This month marks an anniversary of sorts for the GFSA Web site. While the site in its present form went "live" in October of 2000, we started up a Web presence at this URL in June of 2000. The original site contained coverage of the 2000 convention, which is now a topic under GFSA activities. The chairman and the Web master express their gratitude to the many who have contributed to this site and continue to do so; without the support, expertise, and creativity of these individuals, we would not have been able to offer a society Web site. The Internet continues to be one of the most vital communication channels for the goldfish hobby, and the GFSA is both proud to be a part of that resource and gratified to see the upsurge in other really high quality club sites since 2000.
The site closes out 2-years with about 80K hits. This is something slightly greater than 100 hits per day. While many commercial sites may receive 80K hits in a day, the GFSA considers the performance of this Web site to be a success. We have a very narrow mission and cater to a very select demographic: people with a long-term commitment to goldfish who want to associate with others with similar interests. We will continue to pursue serving the goldfish hobby as best we can, through this Web site and other society activities. Thank you for your support!
The GFSA seeks new and reprintable articles and pictures for its bimonthly magazine. Contribute something to the Goldfish Report! Please provide any articles, news items, photos, comments and requests to the editor, Vince McCarty, for inclusion in the Report.
Gary Hater has some words of wisdom for us all:
Ponds:
Splitting water lilies is critical for proper bloom size. Use Channel Lock or a Vise Grip pliers to drag the pots out of the pond, by grabbing the pot edge. Use a big old butcher or hunting knife to divide the tubers. Care should be taken to never bury the crown of the tuber and to angle the tuber at about 30 degrees. Soil should be heavy and contain clay. Excess tubers can be stored in a bucket of water for weeks as long as they get some sun. If you fertilize the individual pots, care must be taken to watch the ammonia concentration in the ponds. The leaching of the fertilizer can be lethal. If the fish seem stressed, do a 30% water change twice a week for about three weeks.
Old Fish Food:
Take a marker and write the purchase date on your food when you buy it. Often we may buy new prepared foods to try to lower our cost, try something new, or just give our fish some variety. The result can be an assortment of old, partially full fish food containers. Feeding old fish food to fish is much like humans eating stale potato chips, or leftovers in the refrigerator that were from two weeks ago every day for every meal. Fish indoors have very few sources of vitamins other than what we feed to them. If your food is more than six months old, do not use it as the main staple in the diet of "inside" fish. If you have a pond, feed your fish outside the older food. After all, they get other food like insects, algae, and large plants. Another good way to use old fish food is to grind it up and make it into gel food. Too messy? Consider buying a premix from someone like Aquatic Ecosystems and adding old food and crushed vitamins to the mix. Never use food that smells different than when you bought it.