7 

THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOLDFISH 

lating food and the frequent addition of well-aerated water also greatly aid the 
spawning. As soon as thespawn is deposited and fecundated, which usually 
takes place early in the morning, the plants to which it adheres should be 
placed in the hatching dishes or the parents removed from the tank or rear- 
ing trough, to prevent their devouring both the spawn and later the young 
fishes. The fry also prey on each other, and hatchings of different dates 
should be isolated until the fishes have acquired considerable growth 
and are of equal size; those of slower development and smaller size to be 
either put by themselves or with the next younger hatch; where their 
chances of obtaining food are improved, or the larger and more vigorous 
ones removed. In breeding fine fishes it will be noticed that the single-tail 
“sports” always make the most rapid growth, as they are better able to 
get about than their finer double-tailed brethren. They are also the natural 
cannibals and prey upon the smaller more perfect fishes. 
The depth of water for hatching and for the fry should best not exceed 
6 to 8 inches and when transfers are made, the dishes and their contents 
should be submerged and the fry permitted to make their exit at will. 
Change in the temperature of the water is also usually fatal and must be 
guarded against 1n making tranfers and at other times. 
If there are no facilities for separating the parents and spawn, asin the 
small way in the house aquarium, a movable partition will serve; but it 
is best to hatch the spawn in separate vessels which can be placed in good 
but not too strong light, where eggs and fry will remain undisturbed. 
Shallow glass, porcelain or enameled dishes, fruit or candy jars, or other simi- 
lar receptacles will fully answer the purpose, and are generally employed. 
The relative size and vigor of the fishes regulate the number of males 
and females mated, to which individual judgment is the best guide. With 
the facilities at hand each female ready to spawn should be placed in a 
separate compartment with one, two or three males, dependent upon their 
size; but when the spawning has begun, selection of the finest male should 
be made, if he is of sufficient size, and the others removed to prevent too 
great exhaustion of the female. Care should also be exercised to prevent 
inbreeding by mating fishes of different strain or parentage. Where the 
number of fishes to be bred is large and of the same breed, it 1s advisable to 
select two or three males to one female, when she is the larger, three females 
and four males when of one size, and six females and four males when the 
latter are the larger fishes; but this, like much else relating to the culture 
of the goldfish, is a matter of experience and applies more to the breeding 
of the ordinany than the finely bred varieties. A change of males is also 
advisable at different spawnings. 
