June 2004

GFSA Info

This site has completed 4 years of operation as of this month. October will be the 4 year anniversary of its launch as the official GFSA Web site. Time's winged chariot speeds ever onward.

Take a look here for info on upcoming issues of the Goldfish Report and the publication schedule (if you have not been checking the Editor's page, you are missing one of the more entertaining elements of this Web site). We hope everyone is enjoying what is now our second year of publishing top quality content in a full color format!

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 editor 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. 

Seasonal Advice

Keeping a notebook about your fish keeping activities and observations can be an enriching experience. Writing down mundane things like when you do water changes, when you clean the filter, what food you were feeding, and the like can become very interesting when you suddenly find you have several years of data to look back on. Things that change too slowly to be perceptible in day to day observation can leap out of the pages of a well kept notebook. Making quick sketches of what you see in-line in the text and in the margins also helps to hone your powers of observation. Drawing is like teaching; you don't realize what you don't know until you try to do it, and the effort can be a real learning experience. A notebook can be particularly useful in dealing with diseases. Medications and calculated dosages can be hard to find initially, but once captured in your notes, you will have them for future reference.

One last point; as you learn things and see trends, don't keep them to yourself. Write little articles and summaries to offer up in hobby publications for the benefit of others.