Hi,

I've been an on and off lurker here for a few years now (more off than on as
of late, but I digress) and I have a strange request. I'm an assistant
editor at a publishing company and am currently writing a piece on goldfish
care for our pets magazine, entitled (appropriately enough) Pets Magazine.
For Canuck group members, it's available at veterinary offices across Canada
and in Chapters/Indigo book shops.



In any case, since goldfish tend to be a misunderstood pet, I'm trying to
make sure I throw in all the things that get glossed over by others who lump
goldfish in with all tropical fish. The piece would be written for a very
mainstream audience with little aquaria experience-think Orandas for
Dummies. Some of the basic points I want to hit include:

- the 10-gallon-per-fish rule (goldfish size and lengthy life
expectancy, the ungodly amounts of waste they produce)

- other unique needs: temperature (i.e. no keeping them with
tropicals), slime coat (i.e. no keeping them with plecs), cleanliness (low
level of gravel, regular cleanings, chemical checks)

- swim bladder problems: benefits of sinking foods, inherent
difficulties with fancies



My two requests a

(a) let me know if there's something really big I'm missing. (Again, this is
a short, general article, where I wouldn't have enough space to, say, detail
Chinese water treatment methods or carefully weigh pros and cons of every
type of filter. This is only the basics and a way to convince people who
aren't prepared to take care of goldfish that they should think again if
they're convinced they're a no-maintenance pet.)



and the big, important one:



(b) pictures. Magazines are a visual media and, as such, nice images are
always crucial. Rather than go the stock footage route or use photoshop to
transform my oranda and ranchu into ten different specimens, I thought I'd
check with anyone here who may have high quality (we're talking 5 x 7 ins.
at 300 dpi) digital images of their pet(s) they could zip and email me for
publication. Of course, any image used would be credited, in the form of pet
name and owner, and I would mail a copy out of the issue.



If you're interested in helping (and making your fish, um, a Canadian media
darling) feel free to contact me by phone or email. I'd rather people
contact me directly because I can't check newsgroups during my normal work
days. Thanks in advance and I look forward to (hopefully) hearing from
regulars and lurkers alike.



Take care,



Erik Missio

Assistant Editor

PETS Magazine

(905) 771-7333, ext. 223

1-877-PETS-MAG (738-7624), ext. 223