Arium Festival Athens 2024

It's been a while since I last picked up my pen to share my chatophile stories with you. So off to the Arium Festival Athens 2024…

The Covid period, my various obligations or my projects got the better of me and my free time. Not that I have moved away from discus or aquarium keeping. Quite the contrary!

I just put on hold all my sharing of articles on the website for the benefit of my social networks which allow me to disseminate informations quickly and simply.

So you didn't had access to my photos, videos produced during the last two editions of the Vivarium where I had the pleasure to took part. However, I did not stop shooting images…

The deaths of some of my dear Symphysodon enthusiast friends, the enthusiasm of my Greek friends for this event or the disappearance of our two national aquarium magazines gave me back this desire to share my points of view or my experience.

My last trips to Europe and more recently to Asia also showed me that there are still so many of you who give importance to what you can read here on Fanatik-discus.

So it was time for me to come back and offer you some content. I hope you find it of quality..

You will find in this article a general presentation of the event to finish with the presentation of the discus competition.

A DISCUS event in Greece? An idea that germinated during the Vivarium

Events dedicated to discus, are an opportunity for me to see long-time passionate friends again. It is therefore not uncommon for us to spend endless and beautiful evenings discussing about our common passion..

Of course, bringing together enthusiasts from various horizons around the globe in the same place brings a certain emulation, where ideas and reflections of all kinds emerge.

In Belgium: From left to right, Elisabeth Leysen, Cüneyt Birol,

Tony Vaughan,Nidal Rezeq and Yann Hoiret.

This is how one evening, our friend Nidal Rezeq, the Greek judge shares with us his desire to once again offer an event around the discus in Greece and more particularly in Athens. This, eight years after the last “Best of discus” by 2016.

Nidal Rezeq, the keystone

Nidal is a real key figure capable of having an idea and doing everything possible to make it happen.. To have seen him at work, his ability to achieve great things starting from almost nothing is impressive and commands respect.

“I'll do it...give me some time to organize a couple of things. "

Nidal Rezeq

Nidal Rezeq also creates numerous custom aquariums in Greece

This is how he launches us: “I'll do it... Give me a little time to organize a couple of things and I'll let you know. It won't be very easy."

And we respond to him: “How could we help you in your project?? "

“Simple… I would like to have you as judges for this competition! This would be of great help to me! "

When you observe Nidal in this whole process, you will see him frown; reflect then give a very broad smile. His gaze changes and you can see pride mixed with passion in his eyes.. He found the key...!!!

Arium Festival / Best of Discus 2024 was born…

Paludariums and reptiles who caused a sensation at’ Arium Festival

In order to attract a wider audience, Marinos Protopapas, the founder of the store specialized in reptiles and aquaterrariums “Reptilia Nostra”, was in charge of presenting some very nice installations.

Nidal Rezeq told us about the quality of Marinos' work and I was not disappointed! 

Really surprising paludariums and animals… Although, the public had widely acclaimed these presentations.

Assisted in the design by Panagiotis Stefanis, the paludariums presented caused a sensation and the public was able to appreciate them in different styles of creations.

How not to be fascinated by these mini reconstituted biotopes and these incredible animals?

There are many bridges between terrariums and aquariums. Marinos Protopapas and his team have allowed many people to become familiar with insects, turtles, chameleons, frogs, snakes etc.

Aquascaping and biotope aquariums

This project around Aquascaping was sponsored by the Cretan company Misirlis Aquarium.

Above, an aquarium created by Sotiris Pappas helped by Antonis Zorbas.

Biotope aquariums…

From the biotope aquarium side, as pointed out Stavros Tsipas from the Abyssos company, it was sometimes necessary to make a few small compromises regarding the exact reconstruction of what can be observed in nature. For example with the color of sand; but the rendering and the spirit were very there. And that is perhaps the main subject

Note that a Greek regional aquarium was presented to highlight the local fish fauna. I personally found it well executed and very pleasant to observe..

Great ideas that allowed us to enjoy another facet of aquarium keeping.

As you can see, there are various aquarium trends. Aspects which are admittedly totally different, and which some like to oppose. For my part, I find that they each have very interesting aspects..

Professionals from the animal world who answered the call

To have discussed with some of them, I think they were not disappointed with the attendance and the scope that the Arium Festival was able to represent.

As I told Nidal Rezeq, it is often complicated to mobilize people during a first edition. Those who did not come to participate this year still came as visitors.

I could understand that many were pleasantly surprised! As I often say; efforts and perseverance sooner or later yield positive results.

There is no doubt that after the success of this edition, other amateurs and professionals will come and join the party.

So, the company Donald S.A (Hagen distributor in Greece) or the Abyssos company (Which you can see in the video) came this year to present their know-how.

The Gala diner in an incomparable Greek style

Nidal also promised us that: “You will spend an unforgettable moment of Greek conviviality with our aquarist friends…”

Once again, he was not mistaken! It was an unforgettable moment.

And all means were good to join this famous meal… In complete relaxation: In an incomparable Greek style (#oldteenagers)

The opportunity to exchange and discuss in a friendly and festive atmosphere. The competition is over; for everyone, It’s now time to relax…

Our Greek friends taught us the art of relaxation, the joy of being together and of course some traditional dances! 

I apologize again to my neighbor whose toes I must have crushed! 

What a pleasure to see so many young people (and future?) aquarists!

One thing will also have marked my stay in Athens: The presence of many young people who came to visit the event.

It must be said that between the paludariums, reptiles and animals of all kinds, the planted aquariums… there was something to marvel at.

Also, see the children from discus enthusiasts of England, from Italy running with the little Greeks was a pleasure to see. No need to speak the same language; playing tag remains universal.

In addition, Nidal's son Aggelos invited his friends from school to come visit him and see what his dad had organized. Our little Aggelos was proud! And I must say that I was impressed by his ease in communicating with us in English from the height of his 12 and a half years (Yes the “and a half” is very important).

To highlight, the involvement of young people from the neighboring school who worked to create the poster announcing the date of the event.

A brilliant idea that made them want to come and discover it in real life!

How can we not congratulate this initiative??

Best of Discus contest 2024 in the Arium Festival

Now let's come to the discus competition. For a return, after being weaned from 8 years without competition, around sixty fish were registered.

Many customers of the "Il padrino dei Discus" store have registered their discus. As amateurs, they also had the possibility of winning the “Eddy Leysen prize for best amateur”.

Indeed, following the demise of our Belgian friend Eddy Leysen (President of the association “De Discus Vrienden” which organizes the championship held at Vivarium ), Nidal had decided to award a trophy in his honor.

Eddy worked so hard for the discus, that this trophy is quite a symbol; him who was so happy to see amateurs present themselves in competitions.

Elysabeth his wife and Ian who is now president of the Belgian association came to Athens to award this prize in a room full of emotions.

This edition was a very big challenge for me in terms of shooting because the room was not suitable for (I should say not at all) for taking photos. I had all the sorrows in the world to take good quality shots.. So I apologize for that, but having spent hours there; I can promise you that I really did my best!

Seven categories to decide between these discus

For this event, the fish were divided into seven categories: The solid blue discus, solid Red, those with a brown base pattern, yellow/orange base, spotted discus, the unclassifiable (Unclassifiable and albino merged due to lack of an enough number of registrants) and the wilds.

The most represented category was the brown base pattern with more than 25% of registrants; while the solid blue will have represented 6% with only four fish registered.

We will be able to see further that quantity does not make quality, as I always point out, no one can predict the quantity and types of varieties that will be proposed to us for judgment.

This must once again lead us to restructure our categorization according to the types of inscriptions as I present in the article dedicated to my proposals concerning discus competitions.

Wild discus see you at the Arium Festival

Very shy, I must admit that these fish were difficult to evaluate. I was not able to take even the slightest photo of the winner of this category..

However, I was able to capture a brief moment of this animal on video which you can find on Youtube.

Three winners and three browns with a second and third place separating from 0,16 point on 100 maximum possible.

Regarding my assessment, the difference between the second and third will be mainly on 3 criterias: eyes, shape and color.

Eyes of a more proportionate size compared to body size, a front area with a more harmonious curve and a more interesting color will make the difference. But once again, very few points if we average the scores of the entire jury.

Definitely different Fish…

From a general point of view, I think that the management of wild discus in competition could be improved by returning to the use of techniques that have proven themselves at French events: Using a thin layer of sand and amber water.

Tested the first times on the France Discus Show in Arvert 2016 then on Paris 2017. An option which had been proposed and retained by the two clubs after exchanges of ideas gathered during the Naples Congress 2015.

The results obtained were very interesting, although I noticed some improvements that could still be made.

For having personally observed it in competition, wild fish are clearly more comfortable in this type of environment.

I think that with the come back of competitions on the European continent, this kind of attention given to wild discus should be put back into operation.

These fish, require different management so that they can fully express their beauty. This also makes their evaluation easier..

