October 2016
Nationwide Open Show 2016 – Judges at work
This was our third annual Open Show on Saturday 24th September – at the new
venue: The Horsehay Village Hall, Bridge Road in Horsehay, Telford, and NGPS,
AMGK, NEGS & BAS attending. There were 215 entries to judge.
Also at the Show was the 4th Leg of
the Fancy Guppies UK League. Their
three judges (Stan Collinge, Tina
Smith & Bill Galbally – all UK/FG)
judged their 23 entries.
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The Best in Show and the Best Exhibit were the same Goldfish – a Ranchu by Alex
King NGPS…
The Best in Show Guppy was a Delta Tail Albino Red by Derrick Clayton.
The other major winner was The Best Single Entry by Richard Rizzotti with his
team of four Nacreous Fantails – he was so pleased he put them on Facebook!
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Alex King and Richard Rizzotti are presented with awards by Sherridan.
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As Chairman of Nationwide, Sherridan presented all the prizes with help from
Show Manager Andy Barton and Show Secretary Graham Turner. NGPS members
winning Firsts were Dean Roberts, David Padfield, Bob Jones, Ian Mildon and
Sherridan himself – photos are on Page 7 of the NGPS Website.
A display (by me, David Ford) was a collection
of aquatic accessories for members and visitors
to just help themselves – for free.
…. unlike the excellent
Grand Raffle.
Well worth £1 a ticket…
During judging the Auction was held
by Mick Smith to a 30 strong audience.
45 lots were all sold.
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The facilities of the Horsehay Village Hall are excellent and Abby and Richard did
the cooking and serving, with Linda Malpas…a big thank you!
That service was needed for the 9 Nationwide Judges and 3 Guppy judges at their
traditional meal. After the main course, Bill Ramsden’s granddaughter presented
him with a birthday cake designed as a Goldfish aquarium!
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This was to celebrate his 90th birthday the following week (September 29th). Bill
has spent most of those 90 years breeding Show Quality Fancy Goldfish and
currently still attends Shows as a Nationwide judge. Don’t forget, you can see this
on YouTube – type ‘BillsGoldfish’ in the Search Box.
The website of Practical Fishkeeping has also published the Nationwide OS – but
only a short feature – (click/tap) HERE
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Goldfish News
We all know Goldfish have a long memory (12 weeks is claimed in the scientific
literature – but we know better). But what about an attention span? Again the
scientific literature claims 9 seconds. My Goldfish seem to stare at me longer than
that. Anyway …
According to scientists at the University of Western Ontario, the age of
smartphones has left humans with such a short attention span even a goldfish can
hold a thought for longer.
Researchers surveyed 2,000 participants in Canada for their attention spans by
using electroencephalograms to record their brain activity.
The results showed the average human attention span has fallen from 12 seconds
in the year 2000 to eight seconds this year. This is blamed on the universal use
of Smart Phones.
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Less than our Goldfish with that recorded attention span of nine seconds!
Pond News
The Internet is awash with ‘aquariums in the pond’ – go to the YouTube website
and search ‘Building a Fish Tower in the Pond’ for lots of videos on how to do it.
It really does work…here’s just one example…
This month’s Top Tip
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From Alex Stephenson (our member in Norfolk) who details a ‘Loop Syphon Level
Control’. Alex wrote: Where a trickle feed system is in use, level control in fry
tanks etc., can be a problem. Above is one method I have used….
Obtain a suitable end piece, these days the gadget sold as a gravel cleaner works
very well. Cover the end with appropriate size mesh (I use a piece of lace
curtain).
Rig the siphon through a tee piece as shown above. Close the air intake and start
the siphon, open the air intake and the level will be controlled according to the
height of the tee piece.
Don’t forget – send your top tips to me in any format – [email protected]
Minutes of the October Meeting
Apologies were received from David Padfield and Dean Roberts.
Alan and Mavis Ratcliffe came to the meeting with four excellent Red Fantails….
These were bought at the NGPS
auction. But Alan was judging and
so his private bid was accepted
without him at the auction – hence
he never knew who originally
owned the fish. Queries since
have failed to find the breeder.
Were they yours? Send to me…
[email protected]
The good red colour was discussed and all agreed that natural light, such as a
greenhouse for a fish-house, was the reason.
David Ford described the FBAS Festival of Fishkeeping 2016, revealing that the
Farm at Hounslow has now become an official Zoo. Plans are underway to build a
Tropical Zoo with aquaria, hopefully in time for FoF2017. A report will be in the
NGPS November Newsletter.
Next meeting at the Church Inn, Prestwich, is 8pm,
Tuesday, November 8th, see you there.
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