Judging Male Guppy Tank Entries to IFGA Standards

Revised August 2022 - Color judging terms changed to Coverage and Quality

By Bryan Chin and Stan Shubel

Introduction

This article focuses on judging male tank entries as per the IFGA standard. A tank entry is defined as two matching males in its appropriate color class. In this article pictures of tank entries will be pointed out to demonstrate how judging is done. Thanks to Stan Shubel for working with me to create this article.

Be sure to reference the IFGA Judging Standard available to IFGA members on the www.ifga.org website to better understand how these guppies are judged. Pointing IFGA guppies is challenging and is well known by those who take the visual judging test. This article can help those working towards being a judge, and picking the right males for breeding and competition.

Judging Tank Entries

Though actual judging is done visually it is based on the following pointing system:

1. When judging a tank entry each male is judged individually and pointed out to the IFGA point system for males.
2. The points for each male are then added together. For example male A = 80 pts. + male B = 75pts. With 155 points as the total.
3. The next step is to determine the matching points of the tank entry. The IFGA standard states that there are an additional 20 points for matching and are broken down as follows:
   1. Matching Tail = 8 pts Matching Body =6 pts Matching Dorsal = 6 pts
   2. Each category will take into consideration how well the color, size, and shape match each other.
4. The total tank entry points are determined as follows:
   1. Male A + Male B + Matching = Total tank entry points

Visual Judging

At IFGA shows judging is done visually and deliberated between 3 judges to decide the top 4 winners. This article demonstrates how point system works and what the visual judging is based on. One useful exercise is to judge the placements of the three tanks of guppies in this article visually and then view the points’ standings.

Judging Color

The color points are divided into two criteria which is Coverage and Quality. Coverage points are judged on how well the primary (and secondary color(s) for bicolors, multis, and variegated) cover the caudal and how close it meets the ideal color(s) for the color class. For body and dorsal fin, ideal Coverage is a 100% match of color(s) (and pattern if bicolor, multi or variegated) of the caudal fin. Color Quality for the caudal is judged on the brilliance of the color for solid tail color classes. Distinct and contrasting colors are also considered to judge Color Quality for biocolor, multi, or variegated color classes.. Dorsal and body Color Quality is judged on how well its color(s) match the caudal. For all fins and body, areas that do not have the primary and/or secondary color(s) of the tail receive no points for Color Coverage and Quality.

Judging Size

For size points the body length of one of the males in the tank entry will be stated since the judging is done from photographs. From the body length the tail size and dorsal size can be determined by comparison.

Tan Entry 1 Color and Size Points

Tank Entry 2 Color and Size Points

Tank Entry 3 Color and Size Points

Judging the Shape

Outlines were used on each guppy to help show how close the shape proportion requirements are met. The illustration below shows the proportions.

Tank Entry 1 Shape Points

Tank Entry 2 Shape Points

Tank Entry 3 Shape Points

Matching

The IFGA standard states that there are an additional 20 points for matching and are broken down as follows:

1. Matching Tail = 8 pts     Matching Body =6 pts     Matching Dorsal = 6 pts
2. Each category will take into consideration how well the color, size, and shape match each other.

Summary

Below is a summary of the points. To further judge the guppies the body size point estimate is given from what I remember (the guppies are mine).  From the body size, tail and dorsal size point can be estimated. Condition, deportment and symmetry are pointed in the table below as they appeared in the photo.