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THE GUIDE T< > MATURE 



development of fins, together with the 

 air-bladder, spawning and intestinal 

 difficulties that gro with short-bodied 

 fish and you have a creature so weight- 

 ed down with handicaps that for it 

 life is not worth living and as a rule 

 it is not long before it takes to salt 

 baths and a quick finish. "A short life 

 and a sad one" might he its motto. The 

 short life and early loss of reproduc- 

 tive power on the part of the males 

 account in large measure for the diffi- 

 culty in breeding large quantities of 

 young from which to make selections, 

 thus giving us less and less opportun- 

 ity to make experimental combinations. 

 There is no physical disadvantage to 

 the fish in being bred for color, but 

 with longer bodies and shorter fins we 

 should have a strain of fish with longer 

 lives, better breeding qualities and a 

 perfectly consistent standard of beauty, 

 together with possibilities of color de- 

 velopment such as most fanciers of to- 

 day have never seen. 



The fish which is truly and legiti- 

 mately graceful and elegant is the 

 Japanese fringetail. The Japanese are 

 no doubt the most artistic people in 

 the world and it was they who realized 

 the possibilities of the beauty of a 

 short-bodied fish with flowing and 

 graceful fin development. With this 

 fish too we have recently fallen behind, 

 partly because more attention has been 

 given to telescopes, and partly, it seems 

 to me, because the scaled fish has gone 

 out of fashion. Personally I very much 

 enjov seeing a good scaleless fringetail, 

 but it is not what I call a practical fish. 

 The scaleless fish has fins so weak that 

 the dorsal cannot be held erect after it 

 has reached first-class development, 

 and the long tail usually hangs in a 

 string instead of gracefully flowing be- 

 hind the fish. Usually the fin develop- 

 ment during the first year is not suffi- 

 cient to be considered handsome. In 

 the second year the fish looks its best, 

 for the fins have become larger and in 

 some cases are not yet broken. In the 

 third and fourth years, when the fins 

 should be at their best, they are in the 

 scaleless fish almost invariably dragged 

 and broken. With the scaled fish this 

 is not so apt to be the case. The fins 



are much more strongly ribbed and are 

 carried in good form for several years. 

 I do not want to make it seem as 

 though the good old days are all past, 

 but it is a fact that we do not now see 

 the very high, sail-like dorsals and the 

 extremely long and good-conditioned 

 tails of a few years back. 



The best fin development is acquired 

 at from three to four years of age, but 

 if the fins at this age are not sufficiently 

 firm to maintain their form, it hardly 

 seems to be worth while. Furthermore 

 the scaleless fish is weaker and more 

 sensitive to cold, and by breeding the 

 scaleless fringetails together the depth 

 of color is gradually lost. The fish 

 with scales mottled red and white or 

 solid red is very pleasing in color and 

 possesses so many advantages over the 

 scaleless variety that it should be res- 

 cued from the inattention into which it 

 has recently fallen. 



One of the principal ideas that has 

 lately taken hold of the fancy is the 

 broad tail in both telescopes and fringe- 

 tails. The broad tail is by no means 

 new but it has within the past three, 

 and more particularly the past two 

 years, caught the popular eye. The 

 broad tail has a beauty of its own, but 

 this should not lead the judge in our 

 competitions to award the ribbons to 

 this class unless they are superior in 

 other points. Experience seems to 

 show, although in this I am not en- 

 tirely certain, that broad tails are more 

 difficult to keep alive, and the males 

 are certainly less effective breeders, 

 owing to the difficulty they have in 

 swimming rapidly. These are serious 

 considerations and should be borne in 

 mind when one is deciding what stock 

 to purchase or to breed. 



I am not in favor of clinging to old 

 standards because they are old, but it 

 seems to me that we should adhere to 

 them until we get a better ideal for 

 which to work. Above all, if we have 

 new ideas, let them be consistent. We 

 do not want merely to create a freak 

 fish. If we continue on the present 

 lines it would not be surprising if 

 some one should show a hooded varie- 

 gated fringetail telescope without dor- 

 sal — everything and nothing in one. 



