THE 



AQUARIUM 



Girardinus reticulatus. 



C. J. HEEDE, Brooklyn 



THIS is a very pretty live-bearing fish 

 found in Brazil, the West Indies 

 and Venezuela. The color of its body 

 is metallic-yellowish, covered with 

 irregularly arranged jet black spots 

 which extend also onto the fins and tail 

 of both the males and females. It is an 

 excellent fish for the aquarium, and 

 grows to be about Ih inches long. It 

 breeds readily in tanks, - in summer 

 about every four to six weeks, in winter 

 only if the water is kept at about 60*^' 

 F a h r e nheit or 

 warmer. The 

 number ofyoung 

 in each brood 

 varies from ten 

 to fifty. When 

 born the young 

 have a black 

 spot on each 

 side, as is char- 

 acteristic of all 

 G irar din u s. 

 They grow ra- 

 pidly and soon 

 attain the color 

 of the parent 

 fishes, and if born early in spring will 

 start to breed in the latter part of the 

 ensuing summer. 



They take artificial food as well as 

 raw scraped beef, live or dried Daphnia 

 and Cyclops, and are also fond of 

 vegetable food, especially fine algae, but 

 they will not destroy the common living 

 plant growth in the tank. They can be 

 kept in a tank with other live-bearing 

 fishes as Poecilia, Mollienisia and 

 Xiphophoriis. but not so well with any 

 of the carnivorous species, as the 

 different Gainbusia. etc. 



GIRARDINUS 



r)i"i\vinjr from Li 



The young, newly born Girardinus 

 must, of course, have the finest food; 

 when two weeks old they will eat 

 Daphnia and Cyclops. The parent 

 fishes are seldom cannibalistic towards 

 their young, but to be on the safe side, 

 when trying to raise the young the 

 upper part of the tank must be well 

 filled with floating plants; some fine 

 kind of Utricidaria will serve as a good 

 protection for the young against the 

 parent fishes' possible attacks. The 

 Utricidaria is a carnivorous plant, and 

 while it is perfectly safe to have it in 

 the tank for 

 p r o t e c tion of 

 newly born 

 fishes of the live- 

 bearing species, 

 it cannot be 

 safely kept in 

 an a q u a r i VI m 

 with spawning 

 fishes. The fry 

 of Trichogaster 

 lalius, for in- 

 stance, are very 

 small on leaving 



RETICULATUS ^^'; <^gg«' ^"^ 



fe by E. s. Y()uii2. will be con- 



sumed by the plant through the balls 

 growing on it, which serve as traps for 

 Infusoria, water insects, and very small 

 fishes. Each ball has a kind of trap- 

 door opening inward, and any small 

 fishes which put their heads inside the 

 open trapdoor are caught; it is claimed 

 that some material inside the balls 

 attracts the fishes. But as already 

 mentioned, in aquaria with live-bearing 

 fishes this plant is an excellent protection 

 for the young against their parents and 

 other fishes in the tank. They have 

 the instinct to hide among the growth 



