Meeting Andrew Soh

[Hollowman]

Hi everyone,

For the people that know about the discus world, you will know the name of Andrew Soh, he is a most respected author, discus breeder and a frequent member giving advice to anyone who needs help.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon and evening with him. He jetted into the UK to be our guest speaker and judge at our inaugural British Discus Show He is a lovely man, and just what I thought he would be like in person. He is happy and forward, and has a genuine love for the hobby. It was clear while chatting to Andrew that he has a real passion for fish and most of all for helping others and the business in general to cure resistant disease and ailments.

I now get the chance to spend the next few days with Andrew, which I am looking forward to, as we build our show, ready for the weekends excitement. I have also a show judge, so who better to have as a mentor, than the man himself.

I know you guys are mostly on the other side of the world than me, but we should be having a 'live site' running at the show with webcams and all sorts of other information updated as it happens, so if you are interested in dropping by, take a look at this link, which will direct you to the official British Discus Show website, and then there should be a link to the 'live show' from Saturday morning.

http://www.british-discus-show.com

Hollowman :)

[waitaki]

thats great Hollowman - I'm impressed by him taking the time to help people on this web site. Pleased you got to met him

[TW]

Andrew kindly tried to help me here, a while back, with a sick heckel. Very nice man.

[Hollowman]

Update,

I spent today with some of our team building the show. I have just got home from the venue and feel exhausted. We have the racks in place as well as the 50 show tanks, most are now filled with remineralised RO water each with it's own heater and filter.
It has been a fun time, and we even had Andrew mucking in and helping us move materials around, setting up tanks and filling them with water.
I think the highlight of my day was being asked if I wanted to have a look at the draft copy of Andrew's new book, well, I jumped at the chance and spent the best part of an hour flicking through the pages, with Andrew explaining each page as I looked :) How cool is that!!
I will not tell you what it is all about, as that isn't fair, but I will tell you that it will make an invaluable addition to your discus book library. He has gone into various subjects in more specific detail in a way that both the experienced and beginner will understand. It's a must, so watch out for it's release.
I go back to the venue tomorrow morning to continue the setup, so will not be able to post until after the weekend. I will try to get you some pics so you can have some idea of what goes on.
There is now a website dedicated to the show and will be updated from Friday. Web cams will go live late Friday/Early Saturday.

The site can be found here http://show.bidka.org


Hollowman :)

[Merrilyn]

Ohhhhhhh you lucky, lucky man.

We want a full update of everything that happened at the show Steve and more details of your time spent with Andrew.

I'm positively GREEN with envy LOL

[Hollowman]

Merrilyn,

You won't believe the time I have had with Andrew. He is a true star. He has a wicked sence of humor and knows so much more than what you might think. He is always smiling and loves to be part of everything that goes on.

He also loves his food :shock: When he reads that, he'll have a good laugh. I won't mention the Corned Beef Hash.....
:lol:

Here are a few pics, I have more but not resized yet.

Steve

[Hollowman]

A few more

[Hollowman]

Best pic of all, Andrew and me after we received our judging certificates.

[lpiasente]

Nice to see what you both look like :) and some nice fish also. Do we have shows here in Aus like that.

[Hollowman]

Do we have shows here in Aus like that.

Wouldn't that be great.. There you go Merrilyn, a new project :wink:

[lpiasente]

How much would one of those show discus be woth?

[Hollowman]

It took us about 6+ months to organise, I suppose it cost over £10,000 Some costs are covered by sponsors, and we sold shares to members. Remember you have to buy tanks, filters, heaters, racks, water and the list goes on.....and on........and on. :shock:

[lpiasente]

Gosh that's alot, but I didn't explain myself very well I meant how much would one of the discus be worth that you were judging.

[Hollowman]

lol Oh.. ok, :lol: Lots, Some of them were HUGE, 7"+ and 2" thick at the shoulder. I think they go for anything from £60 to £120+

Here is a link to all the show fish. Click the side tabs to see all the show site. :)

http://show.bidka.org/tanks.shtml

H

[lpiasente]

Tank 2, 5, 23, 34 are my favs. Did I pick any winners? We should have our own judging comp and see who gets it right. :)

[Merrilyn]

Hey Steve, good to see you. And you were judging too ..... wow I didn't know that. Well done!

The show looks awsome. Congratulations !

How many entries did you get in the end.

Time for you to publish some more photos :wink:

[Hollowman]

Hi Merrilyn,

Judging was great! it is not as easy as you might think, but I had several hours of tuition from Andrew and I had been reading up on this for a while. We had 50 tanks of discus, it took nealr 3 hours to judge, that gives you some idea of how much you have to observe. The hardest part I think is being completely impartial, no matter what fish you prefer, and to know the characteristics of the strain as well as fish faults no matter how small.

The site with all the info and pics is http://show.bidka.org

Steve :D

[darren burgess]

Steve,
all the reports from the show are great,would of been good to be their,Andrew is one of the most Knowlegable people when it comes to discus,I have chatted with him a couple of times and he is never to busy to reply.



cheers

[Hollowman]

Hi Darren,

It would have been great to have seen you over here, but maybe a bit far for a weekend's show...... maybe next year eh? :lol:

Yes, Andrew is a true 'gent' he had time for everyone, a real genuine guy with a passion for helping.

Steve :)

[nicholas76]

opened a can of worms steve! pics mate please!!

[Hollowman]

Nicholas, the link should work that I posted above, it shows the fish and show pics. Unfortunately, I never took very many photos as I was making sure thing were running smoothly.

Open this link and hit the tabs top or side http://show.bidka.org

Steve :wink: