Well, you can talk about awards at your first show, but I remember fish poop!
I had fasted my fish for 5 days before the show, but the algae on the walls of the pond was thick enough to provide a lot of grazing. My show tank had the filthiest bottom of any. And, the guys who showed koi for many years had pristine tanks .... so I went looking for a fine net to get the algae poop out. But koi show vendors do not sell fine mesh nets, they sell koi nets, of course. After some hours, I found a "fry net" .... at a ridiculous price. I then spent 2 days netting out the algae poop every couple of hours, except, of course, when the judging was taking place. I learned that after only eating algae for 5 days, it takes 48 hours during warm weather for my koi to empty their systems.
