AQUARIUM. 



209 



The fish is a good feeder preferring 

 live food, either the small water crus- 

 taceans or earthworms, and will leap 

 out of the water a distance of several 

 inches for a worm held between the 

 fingers above the water surface of the 

 aquarium ; or in the water will take 

 the food with a sudden darting move- 

 ment most interesting to watch. 



At the time of spawning the male 

 will deliberately select a female and 

 with her seek a secluded section of the 

 aquarium to build the nest, and woe 

 betide any other fish that has the 

 temerity to usurp his mate or to come 

 within the bounds of his chosen terri- 

 tory. 



The nest is built on the surface of 

 the water and it is the male that per- 

 forms this duty. From the mouth he 

 expels air bubbles covered with a gela- 

 tinous substance, which are carefully 

 clustered together to form a floating 

 fairy nest. As soon as the eggs are 

 deposited by the female and fertilized 

 by the male, he carefully gathers and 

 deposits them in the nest of bubbles 

 and guards them until they hatch, 

 which takes about three days, during 

 which time not even the female is per- 

 mitted to approach. 



The spawning takes place several 

 times during the summer. I have 

 found it advisable to remove the fe- 

 male after each spawning, as she de- 

 velops cannibalistic tendencies, as is 

 also the case with some males, but 

 this more usually after the young fry 

 has reached some size and begins to 

 take up an independent existence. 



My best success in rearing these 

 fishes is by a method of my own devis- 

 ing, which is taking away the spawn 

 directly after the male deposits it in 

 the nest. This I do by the use of a 

 large spoon or ladle, carefully skim- 

 ming the nest from the water surface 

 and depositing it into another previ- 

 ously prepared receptacle. By this 

 means I have been successful in hatch- 

 ing and maturing 50 per cent, more 

 young fishes than by leaving the male 

 to take charge of the nest and protect 

 the young. 



For a period of 8 or 10 days the 

 newly hatched fry do not require any 

 food ; then they will take very small 



Daphnia (tiny freshwater crustaceans) 

 or rice flour sprinkled on the water 

 surface, but discretion must be used 

 in feeding the latter, as too much flour 

 may foul the water and kill the fish. 



The Paradise fish is easy to keep in 

 the household aquarium. I have ma- 

 tured fifty fish in a five gallon bell jar; 

 and as they are air-breathers no such 

 careful watch of the water conditions 

 is necessary as with the fine breeds of 

 the goldfish. 



Care must be exercised that the 

 •fishes may not leap out of the contain- 

 ers. It is advisable to cover the top 

 with a piece of glass or small-meshed 

 wire netting. Leaping seems to be a 

 characteristic of the fish, but whether 

 it is due to efforts to get at insects that 

 may hover over the aquarium, or to 

 restlessness or to unsatisfactory water 

 conditions I have not been enabled 

 fully to determine ; but it may be any 

 of these or due to a migrating instinct. 



The Paradise fish is a good aquarium 

 scavenger. It will clean out all insects 

 and worms that would breed in aqua- 

 ria in which goldfishes alone are kept. 

 I have had aquaria infested with roti- 

 fera to an extent that they were liter- 

 ally filled with them. When the gold- 

 fishes were removed and a half dozen 

 Paradise fishes substituted, in a few 

 days every trace of them had disap- 

 peared, after which I returned the 

 goldfishes and had no further trouble 

 from that source. This has also been 

 done to dispose of the objectionable 

 tubicolous worms and hydra. 



Large Paradise fishes cannot be kept 

 with goldfishes, but small ones, intro- 

 duced when quite young, are beneficial 

 as scavengers and I greatly prefer 

 them to tadpoles, as they better keep 

 the aquarium clean of insects and some 

 forms of parasites. It is not well, how- 

 ever, to introduce those which have 

 attained a length of one inch or over, 

 not previously accustomed to gold- 

 fishes, as then there is likelihood of 

 their molesting the slow-moving gold- 

 fishes, tearing their fins and tails. 



The Gourami is larger than the Par- 

 adise fish with a heavy-set body. In 

 the breeding season the beautiful iri- 

 descent colors of the male surpass 



