eens 
THE FRESHWATER AQUARIUM AND ITS MAINFENANCE 

Foop. The natural food of the goldfish consists of the minute pro- 
tozoans and crustaceans, alge, insects, larvee and worms contained in all 
freshwater. In the artificial conditions of domestication and in the 
aquarium, however, an insufficient amount of this food is obtainable, 
making feeding necessary ; the best results being obtained when this 
natural food can be given to them; but in lieu thereof, artificial food may 
be fed, care being taken to feed in moderation, excess being more danger- 
ous than a slight insufficiency. Not more should be given than will be 
immediately consumed, and if any remains uneaten, it should either be re- 
moved with the lifting-tube or no more given until it has been consumed. 
Animals under domestication thrive best when sparingly fed, and this 
also applies to goldfishes and other aquarium pets. The appetite of 
fishes is greatest in warm weather, as they become sluggish when the water 
is cold, and in their natural state take little or no food; which should be 
considered, and their diet regulated in keeping with their natural require- 
ments. 
During warm weather they should be fed once each day, but when 
the water has become cold, only on alternate days, or a smaller quantity 
given daily with occasional days of abstenence, that they may seek the 
discarded particles of previous feedings and prevent its becoming sour, with 
the attendant objectionable results. 
For the novice, the most readily obtainable and least harmful fish 
food is the generally used rice wafer. Of this a piece about 34 inch 
square should be fed to each 3 inch fish in summer and a smaller quantity 
in winter, varied at intervals of a week with other approved prepared gold- 
fish foods or small particles of cleansed earthworms or ant larve, and 
when these can not be obtained with very small pellets of raw scraped 
beef, each fish receiving but one piece and care taken that none remains 
uneaten. Bread, cake and similar substances are not proper food for 
aquarium fishes. 
Satts. In an aquarium holding say five gallons of water, a half tea- 
spoonful of table salt or a smaller quantity of epsom or glauber salts 
should be put about once a fortnight. It is beneficial to the fishes, who 
take it ravenously, as they have the same craving for:saline substances as 
other animals. The table salt is both a mild antiseptic and a cathartic, 
and the other salts, cathartics, which are necessary to the fishes in their 
artificial surroundings, confinement, and the concentrated and highly 
nutritious forms of their food. Some of the prepared foods contain these 
salts, but their addition to the water in moderate quantity is always bene- 
ficial. 
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