142 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



little fish in the aquarium. In nuptial 

 garb the male is of lustrous green and 

 yellowish color striped with dark, us- 

 ually black, bands continued over the 

 dorsal and anal fins, some of which, 

 towards the tail, are marked with 

 bright black spots. The eyes also as- 

 sume a green lustre with gleaming red 

 reflections and have red and yellow 

 i rides. The females are less brightly colo- 

 red and have faintly marked stripes. 



The life, nest-building habits and 

 propagation of the Indian Paradise fish 

 are described by Mr. Heilman, an ex- 

 pert breeder of these interesting aqua- 

 rium pets in a paper which will appear 

 in a future issue of The Guide to Na- 

 ture, Those of the Gourami and 

 Chanchito are not as generally known 

 and will be briefly mentioned : 



For the Gourami, the temperature 

 of the water should be 75 ° to 8o° F. 

 An abundance of rooted and floating 

 aquatic plants should be provided for 

 nest-building material, of which the 

 fishes will form natural galleries and 

 build a nearly spiral-formed nest com- 

 posed of plants and mud, when the 

 latter is obtainable. Both the male 

 and female work on its construction, 

 but it is the duty of the male to guard 

 the young, with which he is active 

 until the}- acquire a length of one-half 

 to three-quarter inch. Then the 

 parents should be removed, as, though 

 their principal food is vegetable, they 

 become cannibals in the confines of 

 the aquarium. 



The Chanchito forms its nest in the 

 sand by excavating a depression or a 

 furrow of considerable area with the 

 head, fins and tail ; sometimes more 

 than one nest is made. After the 

 spawn is deposited, the fishes take po- 

 sition over the nest to guard it and 

 to change the water by rapid move- 

 ments of the paired fins, habits similar 

 to those of the Sunfish. After the 

 young are hatched they are herded to- 

 gether and then led and guarded by 

 the parents move about the aquarium 

 until old enough to care for them- 

 selves, the older fishes en°ae'ine" in 

 battle with any other fish which may 

 intrude. Their aggressive habits pre- 

 vent the keeping of other fishes in 

 comfort in their containers, and when 



possible, it is better to devote an aqua- 

 rium for their sole occupancy, remov- 

 ing the parents as soon as the young 

 are able to care for themselves and no 

 longer swim in schools. 



These three species of labyrinthine 

 fishes are more interesting aquarium 

 inmates than the sluggish, pampered 

 and artificially developed toy varieties 

 of the goldfish. 



The Double-Finned Japanese and 

 Chinese Goldfishes. 



The tenacity of life of the carp and 

 its kindred forms led to their propa- 

 gation as ornamental and domesticated 

 fishes. The carp was first known as 

 coming from China and bore the name 

 of a sea fish. It was developed as a 

 freshwater fish "in the province of 

 Tche-Kiang, which extends as far as 

 the sea," and may have followed the 

 habit of other migrating fishes, com- 

 ing to fresh-water to spawn ; when it 

 was first confined to salt-water and 

 later to fresh-water ponds and streams. 



The first described carp was a 

 slender, long-bodied fish, similar to the 

 scaled carp, Cyprinus carpio communis, 

 and from it other species were pro- 

 duced by selection. Among these are 

 the mirror carp, C. carpio specularis; 

 the leather carp, C. carpio coriaccus; 

 the golden carp, C. carpio aureus: and 

 from this latter the crusian carp, Car- 

 assius carrassiud, a short-bodied, flat- 

 sided fish, the undoubted ancestor of 

 the goldfish, Carassius auratus, now 

 divided into two varieties, the Euro- 

 pean and American common goldfish. 



From a pond existence this fish was 

 next transferred to smaller containers 

 where its propagation could be better 

 controlled and then to the modern 

 aquarium. Under this close observa- 

 tion all the variations common to 

 animals under domestication were 

 noted and led to the production of 

 other breeds differing from the original 

 parent stock ; and it is this breeding 

 and careful selection which has pro- 

 duced the remarkable forms of gold- 

 fishes now known to us, all of Orien- 

 tal origin and development. None 

 other of the ichthyic fauna shows such 

 wide variations as the Chinese, Jap- 



