JLJ1 the exchange column
ALEXANDER A. PRIEST
he Internet is a truly fascinating thing. When I set up a website for Greater City on the "World Wide Web," I did not fully appreciate the benefits we would be getting as a result. We've been contacted by "Net Surfers" all over the world. Well, late last year, I was checking my e-mail and found a message from Hawaii. The message was from someone whose name should be familiar to those of you who have been reading the historical articles we've been printing this year. The sender was none other than Dan Carson, who was President of GCAS 25 years ago, Chairman of the 50th (Golden) Anniversary Show, and was also a past Editor of Modern Aquarium (Series II). I immediately asked him for an article for the Show Journal I was __^_^^_ preparing, and he graciously agreed. In subsequent correspondence, I discovered that he was a member of the Honolulu Aquarium Society and was also about to start a newsletter for that society. We agreed to add each other's societies to our exchange lists. For a newsletter less than a year old (the first issue was January 1997), the publication is remarkably well thought out and well put together. As a result of our exchanges, the very first issue of FA Q HAWAFI featured a reprint from Modern Aquarium ("The Joys of Harboring Seahorses" by Susan Priest, a 1995 FAAS Publication Award winning article, recently also reprinted by an Australian society). Their second issue reprinted Warren Feuer's "Lake Tanganyika Tango" and mentioned Greater City's website. They recently adopted something else in common with GCAS. They went from a Clown Loach logo on the newsletter to a stylized Angelfish. From their monthly publication (they meet and publish 12 times a year), I discovered that they hold an annual show. As expected, there are classes of fish which are judged. Unique is a "perpetual Best-In-Show" trophy.
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Like hockey's Stanley Cup, each year the winner's name is added to it. (It is unclear whether the winner gets temporary custody of the trophy until the next winner is announced.) The classes in their show are interesting, and two are almost guaranteed to make a certain immediate past President of GCAS cringe: "Novelty Community Tanks" must only have items not normally found in nature (colored gravel, plastic plants, figurines, ornaments, etc.) and "Combination Community Tanks" must include plastic along with live plants. (Not indicated for either class, but probably assumed, are live fish.) FA O HAWAFI has a monthly column (generally a page in length), reporting on the last Board of Director's meeting. The newsletter has a regular "Trading Post" column of items for sale, or items wanted, by members. There is apparently also a monthly "Table Show" (similar to our Bowl Show) with ribbons awarded for first, second, and third places and an additional cash award for first place. Members may enter up to three fish per category, one fish per container. (There are two categories, Live Bearers and Egg Layers.) The Table Show fish container must have at least one flat side. Greater City has its April "Silent Auction." The Honolulu Aquarium Society apparently has its November "Swap Meet and Garage Sale." Each member is given "floor space the size of two sheets of newspaper" to display hardware or livestock. The Honolulu Aquarium Society merely provides members with a place to transact business and, while it will accept donations, the Society does not receive a portion of the proceeds. Also, unlike Greater City's Silent Auction, this Swap Meet replaces only the society's regular auction and door prize. In other words, there is a regular meeting that night, in addition to the Swap Meet. The publication has numerous original cartoons in every issue. This is not to imply the publication is frivolous — it isn't. Articles of scientific interest, including research performed at the University of Hawaii, are not uncommon. The Honolulu Aquarium Society's Internet website is http://www.geocities.com/ Heartland/Meadows/2948/HASF.html or you can link to it through Greater City's website. As with all of the other publications reviewed in this series, and which are part of Greater City's Exchange Program, copies of FA O HA WAP I are available to GCAS members for loan on request.