Beus who climb to the third place.

1ST pattern vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
Francis Hu Chen's Discus UK winner with this discus pigeon blood jaguar
2ND pattern vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
Fish second of Royal Discus Milano Italy
3RD pattern vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
Fish third from the Dutch hobbyist breeder Dennis De Beus

Dennis De Beus that we can congratulate for this fish around 15 months old born and raised at home.

He was one of the few amateur breeder present on this edition. Its result shows that it is possible for non-professional enthusiasts to come and win a trophy in the middle of a theoretically tougher competition.

Congratulations to him…

Dennis De Beus Vivarium 2018
Dennis De Beus Dutch amateur breeder

Solid discus

Here we have a beautiful winner since this fish has won three international competitions in 2018!

Champion of its class in Cognac (Video report France Discus Show), Dortmund (Plus the title of most beautiful discus of the competition), and during the Vivarium here in Holland.

Twice I had the chance to evaluate it, this fish was in waivers for the title of Best in Show. A fish of a rare elegance and impressive ease.

An exceptional discus coming from SG discus facilities in Italy.

1st Solid Vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
Discus blue diamond winner in Discusvrienden show
2nd solid discus Vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
Discus second from the same owner
Red cover discus Vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
Dimitri Biccler third with this Red Cover discus

Wild discus

Giovanni recommendations Grand Champion Discusvrienden 2018
The discus gods were Italians during the competition

Many beautiful wild discus had joined the competition organized by De discusvrienden…

Lately very fashionable, wild discus presented here were beautiful . Some fish were not winning even if they were very interesting! But we had 3 winners.

Grand Champion Vivarium 2018 Giovanni De Tips discusvrienden show
Wild Royal discus Grand Champion Of Discusvrienden Vivarium 2018

This is the amateur Giovanni Consigli who won the first place with a beautiful "Royal". A fish acclimated for a year in an aquarium in Italy. A fish very well-conditioned by this amateur.

This fish showed a beautiful presence from day one. Its stature decrease a bit in late weekend, but it was a real pleasure for the eyes.

This fish will win the title of Grand Champion. A title he won against the winner of the category "Solid" who had also favors the judges.

2nd category wild vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
Discus second from Dimitri Biccler Belgium
coming from a selection did in the Chen's Discus facilities
Dimitri Biccler Francis Hu Looking Leysen
From left to right Dimitri Biccler, Francis Hu and Eddy Leyssen
3rd wild brown discus vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
Wild brown Discus third Aqua Amazon
Dennis Van Den Heuvel Aqua Amazon Vivarium 2018

Dennis Van Den Heuvel store Aqua Amazon won the trophy for third place.

A fish that I particularly liked.

A really pretty gold color… Congratulations for this selection.

For the pleasure, some wilds I appreciated (Scroll by sliding)

  • Francis Hu Discus brun sauvage Discusvrienden-Vivarium 2018
  • Discus brun sauvage Vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
  • Discus sauvage Heckel Vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
  • Discus sauvage patron pearl Vivarium 2018 Discus friends show
  • Discus Discus brun sauvage show Friends 2018

You came so far… and you deserve the video report presenting the Vivarium 2018.

You are always more numerous to read the website Fanatik-discus, and I thank you!

If you also want to support the development of the Fanatik-Discus Youtube channel…

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See you soon…


About Author

Discus Breeder and Discus columnist, Yann Hoiret share on the website Fanatik-Discus his experience and passion for the King of aquariums. From 2014 He worked as a writer for the french magazine "AquaMag", the German magazines "Discus Live" and "Discus yearbook". He participated as an international judge in France Discus show 2014 and 2016 in Arvert, au Greek Discus Show 2014 in Athens, Discus Show in Paris Grigny 2015, 2017 and 2019, au FIDO concurso 2016, 2017 and 2018 Spain, au Nordic Discus Show 2018 Sweden, au France Discus Show 2018 Cognac, Discusvrienden the discus competition 2018, 2019, 2022 in the Netherlands.

4 comments

  1. Frederic.K on

    Hello,
    I wonder when it will next contest?
    I'm a fan of discus since 3 years old. I would like to see this competition I hope the date is already outdated.
    Thank you.

    Cordially.

  2. Yann Hoiret on

    Hello Frederic,

    The next edition of Vivarium will be held on 2 and the 3 November 2019 Rosmalen Netherlands.
    You have time to organize!

    Take care,
    Yann.H

  3. hi Yann,
    it makes really want, we will have to hold this displacement
    A
    David

  4. Yann Hoiret on

    Hello David,

    Indeed, this is an event worth a detour!
    Always a pleasure to see you through the pages of the site 😉

    Yann

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