June 2008

GFSA Info

Last emailed/mailed Goldfish Report is the January/February 2008 edition. Look for March/April soon. For general info on the GFSA publication, The Goldfish Report, and specific instructions for authors, take a look here. This page is updated as information is provided to the Webmaster.

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 our editor, 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 GFSA Board of Directors continues 2008 with a focus on ensuring that the society is undertaking activities and providing services that our members want. Tell us if there is something you really want (even better, volunteer to help us do it).

Interested in joining the GFSA but still not sure? We have two sample Goldfish Reports available to download, to demonstrate that every issue is packed with thought provoking information and pictures available nowhere else. We are also promoting an electronic membership option that significantly lowers the cost of membership! Only $10US gets you a year of informative, timely color issues of the GFSA's Goldfish Report, sent directly to your email inbox.

Lessons Learned "Quick Hits"

Apologies on the missing May update. We are soliciting short lessons-learned from hobbyists: events that possibly left you sadder, but measurably wiser. Have a good one? Please send it to the  . Here is are two insights from board member and master breeder Matt Lyon:

Retaining a Variety of Color Patterns in Edo Spawns

Coloration of young Japanese Edonishiki is always wonderfully varied among fish from the same spawn. Besides the mattes & metallics, you will tend to observe 5 or 6 primary calico color types from any given spawn. And each successive generation will tend to produce wildly different primary calico color types than the last. The development and stabilization of each calico color pattern are equally unpredictable, which makes for an interesting, but challenging culling process. Due to all these factors of uncertainty, it is recommended to retain a variety of color patterns when culling Edos (and possibly other calico/nacreous varieties) for at least a year, to allow time for mature coloration to develop. Obviously this must be done within reason given the available time and space of the hobbyist, but this approach will help increase the hobbyist’s odds of producing at least a few fish of the desired color pattern from each spawn raised.

Focus on Mother’s Headgrowth in Edo & Ranchu Spawns

It can be frustrating to breed high quality Edonishiki or Ranchu and raise the fry only to find that each generation has poorer headgrowth development than the last. Close observation has shown that careful selection for female breeders with well-developed hoods can result in drastically improved headgrowth on the resultant juveniles. Although large hood development is often found to be a secondary sexual characteristic of male fish, in some goldfish bloodlines there seems to be more of a tendency for young fish to inherit their headgrowth traits from their mother. This may also hold true for other types of goldfish, but the author of this “quick hit” has not tested it on other varieties.

Apologies again for the missed May update ... hope these valuable insights make up for that!