TROPICAL AQUARIUM FISHES 



231 



by the edge, bring the water as high as possible in funnel, place female 

 fish in funnel and cover over with screen. The wire will prevent the 

 mother fish from becominc;- jammed in the outlet, but will allow the young 

 to pass through and collect in the lower portion of jar. 



Very excellent breeding glasses come from Germany. These have 

 a long narrow slit in the bottom and may be hooked on the inside of any 

 receptacle. See Fig. 177. 



Spawning Net, In the spawning season aquarium space is often 

 limited, particularly among amateur breeders who have perhaps a single 

 aquarium. The breeding fish should be separated from the others, as the 

 idle fish would eat the spawn. An easy way over this difficulty is the 



Fig. 178. Spawxixg Net 



use of the spawning net. This is simply a square bag of cheesecloth sus- 

 pended in the aquarium. Figure number 178 will clearly show how this 

 may be done. The four corners should be weighted down with bits of 

 lead or stone sewed in. The plants and spawning fish are simply trans- 

 ferred into the net. Confined in this comparatively small space the 

 chances of the eggs becoming fertilized are increased, while the netting 

 is sufficiently open to allow the aquarium water to flow slowly through 

 it and prevent suffocation. In this way the large amount of dirt usually 

 stirred up in an aquarium at spawning time, and which can do the 

 adhesive eggs no good, is entirely avoided. The size of the net will 

 depend somewhat on the proportions of the aquarium, but the capacity 



