112 
THE AQUARIUM, APRIL, 1897. 

UERIES. 

For the small sum of one dollar in ad- 
vance, which pays for a year’s subscription 
to THr AQuaRtium, you are entitled to ask 
information on any point regarding the 
aquarium or the window garden. We offer 
no other premium to our subscribers than 
that of putting over 25 years of practical ex- 
perience in these branches at their disposal. 
Ask as many questions as you please, but 
please to enclose postage for reply. All 
questions are answered by mail, and we 
publish only such in these columns as are 
of general interest. 
i ae 
_ Mrs. L. K.—Ifyou let the sun shine upon 
your tank any length of time, you will find 
that the water will discolor and the glass 
sides of the tank will become covered with 
green algee, which, although very beneficial 
to the he ith of the fish, is very annoying. 
As the welfare of the entire collection de- 
pends upon the proper action of the aquar- 
ium plants, itshould be avoided that these 
are in any way molested by the fish or any- 
thing else. If one or the other of your 
fish takes to the habit of eating or pulling 
up plants, remove it at once from the col- 
lection. Irregular and insufficient feeding 
develops this habit. 
Yes, German carp are vegetarians to a 
certain extent and, therefore, not a desirable 
fish for an aquarium or lily-pond ; they are 
too destructive in such places. Our IXL 
fish food contains vegetable matter in the 
right proportion and supplies the fish’s 
wants as closely as can be expected of an 
artificial food. 
Eumuurst.—Clean, sharp river or sea 
sand is the best material to form the bed 
in an aquarium. All aquarium plants grow 
in it to perfection. Earth, peat, ete., as 
the foundation of the sand bed, has many 
disadvantages. The fish will dig it up, 
and one need never look for the water to 
be clear. Fish require the sand to clean 
their mouths and gills. Gravel (pebbles: 


would be cleaner, that’s true, and possibly 
handier, but this would not answer the 
purpose aimed for. 
Some aquatic plants, for instance Limno- 
charis, Aponogeton and Nymphea flava, 
grow only to perfection and bloom in an 
aquarium when planted in rich soil in pots 
(fern pots), or yet better in glass salve 
jars. In this exceptional case, the surface 
of the soil is to be covered with clean sand 
and rocks and pebbles to keep the fish from 
digging. 
Mrs. M. N. O.—Just why the all-glass 
aquariums crack is hard to say ; they may 
not be uniformly tempered, or because the 
thickness of their walls and bottoms differ, 
which makes an even contraction and ex- 
pansion impossible. The fact remains, they 
are unreliable at their best. 
Why we don’t manufacture the hexagon 
or octagon tank ? Because there is very lit- 
tle, if any, call for that shape. Except 
where such a tank is to be used as a foun- 
tain basin in a hall or large bay window, it 
would be very inconvenient. In tanks of 
such shapes there is too much light and not 
enough rest for the fish. The ‘ face” of 
the tank is too small, and it requires more 
than d uble the number of stock to make 
the same display that a rectangular tank of 
the same capacity would make. 
Mrs. A.—If you wish to breed goldfish 
with a view to profit, our advice is to begin 
with one pir or with one set (two females 
and three males) of only one variety. 
Everybody needs some practical experi- 
ence until he can expect to be successful at 
anything. This is especially the case in 
fish breeding. Buy one or two year old 
fish, get these to spawn, raise the young, 
and next fall when you find that your ex- 
periment was successful, buy two or three 
choicer varieties and breed from these next 
season. ‘This, we find, is the least expen- 
sive and surest way to success. 
eats ae 

J. W. F.—A cylinder, twenty-four or 
more inches in diameter and three inches 
higher than the depth of the water, made 
of galvanized wire netting, + inch mesh, 
and painted with asphalt paint, will makea 
good iuclosure for gold or paradise fish in 
a lily-tank. 
