GWG 2.0

  Hello Fellowhip of Goodeid lovers!

  You might have realized that the menu of the GWG webpage has altered. This is due to some adaptations that needed to be made. Partly it was already in the line for a longer time, but due to work, I was not able to focus on updating the page. You might have also realized that meetings and conventions were not announced on time and you might have got the impression, the GWG is inactive. It is the contrary, we are more active than ever. The work before in the zoo occupied a lot of my time for things that were not Goodeid related - logically. And I got the impression that the time I was able to dedicate to Goodeid related work became less and less. I wnated and needed to change this, and I did. Things have changed, I am living and working in Morelia, the center of Goodeid distribution, and my work is 100% dedicated to Goodeids. This helps to have more time to finish some pages waiting for years for this step and bring some interesting things up that I already had in mind for a longer time. First signal for a change was already the Newsletter that was sent to all members starting with August. About half of the recipients have never opened it, so please have a look in your spamfolder if you haven’t received one. From about 30 members the Email accounts are not working any longer. I will try to find the time to reach out to each of them throughout time. Anyway, if you have not received one, open the „About us“ link and you will find a link to the Newsletters. The „Objectives and Organisation“ link has been worked over and adaptations have been made, more zoos have been included, and you might have realized that I already prepared links fort he Profundulids and Profundulid species. I know they are not Goodeids, but they are closely related and there are several reasons to include them besides the relationship. One is the distribution that is almost exclusely in Mexico, so we have a respective network to work with and help this family. Another one the threat scenario that impacts many species and finally, Profundulids are an overlooked family without any lobby. This is according to its main distribution in rivers with few freshwater species and therefore less interest of aquarists. A lot of reasons to expand the GWG to Profundulids, and with having the Cyprinodontids and Cubanichthyids being inlcuded in the upcoming Cyprinodontid Working Group (CWG), this makes sense. Yes, you read correctly, there will be another sister group of the GWG! We are additionally planning to pay tribute to the fish distribution problems in Canada and a growing Belgian community to prepare two new Regional groups. One last point I want to direct your focus to is the link "Plan G" in the main menu. The Plan G is a conservation Plan including all extant Goodeid species and it will be led by a team of dedicated experts over the next ten years. It has been launched On October 31st, 2023, and the GWG is one of the founding groups. We are deeply linked with this Plan – I will be the chair of it - and not only this: The GWG became a strategic partner of Shoal. So, in short words, the GWG is growing into different directions and we ask you to go these steps with us to a new and better future for our beloved group of fishes. 

Yours, Michael "Miguelito" Köck