66 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The blue stripes are opaque and are 

 much more apparent when the light 

 is reflected from the fish at an angle. 

 According to the light, then, the fish 

 may appear with orange bars, blue bars 

 or both blue and orange. The colored 

 edgings of the fins remain the same in 

 all lights except that in transmitted 

 light the color is somewhat brighter. 

 A dark stripe also runs faintly through 

 the eye. 



In place of the stiff ventral fins of 

 the Paradise fish the gourami has a 

 pair of long, thread-like feelers or an- 

 tennae. I am not sure of the use or 

 uses of these appendages. It has been 

 suggested that they are used to explore 

 crevices in search of food. This does 

 not entirely satisfy me, for in order to 

 secure the food after discovering it, it 

 would be necessary to either wrap the 

 antennae about the food or use them 

 as stirring sticks to bring the object 

 from out the crevice, and from my ob- 

 servations I should not suppose them 

 to be capable of such a performance. 

 Although the antennae are very deli- 

 cate in appearance they are easily 

 moved in any direction and are quite 

 tough. There is no record of their 

 having been accidentally broken off. 

 When the fish feels itself to be in dan- 

 ger it usually holds one thread forward 

 and the other backward, as though to 

 be on guard in all directions. My own 

 impression is that these feelers are used 

 for safety in very dark places. In any 

 event they have the appearance of be- 

 ing very sensitive. 



In external formation the female is 

 to all appearances the same as the male 

 except that perhaps the dorsal and 

 anal fins are not quite as long. It is 

 very easy to tell the sexes, however, 

 as the female, although possessing the 

 same colors as the male, is very much 

 paler in every way. The male fish is 

 somewhat more brilliantly colored 

 from May until September than he is 

 in the winter months. 



In breeding habits the dwarf gou- 

 rami is much the same as the Paradise 

 fish. A floating nest is made on top 

 of the water composed principally of 

 gelatinous bubbles exuded from the 

 mouths of the fishes. With Paradise 



fish the nest is built entirely by the 

 male, while with the gouramis the fe- 

 male helps in the work. A very in- 

 teresting difference, too, is that the 

 gouramis also add to the nest any bits 

 of plants or floating objects that they 

 can secure. It is quite an interesting 

 sight to see them tugging away at the 

 ends of decaying leaves and, as soon 

 as they have secured a fragment, rush- 

 ing with it with quick, darting move- 

 ments to the nest. It is quite as enter- 

 taining as watching a pair of birds at 

 nest building. I usually break up some 

 of the fine leaves of myriophyllum for 

 them. This seems to just about meet 

 with their ideas of what building ma- 

 terial ought to be. In a few days the 

 female deposits the eggs in the nest 

 and then the male drives her away, as- 

 suming the entire parental duties 

 alone. At this period the female 

 should be removed, for in a small 

 aquarium the male is liable to kill her 

 if she comes too near the nest or the 

 young, his fear being that she will de- 

 vour them. 



Although I have frequently seen the 

 eggs of the Paradise fish I have never 

 been able to detect those of the dwarf 

 gourami. They are no doubt very 

 small. The young when first hatched, 

 which seems to be in about two days 

 in summer time, look to the naked eye 

 like microscopic black tadpoles. For 

 a few days they wriggle about upside 

 down, the food sack being at the top. 

 In the breeding of Paradise fish some 

 experts favor removing both parents 

 as soon as the eggs are spawned. I am 

 not prepared to argue on the advisabil- 

 ity of this, but in breeding dwarf gou- 

 rami I certainly would not favor it. 

 The young for several days are most 

 weak and helpless. Some are constant- 

 Iv falling to the bottom. These receive 

 tender care from the male fish, who 

 nicks them uo in his mouth and care- 

 fully places them back in the nest. In 

 about a week the male may be removed 

 and finely sieved daphnia fed the 

 young. In spawning these fish it is 

 advisable to use a receptacle in which 

 the parents can easily be caught. They 

 are very active and one is apt to knock 

 the young about in the effort to catch 



