116 GOLDFISH VAEIETIES AN^D 



It is best to start with some of the more hardy fishes, such as the 

 marine kilhfish, to see whether the aquarium conditions are in proper 

 working order. It will be time enough to branch out more elaborately 

 after this is proven. The author some years ago received this same 

 advice from a leading expert and, although loath to follow it, decided 

 that advice worth asking for was worth following. This proved to be of 

 value, for the killifish were all dead in a few days, and the same would 

 have been true of more valuable specimens. 



Anemones and other creatures attached to rocks should, if possible, 

 be placed in the aquarium without detaching. Low forms do better if 

 handled with a dipper or spoon. Whether or not mussels are alive can 

 be determined by tapping lightly on the shell with a small stick. In 

 health the shell will promptly close. Gentle disturbances of the water 

 will show whether anemones and other low forms are living, as they will 

 respond by slight movements. Care on this point is of vital importance, 

 as decomposition is very rapid. 



Sea Horses. Owing to the vastness of the field we cannot here go 

 into a detailed list of marine aquarium inhabitants, but we cannot pass 

 the subject without special mention of those quaint fishes, Sea Horses 

 {Hippocampus). Although appearing like some mythological animal in 

 miniature, they are true fish. They make a very striking appearance in 

 the aquarium, always attracting great attention. Their tails are prehen- 

 sile and are used much the same as a monkey's, fastening themselves to 

 twigs, bits of grass or any small object, ready too let go in a moment, 

 swim a short distance and fasten somewhere else or perchance socially 

 link tails with another. Their movements through the water might be 

 described as being very sedate. Locomotion is produced mainly by a pro- 

 pellor-like movement of the dorsal fin, the body being tipped forward at a 

 slight angle. Although the movement through the water is not rapid, it 

 has the appearance of being accomplished entirely without effort. The 

 breeding habits of the Sea Horse are also most peculiar. The female 

 develops an intromittent organ as the breeding season approaches, while 

 the brood-pouch on the belly of the male becomes thickened and vascular. 

 The fishes face each other, the female advances, places one or more eggs 

 'in the pouch of the male, retreats and repeats until the spawning is 

 finished. When the eggs have hatched, the pouch splits slightly and he 

 works the young out of it by gently rubbing against a firm surface. The 

 young are as perfectly formed as the parents. 



Sea horses feed upon small marine Crustacea about equal in size to 

 daphnia. Some European aquarians claim to have gotten them to eat 

 dried shrimp, but, so far as we are able to learn, nobody in America has 

 been successful in this. Although different attempts have been made to 



