The GFSA has learned of the passing, on August 7th, 2003 at age 87, of Goichi Kobayashi of Honolulu, Hawaii. Mr. Kobayashi, more than any other individual, helped to popularize the Japanese Ranchu goldfish in the United States. He was knowledgeable and unstintingly generous with that knowledge, providing fish, advice and judging expertise to many hobbyists and organizations. He was well respected both in Japan and America for his personal qualities and depth of understanding of the Ranchu goldfish. The GFSA extends its condolences to his family and friends.
The Goldfish Report editors have a page on this site to communicate important information about the GFSA's premier print publication. The July-August issue should be out this month! Go take a look here.
If you have let your membership lapse or have been thinking about joining the GFSA, now is a great time - here is a form you can print. To submit material for the Goldfish Report to Matt Lyon, please see the updated society contact info. Articles and photos in electronic form are particularly appreciated.
The current line-up of people filling the GFSA offices is on the society officers page. The events calendar covers 2003 events and activities; take a look as the late summer/fall show season is now in full swing.
Seasonal Advice
If you have bred goldfish this year, your "babies" may now be 3 or 4 months old and approaching several inches in length. You have probably been culling all along and may be down to 10% of your original spawn. If they have not actually changed color, they are probably at least showing signs of what color they will be (like light and dark patches for white and red). Usually this is when the final culling decisions get very hard. You probably have 2 or 3 fish that you know you want to keep, and then a lot more that are "nice" or "nearly as good". But we never have enough water to keep all of these, so which ones stay?
It is a hard decision. The fish will keep changing and developing past their first year, so a great pick now may be surpassed by a less promising sibling as they mature. Here are some general thoughts. First, if you are trying to establish a line, keeping a population of around 20 breedable fish is probably smart. Fish with one fault can be used successfully as breeders, but fish with multiple faults make it harder ... the more things you have to try and breed away from in a given spawn, the less likely you are get any acceptable young. The last point is to try and understand what factors may be more influenced by environment than genetics. For example, in some strains how divided a double tail is seems to be almost unrelated to how divided the parents' were. Look at the parents' faults and the faults in the young: where they are the same, you may have a dominant genetic trait that will take work to get rid of. Where there is a lot a variability, and no apparent correlation, you may have a fault that is of less concern.