Why not a Male & Female category when judged?

[maryland_ponder]

Has this been suggested? Since males dont usually fill out as well as females but may have the rest of the perfect fish package why not have a male champion a female champion & then a grand champion? It seems that the males are held to a standard they have little chance of obtaining. Would it not make sense to have two sets of standards?

[dinh]

I believed some shows in the past did have Male Grand Champion Award as well.

[Ryan S.]

Some shows do have a Male champ award, which makes it funner in the spring shows when the Male champ is laying eggs Sunday morning.

[dcny]

Maybe it would be interesting for the larger size categories and GC, but it wouldn't make sense for all sizes. Males acually have an advantage in the smaller sizes because they finish earlier. Also sex is difficult to determine in small fish.

I do like the Male GC idea because every once in a while you get to see a fish like this one that's truely impressive (regardless of gender). It shows the great potential that large males can achieve and inspires us to something.

-Dan

[schildkoi]

Many shows do in fact have a Male Champion award. Also as mentioned, Males have an advantage in smalle sizes not only because they tend to "finish" earlier (and at smaller sizes than females), but also because body shape, although important doesn't typically start to differentiate between sexes until around the 18" range (give or take).

As for "duel standards" for judging? Let's see, for a large show tih say 200+ Koi here in the US, there would typically be 16 classifications and 8 sizes making for 128 "initial competitions" (let alone best in size champions, between 2 sizes) and the top awards. Now that process takes anywhere from 3 to 5 hours depending on individual factors. By having duel standards, the competition is "diluted" and now there are 256 "initial competitions" and judging becomes a weekend afair instead of a few hours....unless even more judges are added at a larger expense to the hosting club.

But hey, clubs are free to set up the show in a manner that the prefer too.

Steve

[Russell Peters]

I think that DCNY brings up a good point, which is that some males do look like females. I have been to shows, knowing a Koi is male, and have seen it fool a lot of people, including judges.
I think taking the time to sex all of the Koi entered is too much stress on the Koi and handlers.

[aquitori]

Sounds like a cool idea to have a male GC title...Have yet to see it at the shows I have attend in Cali.