Discus of the Open category

We will not find the biggest providers of points in the competition here. Indeed, all fish in the Open category will have obtained the average score of 7,04/10 with 11 fish presented.

The winning fish, is a rather interesting albino leopard discus. Somewhat shy, he nevertheless showed homogeneous qualities on the various rating criteria. A rather successful result as this type of variety is not easy to select.

He easily dominated the category with an average score of 8,03/10.

The fish at the second place will mainly lose points on the general impression criteria because he was very shy. The white color could also have been more opaque and homogeneous (Hardly visible in this photo). This is a good specimen which will have obtained the grade of 7,81/10

Discus second in Open, solid white discus (Snow White) Antonis Tsipas Tank 39

Albino discus 3rd in category Open Tank 48 de Stavros Tsipas/Rio Discus

The fish above won the third place with a rating of 7,7/10. For my part he will have lost a lot of points on his morphological criteria: Its shape and proportions, the facial/frontal region or even his eyes which were rather well proportioned but not very colorful. For example, you can compare the eyes of the winning fish with this one.

Fish from the Spotted category

Eight fish were entered in this category with an overall average of 7,52/10. Four discus will mainly be better. Personally, I found the fish elected first and third quite interesting. The latter was small for an animal presented in competition but he nevertheless managed to won the third place. He will have gleaned precious little points on several criteria and this will compensate for his loss of points linked to his size..

The winner of the category obtained an overall score of 8,45/10.

The fish above was rated 7,91/10 and will be elected second in this category. The Spotted pattern of third discus is much better than the second; just like the criteria linked to the eyes. But its small size (Who is not noticed in the photo) caused him to lose too many points from the entire jury.

The fish below from Stavros Tsipas Abyssos Aquarium will be elected third with the score of 7,83/10.

That to say 0,08 point less than the discus in the aquarium 33… As it's often the case, podium places are played to details..

Red discus category

It is in this category that we will find the highest score of the competition. Indeed, the winning fish takes first place with a score of 8,73/10

A discus that deserved two photos. It brings together many qualities whether at the morphological level or its color category..

I personally gave it a rating of 9,6/10 for the quality of its color and 8,5/10 for its distribution over the entire body.

You will note the progress made by breeders regarding the penetration of color into the facial region of the fish.. Its rather clear color is very interesting..

Below, you will find the photo of the second fish in the category.

He obtained the grade of 7,91/10 and you will be able to notice a fairly clear difference with the winner (Ndlr Vs 8,73/10).

For my part, this fish was only able to match with the first on the score dedicated to color. On all other criteria, he lost between 0,1 and 0,4 points/10. Few on each characteristic… But multiplied by 7 rating criteria (the 8th being as I said for my part tied), that makes the difference.

A note of 7,78/10 for this white base discus.

Of a better size than the second, this fish is a very good example for comparison compared to the discus in front of him. On color criteria; note the differences in intensity on certain areas of the body, its distribution with less coverage on the frontal region or the gills. Likewise on the eyes, which have a correct proportion, but have a lower intensity of red (Although difficult to obtain for this type of variety).

A jaguar Pigeon Blood discus winner in the “yellow orange base” category

This is where you will find the so-called “Pigeon blood” or “Golden” base discus. (Less encountered).

The average obtained by this category is only 7,28/10 but… The three winning fish were clearly of a higher level than the others.

The winner from Nikos Ydreos obtained the score of 8,58/10

A very pretty Discus pigeon blood Type Jaguar like we haven't seen in competition for a long time. There are many photos of so-called “jaguar” discus circulating but many are not.…

Below I’ll let you discover a rather successful “jaguar type” pattern.. It comes from the breeding facilities of Antonello Greco SG Discus which was imported in Greece by the Il Padrino Dei Discus store in Athens.

A particular pattern…

The principle of this rather remarkable pattern is to find a large red dot in the center of each white patch. A rather difficult selection to make and which manifests itself quite late.

The winning fish has a very good pattern and excellent color contrast..

The uniformity of the Jaguar pattern is not “perfect” but it is of a very high level. The green arrows in this photo show you the typical pattern expected for a Pigeon Blood Jaguar.

You will note the fish below which will come second in this “Orange Base” category.. With a score of 7,68/10 we measure to what extent the winner was clearly superior to the others.

His pattern and his color earned him a lot of points. For my part, he lost a good number of points on the criteria dedicated to the evaluation of his head and opercula.. Particularly because of a fairly significant drop in the area below his mouth.

