66 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
mese, great fortunes and estates or women changing hands 
on the results of these singular battles. These fish are des- 
rately pugnacious and will fight until one or the other is 
iterally torn to pieces. The negro fish, the stilt fish, the 
ruby fish, and the albino fish will also be found in this col- 
lection. In another alcove will be found the sacred blue 
carp of Japan and the sacred red carp of the same country. 
The East Indian and Japanese shubunkin, or brocaded 
oldfish, will be found in an alcove where are displayed 
apanese lion-headed goldfish, Korean eggfish, Chinese moor 
(black) dragon-eyed goldfish, and the more beautiful forms 
of goldfish, such as butterfly-tails, lace-tails, fan-tails, and 
comet-tails, scaled and unscaled, in colors from gold to blue 
and mottled calicoes. = 
Among the wild native fish will be seen the rainbow 
darters, the sculpin or toad-fish, the various minnows and 
horn-pout, the red and common sunfish, the purple minnow, 
the rainbow dace, the striped dace, the common shiner, and 
the darters or top-water minnows with their wonderful check- 
erboard colors. 
AQUARIUM MANAGEMENT 
The chief sources of failure in the management of aquaria 
are overcrowding, overfeeding, sudden temperature changes, 
lack of proper plant life, and insufficient lighting. 
_ , The tendency to overcrowd aquaria is a common fault. 
A safe rule to follow is to allow one gallon of water to every 
one-inch fish; thus a ten-gallon aquarium may contain ten 
one-inch fish or two five-inch fish. When the fish contin- 
ually come to the top and gasp for air it is a sign either of 
overcrowding or of the presence of some decomposed matter 
in the water. 
Overfeeding of fish is an evil usually due to ignorance. 
Under natural conditions, in order to procure food, fish have 
to exert themselves, but as such exercise is not possible in a 
confined aquarium, food must be given in smaller amounts. 
No more should be given than can be consumed at once, 
and if any remains after five minutes it should be removed 
with a dip tube. When the temperature of the water is 60° 
F. or highel. daily feeding is permissible, but as the tempera- 
ture goes down feeding should be reduced to two- or three- 
day intervals, 
If change of water becomes necessary, sudden fluctuation ~ 
of temperature should be avoided, as it is quite often the 
primary cause of disease. Every few days a tenth of the 
volume of water may be changed slowly. A sprinkling pot 
