CHAPTER ONE 



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uarmm Managenient 



With particular reference to the Qoldfish 



A lady wrote the author, / have just bought eight pretty goldfish in 

 a cute little globe. I feed them three good meals a day and change the 

 water often, but they are always at the top of the water with their mouths 

 partly in the air. This makes a little sound. Do you think they are 

 trying to speak to me? 



This letter sounds funny, of course, but it really was not intended as 

 a humorous effort. That makes it sad. Those four short sentences are 

 unique in that they have compressed or crystallized into a few simple 

 words the substance of a vast popular ignorance on the subjects treated 

 in this chapter. The lady should be awarded a medal for crowding the 

 greatest amount of aquarium ignorance into the fewest possible words. 



Yet her letter is not without value. On the contrary, it is appre- 

 ciated for its sincerity, and it points out, in a very clear way, important 

 topics which should be here treated. Those lines from the lady are the 

 text and inspiration of this chapter. After the "ways and wherefores" 

 have been made plain, a part of the reply to the writer will be given at 

 its close, which would seem to be the appropriate place. 



One is forced to the conclusion that while the state of affairs described 

 by this particular correspondent is very bad indeed, it is not far from 

 fairly representing a considerable number of kind persons who are bar- 

 barous through no fault of the heart, but from lack of information. Take 

 a stroll through a residential district anywhere. See the dwarf "aquar- 

 iums" and "fish globes" in windows, with their little prisoners in milky 

 water, struggling for air at the surface, and marked for an early death. 

 Would it not be a satisfaction to personally enlighten the owners? The 

 author has often felt the urge, but such an undertaking with a stranger 

 calls for genius in tact. Would it not be like the naturalist who spent his 

 slender income in purchasing caged birds to give them their liberty ? No 

 matter how many he bought, the dealers' cages were promptly re-filled. 

 Aquarium keepers are legion. Hence it is that help for the beginner forms 

 one of the important features of this work. 



