Popular Science Monthly 



293 



How to Make an Aquarium for 

 Tropical Fish 



ORNAMENTAL tropical fish which 

 are kept in cool or cold water during 

 the winter do not show their gorgeous 

 color effects. Their appetites are not 

 what they should be and the fish are slow 

 of movement and lazy in actions. Their 

 liveliness leaves them. No longer do they 

 disport themselves as is their wgnt in 

 warmer waters and they rarely multiply 

 in this, the best season of the year, winter. 

 Tropical fish require a temperature of 



leave no more than ^ or J^-in. play on 

 either side. This is a device which will 

 suffice in most cases, as it effectually 

 keeps the water at the required tempera- 

 ture. In the morning the cover should, 

 of course, be removed. 



Heating the water of the aquarium 

 directly, will give better satisfaction than 

 the above mentioned method. An appa- 

 ratus with which to do this, besides being 

 more efficient and easy to install in al- 

 most all aquariums, has the advantage 

 of being absolutely fire proof. This 

 device consists of a tall, not too narrow. 



A cardboard box covering for an ordinary aquarium at night. An aquarium heated with a 

 candle lamp which is placed at the bottom of a glass tube set in the water, and which applies 

 heat from beneath the receptacle. Also methods of heating an aquarium with inclosed tubes 



at least 60 deg. F. To keep the water 

 at this temperature in winter, especially 

 designed aquariums are built. But or- 

 dinary aquariums may easily be adapted 

 to give equal satisfaction along these 

 lines. 



If one of these simple aquariums stands 

 in a room which is heated during the day, 

 no complicated heating system need be 

 used to keep the water at a constant 

 temperature during the night. A card- 

 board box, large enough to completely 

 cover the tank is placed over the aquarium 

 at night. The sides of the box should 

 reach to the bottom of the aquarium and 



cylindrical glass jar placed in the water 

 of the aquarium. This jar is filled with 

 lamp oil and lighted with one or more 

 Niirnberger night lights which consist of 

 a wick dipped into paraffin. It is held 

 erect by a wire, radiating outward and 

 the whole apparatus is supported by 

 three corks to which the wires are at- 

 tached. If these lights refuse to burn 

 in the glass, a small tubing of either 

 rubber or glass is inserted to insure fresh 

 air reaching the wick. Although a large 

 quantity of heat is lost by this method, 

 it is absolutely safe and no accident 

 can ever result from it. Electricity may 



