stiff as to seem stone-dead. The male para- 
dise fish is gorgeously colored in green, 
blue, gold and orange, and is subject to 
surprising changes in the intensity of its 
hues, especially during the mating season. 
Paradoxical as it may seem, the ordinary 
maternal duties, with the sole exception of 
the laying of the eggs, are performed by 
the male fish. He builds the floating air- 
bubble nest, broods over the eggs and 
young, aerating them by taking them into 
his mouth, a speatnesl at a time, and blow- 
ing them up through the water to the nest 
above. 
The saber-tailed fish (Xiphophorus hel- 
leri) is a graceful, lithe and active fish, 
colored with as brilliant a metallic emerald 
and ruby as that which bedecks the ruby- 
throated humming bird. The female fish 
gives birth to some fifty dainty little babies 
which make a dazzling sight as they dart 
hither and thither through the vistas of 
the green waterscape. 
Similar to the saber-tailed fish in the 
breathing habits are the tiny Gambusia 
and Ginetta fishes, the females of which 
are scarcely more than an inch long, the 
males being not over one-quarter the size of 
the females and so differently colored as to 
be readily mistaken for an entirely differ- 
ent species of fish. These little fishes have 
often reared their families of twenty or 
more in a quart jar, bearing the three con- 
secutive broods within the period of eight 
weeks. The young mature within three 
months. 
The red chromide (Hemichromis macu- 
lata) is an example of the fishes that build 
a nest scooped out of the sand or pebbles. 
The eggs are laid on the upper side of a 
flower pot laid sideways on the bottom for 
that purpose and are aerated constantly by 
the parents fanning them with their side 
fins. The young, upon hatching, are trans- 
ferred in the mouths of the parents to a 
nest scooped out of the sand. One pair of 
these fishes was observed to build two 
nests. one for use in the daytime, the other 
at night time. The babies were transferred 
from one nest to the other twice a day, one 
parent brooding the young while the other 
was busy making the unoccupied nest scru- 
pulously clean. It is a wonderfully inter- 
esting sight to see these two beautiful 
fishes swimming about with their large 
family of inquisitive youngsters, reminding 
27 
the observer of a family of quail on a 
search for grasshoppers. In the mating 
season the lower surface of these fishes be- 
comes tinted blood red while the sides scin- 
tillate with emerald facets. 
These few illustrations will suffice to 
suggest the pleasurable possibilities of the 
home aquarium. 
Tadpoles 
C. J. Heepe 
Brooklyn 
As many of the aquarium fishes will 
destroy young snails or the smaller varie- 
ties of snails, thus leaving the aquarium 
without scavengers, 
be provided. 
some substitute must 
Tadpoles, particularly of the 
larger frogs, will do the same work and will 
not be so readily eaten by the fish, except 
when very much smaller than the fish. They 
are even better for cleaning and _purify- 
ing an old balanced aquarium with a large 
growth of alge, rusty-looking glasses and 
foul sediment. If put into an aquarium for 
this purpose they must not be fed as they 
may neglect their duties if other food is 
too plentiful. They will eat raw fish and 
meat if no waste matter is at hand, as in 
the case of a newly set up aquarium. They 
also destroy freshwater polyps and if kept 
with snails will keep the snail shells clear 
of alge, and what is even more important 
will free the snails from the white leeches 
which at times infest and eventually destroy 
Aside from their usefulness 
tadpoles will be found 
the snails. 
in the aquarium 
very interesting to raise from the egg. 
These eggs, in large bunches can be col- 
lected by the individual, or may sometimes 
be bought from dealers in aquaria supplies, 
early in the Spring. Enclosed in a cir- 
cular jelly-like envelope the germ looks like 
a small round spot of black. When these 
clumps of spawn are placed in a balanced 
aquarium and kept in a light, moderately 
sunny, warm place, the development of the 
germ will soon be apparent. In a few 
days the eggs will hatch and the little tad- 
poles will proceed to eat up their erstwhile 
home. It takes from four to six months 
up to two years, or even longer, for tadpoles 
to reach the perfect frog state. 
