Brackish- Water Aquaria. 



EUr.ENE SMITH, New York. 



BESIDE the freshwater aquarium 

 and the marine aquarium, there 

 are several other kinds, of which I will 

 mention one,the brackish-water aquarium 

 which may be made of great interest. 

 Its animal inmates may vary greatly 

 according to the degree of salinity of the 

 water, from almost fresh to those found 

 in the estuaries of the streams. 



This aquarium may have a sand and 

 gravel bottom, or a clayey bottom, 

 simvilating a mud flat. Do not think that 

 a mud bottom must mean roily water. 

 I have had such a 

 one for a consid- 

 erable period and 

 it was always clear. 

 I secured a tussock 

 covered with young 

 shoots of marine 

 grass {Spartina), 

 and pierced with 

 the burrows of the 

 Fiddler-crab, Gela- 

 simus pugilator. 

 This was placed in 

 the tank on a layer 

 of stiff clay from 

 the same source. 



The vegetation 

 of this tank was a 

 mass of the long 

 Enteromorpha intestinalis which floats 

 about with the tide, also some pieces of 

 green laver, Ulva latissinia, which, 

 though marine, will live for a while in 

 brackish water. It should be removed 

 and renewed when it becomes yellowish 

 or discolored. In less salty water, the 

 pondweeds, Ruppia maritima, Poto- 

 mogeton pectinatus, and Zannichellia 

 palustris, as well as Spartina, may be 

 grown. 



The animal life of brackish water 

 shades off" at either end into purely 

 marine and freshwater forms. Here 





FIDDLER-CRABS. 



[Courtescy of Doubleday. Page & Co 



can be used Fundiilus majalis, the 

 marine killy; Fundulus heleroclitus; and 

 Fundidus diaphaniis, the freshwater killy; 

 Lucania parva, the rain-water fish; and 

 Cyprinodon variegatus, the sheepshead 

 minnow. The Fiddler-crab, Gelasimus 

 pu^Uator, is one of the best forms of 

 life for the brackish tank. It usually 

 sits at the mouth of its burrow with the 

 large claw folded over its mouth, ready 

 to spring at anything edible. It is quite 

 amphibious and will climb out of the 

 water, so that the tank must be kept 

 covered. The clay bank should project 

 above the surface of the water, to 

 enable the fiddler- 

 crab to have a rest- 

 ing place out of it. 

 Small edible crabs' 

 Callinectes hasta- 

 tus, as well as other 

 Crustacea, may also 

 be kept in quite 

 freshwater. These 

 two are great fight- 

 ers, and always at 

 war with one an- 

 other. The prawn, 

 Palaeinonetes vul- 

 garis commonly, 

 but erroneously 

 called shrimp, is 

 another interesting 

 inmate, as it is 

 always active and ready to dispute with 

 the fish and the crabs for any morsel 

 of food. Small eels too, are eligble, and 

 when they lie buried in the clay or sand 

 bottom, with just the head protruding, 

 they make a very interesting picture. 

 Sometimes they appear to be completely 

 buried, but the moment a piece of meat 

 or clam is thrown into the tank near 

 them, they will come out and devour it, 

 often pulling it away from another. Salt- 

 water snails may be kept for a while if 

 the water is quite saline, as well as other 

 more purely marine creatures. 





