78 



ftqaattc life 



the port of New York, which brought to 

 a close my importations from the Dutch 

 East Indies. 



A large specimen will be three inches 

 in length, but when reared in the aquar- 

 ium few individuals grow to more than 

 two inches. The ground color of the 

 body is olive on the back or dorsal re- 

 gion, bluish gray on the sides and whit- 

 ish on the abdomen. Vertical, indistinct 



Haplochilus panchax blockii 



bars of golden scales are peculiar to the 

 male, but are seldom visible. The tip of 

 the dorsal fin and the margin of the tail 

 are black outside and red within, the two 

 colors forming a narrow border. A char- 

 acteristic black blotch appears on the dor- 

 sal as shown in illustration. The sexual 

 distinctions are the acute extremity of 

 the anal fin' and the color border of the 

 caudal fin in the male. The female has a 

 rounded anal and the tail fin is almost 

 colorless, as are the other fins in both 

 sexes. The general shape of the fish is 

 that characteristic of the genus. 



Several color phases have been noticed 

 and called blockii, mattei, lutescens and 

 so on. A yellow form and a blue-white 

 form occur in Java, particularly in the 

 vicinity of Soerabaia, in each of which 

 yellow and white replace the red of the 



typical species. The forms interbreed in- 

 discriminately and the females cannot be 

 distinguished from one another. By 

 crossing the red with the yellow some 

 of the resulting males will show orange 

 instead of yellow or red and are very 

 beautiful. 



It is quite easy to breed panchax. -One 

 merely needs a small globe, some fila- 

 mentous algae, Nitella or small bladder- 

 wort, soft (old) aquarium water and 

 sunshine. Keep the fish apart until eggs 

 can be seen within the female when her 

 container is held up to the light. Then 

 introduce the male and place the globe in 

 the sunshine. They may begin spawn- 

 ing within a few minutes, swimming side 

 by side and fluttering fins and tails 

 against each other whenever they happen 

 to meet the bushy plants. The eggs are 

 large — almost the size of the head of an 

 average pin, and are attached singly by a 

 filament to -the plants. The eggs should 

 be removed with the plants to which they 

 adhere, and placed in a separate con- 

 tainer in the sunshine, a mason jar an- 

 swering well. At a temperature of 75 

 degrees, Fahrenheit, the eggs will hatch 

 in about ten days. The fry should first 

 be fed with Infusoria; and later with 

 screened Daphnia and Cyclops, though 

 failing these they will eat finely powder- 

 ed prepared food. Tanks containing this 

 fish should be kept covered by a sheet of 

 glass. 



Many a man who imagines he is a 

 born leader isn't even a successful fol- 

 lower. 



Observer — "I noticed you got up and 

 gave that lady your seat in the street car 

 the other day." Observed — "Since child- 

 hood I have respected a woman with a 

 strap in her hand." — Pennsylvania Punch 

 Bowl. 



