THE AQUARIUM, JULY, 1893. 



the glass wall; not succeeding of course, 

 he tries to overleap it, with which 

 attempt he is often successful; often, 

 however, it causes his death when he 

 happens to jump too high and out of 

 the tank. For that reason the tank is 

 only half full of water and it is best to 

 also cover it with wire gauze or mosquito 

 netting. At this period we remove the 

 glass wall, and sometimes in less than 

 ten minutes they spawn immediately 

 under his nest. Both may be seen for 

 minutes after this collecting stray eggs 

 with their mouths and spitting them on 

 top of the bubble nest. This being 

 completed, he takes charge of the nest 

 and drives her away in a rather rough 

 manner. She will seek shelter under 

 the rockery and amongst the plants, and 

 as soon as we notice this we should 

 drive her to her apartment and replace 

 the glass wall. The presence of the 

 female is absolutely unneccessary after 

 the eggs are deposited, and it would be 

 cruelty to leave her exposed to his, 

 then, very bad temper. 



A breeding aquarium need not be 

 large. Paradise fish will spawn in one 

 gallon of water ; an oblong all-glass 

 battery jar will do very well, as far as 

 the spawning part goes. 



Thirty-six hours after spawning the 

 young will hatch. About ten days 

 later they have the shape of their 

 parents and can support themselves. 

 The mate builds a new nest and goes 

 through the same performance over and 

 over again until the cold weather puts 

 a stop to it. 



Only two broods should be allowed 

 to remain in one tank together : the 

 third brood would be devoured by the 

 first, as soon as hatched. The young 

 may be fished out of the aquarium with 

 the aid of a white saucer, or they may 



remain in company of their father, as 

 he will not injure them. Some females 

 are also harmless to their young, but as 

 a rule they are not. Another way is to 

 remove the old ones from the tank, the 

 glass partitions are taken out, too, in 

 that case and the tank filled up to 

 within one inch from the top. The 

 young are fed with finely, scraped raw 

 beef mixed with drops of water to a 

 thin paste ; with jiowdered prepared 

 fish-food ; and as they gain in size with 

 mosquito larvaes, etc. Should, as it 

 sometimes happens, the parents eat 

 their eggs or young, do not worry ! 

 there was a good reason for their doing 

 so, which, however, these fish alone un- 

 derstand. They will soon spawn again 

 and prove to you that they understand 

 tlieir affairs well. 



A NIGHT-BLOOMING CACTUS 

 IN FRUIT. 



Mrs. N. P. Millard, of Iberia, La., 

 has a curiosity in a night-blooming 

 cereus (P. phyllanthus), which is bear- 

 ing fruit. 



This is the first time a plant of that 

 kind has been known to bear fruit in 

 this country. In its native country the 

 fruit takes two years to mature. The 

 fruit is about seven inches in length, 

 nine in circumference, of a blood red 

 color, in appearance very much like a 

 Balsam apple, having a rough skin. It 

 has bursted open on one side showing a 

 white, mealy interior like an apple. 

 The plant measures about eight feet in 

 height, branching ont about nine feet 

 in diameter at the toj). Two years ago 

 it bloomed in the day time ; at eight 

 o'clock in the morning twenty- five 

 beautiful flowers expanded. 