Here we have a photo allowing you to compare the fish that came third and the one that was voted first. These two discus are of the same variety. You will note here that the typical Jaguar pattern is less present and that the contrast and homogeneity of the color distribution are much less marked..

This, added to few points lost here and there explains well the ranking.. In my opinion, this is a good example..

Blue Discus

Sometimes you don't need to have a lot of registrations in a category to find quality fish.! You can appreciate the quality of the three winners in the photo below.

The Solid Blue category is a good example here since the four discus obtained an overall average of 7,9/10. The first three places were won by three blue fish of different varieties: A Cobalt Discus, a Blue Diamond and a Blue Scorpion.

You will also need to be observed carefully because their identification is only possible thanks to small details.. The most interesting “achievement” lies in my opinion on the winning discus of the category which is of the Cobalt variety.. I'll let you observe the uniformity of its color and the beautiful completion of it on the facial region.… Generally, the so-called “cobalt” discus variety have recognizable stripes on the face or dorsal/anal fins. Or also, it is possible to observe one or two black vertical bars (Crossing the eye or caudal peduncle). Here I let you closely observe the winner and the selection done by the breeder…

The winner of this category also obtained the second best score (Tied with brown base winner below) of the competition with a score of 8,55/10. This fish comes from the Il Padrino Dei Discus store in Athens and comes from the Italian farm SG Discuscoltura.

You will notice the presence of fine blue stripes on the fish's gills betraying the presence of the “snakeskin” gene.. This variety is generally called “Blue Scorpion”.

Brown Base Discus

As you guessed, it is in this category that was hidden the Grand Champion of the discus competition that took place at the Arium Festival 2024… No less than sixteen discus were entered in this “Brown Base” category. .

Behind this designation, it should be understood that this category welcomes patterned discus, called “red turquoise or blue turquoise”. With this number of registrants, we could almost have split this category in two with for example brown base fish with vertical stripes and brown base fish with other types of stripes.

Misirlis Aquarium Grand Champion à l'Arium Festival 2024

It was Georges Misirlis from “Misirlis Aquarium” in Heraklion in Crete who won the Grand Champion trophy with his turquoise discus.

An extraordinary weekend for this Cretan store which also won first place in the Aquascaping competition with the creation of Idomeneas Stratakis. And as I often say: I will always remain admiring of places where we can find talented enthusiasts…

Congratulations for this work and this involvement!

This fish did not obtain the best marks with regarding to its pattern and its color which were two of the eight evaluation criteria retained for this competition.

As you can see, his pattern is not as successful as his pursuers. Its lines are not regular; interspersed with small and large segments. Regarding color, the contrast could be better.

But then, why did this turquoise discus won?

It should first be noted that very few points separate the first and second in this category. (8,55 vs 8,41/10 on the average of the scores of the six judges).

Then, it will be all the morphological criteria and its presence which rewarded this fish. Very slightly better than the others.

This fish obtained the very good grade of 8,41/10 and was of rather remarkable quality. Rather homogeneous in its qualities; whether at the morphological level, color with a very successful contrast or its fairly regular pattern.

A pretty discus that I personally really appreciated.

As you can see here, a turquoise discus of another style with a vertical pattern instead of an horizontal pattern. This fish obtained the rating of 8,30/10

Other turquoise discus in the’ Arium Festival?

It is necessary to underline the good quality of some turquoise discus in this competition. Some could have won trophies in other competitions. But you sometimes find yourself in a category with a higher level where the details make the difference..

At the Arium Festival 2024, the turquoise discus, which came eleventh, obtained the grade of 7,5/10.

In comparison, second and third in the Open categories, Red, Spotted, and Yellow base won their trophies, each with a score lower than 8/10.

You will then understand how this “Brown Base” category was of an overall good quality and was very interesting to evaluate..

You will notice the beautiful presence of its horizontal stripes; unfortunately few contrast but particularly interesting.

This dull colored discus has a few holes in its head. It can be seen here above his eye. An element that will cause a large lost of points.

Best amateur trophy: ​​Eddy Leysen trophy

Giannis Karaiskos won the trophy for best amateur with this discus in the “Brown Base” category.. A fish that obtained the fourth place in the category.

Fish from the tank 11 came in fourth position. You will note that it can sometimes be not easy to evaluate discus with for this animal an irregularity of the pattern between the two sides…

But here we have, as for the second discus; very nice contrast and color intensity.

See you soon?

So, your trip in Athens is coming to an end…

I hope you liked my return on the website! If this is the case, feel free to leave a comment below. All the little words contribute to the referencing of this article on the internet.

See you soon!

Yann Hoiret