THE AQUARIUM, OCTOBER, 1892. 3 
hinges. The shallowest parts of this 
bed, the east and north sides, are cov- 
ered with four inches of water; the 
deepest part is the southwest corner, 
with a water depth of about twenty- 
four inches. 
All along the shallow sides bunches 
of fibrous roots and grasses are laid in 
profusion, and no current of water is 
allowed to enter this bed. When all 
this iscomplete, we place three females 
and four males of twelve to fifteen 
inches in length in it and close the 
wire screen. ‘Tadpoles of frogs may 
now be had in plenty; some of these 
we catch daily and throw alive through 
the screen for the spawners as food. 
When the weather is nice and warm 
the fish will begin to spawn towards 
the latter part of April; if not, they may 
delay it till June. The clumps of root- 
lets which were placed in the bed as 
spawn-catchers, are therefore examined 
every morning, and if found covered 
with eggs, which are watery white and 
double the size of a pin head, they are 
at once carefully removed and placed 
by themselves in a hatching pond. 
This isa little pond, eight feet each 
way, with a water depth of six inches, 
through which a moderately flowing 
current of water is allowed to pass. 
The clumps of roots to which the eggs 
adhere are placed over some dry brush 
or tree branches, which are placed in 
the pond for this purpose, in order to 
support them free in water and near 
the surface. No insects, frog or other 
enemies of fish eggs are to molest these 
eggs. 
After six days the eggs hatch. The 
young at first have a milky appearance, 
which changes after a few days into a 
cream color, the top of the head at the 
same time becoming darker—almost 
black. They swim in schools, near the 
surface, and frequent the place where 
the water enters the pond. It is there- 
fore necessary to protect the inlet with 
fine wire gauze, to prevent their escape 
and also to protect the young fish 
against enemies that may lie in waiting 
at that same place. This pond, like the 
former,is also covered with wire netting. 
When about one inch in length, the 
color of the young fry is bright orange 
and the tops of the heads still black. 
At this age we take them from the 
hatching pond and plant them at the 
rate of one hundred fish to a rearing 
pond measuring about ten feet one way 
and twenty feet the other, with eighteen 
inches water depth. In handling these 
young fish, care must be taken to have 
the buckets which convey them covered, 
as they are great leapers. At an age 
of six months they will have attained a 
length of from four to six inches; the 
back, including the head, has become 
deep orange in color, more or less dot- 
ted with little spots of intense black, 
while the abdomen is silvery white. 
In the third year, if circumstances are 
favorable, the fish will measure twelve 
inches and over, and at that age will 
begin to spawn. 
It may be in place to state, also, that 
eggs which were not cared for as above 
described never came to anything. The 
parent fish devour their own eggs, and 
are the greatest enemies of their own 
young. 
N. 
W. Spawning Bed. E. 
S. | 
Rearing Pond. 
