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The Aquarium 



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Volume II 



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OCTOBER, 1913 



Number 5 



J 



Hemichromis Bimaculatus or 

 Red Chromides 



By J. W. GAGE 



This member of the Cichhdae family is 

 a native of the Amazon District of Bra- 

 zil, frequenting shallow or stagnant 

 waters, ranging from 65 degrees to SO 

 degrees Fahrenheit. The head is very 

 blunt and heavy, 

 tail spatulate and 

 extremely power- 

 ful. The fish has 

 two pectoral, two 

 pedal, one dorsal 

 and one anal fin. 

 The color is red- 

 dish brow^n with 

 small emerald 

 greenish spots, 

 except during 

 spawning time, 

 when the head 

 and lower half of 

 the body are a 

 deep rich red, 

 hence the name, 

 red. 



This species is carnivorous and will 

 ravenously devour not only its own 

 young but all young fish, also scraped 

 raw beef, fish worms, dried shrimp, 

 chopped oysters or clams, meal worms, 

 etc. 



My first acquaintance with this species 

 was in the late fall of 1912, at which 

 time I secured a pair about eight months 

 old, and set them up in a brass bound 

 glass tank, 16" long x 10" wide xl l"high. 



Hemichromis Bimaculatus. 



Hemichromis, or half 



having a 2" bottom of well washed lake 

 sand, and planted with Vallisneria 

 Spiralis, Sagitaria Natans, Ludwegia, 

 Elodia and floating water fern, and filled 

 within one inch of the top with water 

 which had been standing about two 

 weeks to insure its being flat or ripe, and 

 fed them as wide a variety of food as 

 possible. 



In about a 

 month the tank 

 had a beautiful 

 growth of plants 

 and was as nearly 

 balanced as any 

 I ever had. But 

 by this time there 

 seemed to be con- 

 siderable cause 

 lor contention in 

 I his family, so 

 much so, in fact, 

 that I thought 

 best to separate 

 them by a glass 

 ])artition, to i)rcvcnt their killing one 

 another. 



When they found it impossible to at- 

 tack one another they were apparently 

 so angry that they started in on the 

 vegetation in their respective quarters, 

 and within twenty-four hours had every 

 spear, either routed out or cropped off^ 

 close down to the roots, and I noted that 

 their color was changing from the red- 

 dish brown to a dccj), rich red about the 

 head and stomach, and the green spots 

 became very brilliant, or like emeralds. 



NOV 18 1913 



