238 FISH CULTURE 



It does not require any great amount of in- 

 genuity for a person to make his own aquarium. 

 A two-inch board, planed and grooved, four 

 upright angle-irons, clinching-bands, angle-iron 

 top-frame, a double or treble thickness of glass 

 according to the size of the vessel, and a cement 

 which can also be homemade; these with a 

 little expenditure of time and care in fitting 

 will make a neat, serviceable aquarium, nearly 

 as good as any which can be bought. 



Two precautions are to be observed; one that the 

 aquarium be water-tight, and the other that there be 

 plenty of room for the glass to expand and contract 

 under varying temperatures. The grooves in the bot- 

 tom board must be wider by the fraction of an inch 

 than the thickness of the glass, and the panes must 

 be a trifle shorter than the length and width. The 

 cement should also be of such a consistency that it 

 will always be soft enough to permit the expansion 

 and contraction of the glass. Cement for fastening 

 the glass to the frame can be bought at almost any 

 store selling globes and fish; but an almost equally 

 good one can be made of common putty, red lead, 

 litharge, and sometimes a very small quantity of plas- 

 ter of Paris. Before putting in the glass, the grooves 

 and the inside of the angle iron should be thickly set 

 with the cement, the glass then embedded, and fast- 



