66 



•aquatic JLite 



results. I do not advocate placing the 

 ground glass against the aquarium, 

 which will not give as good results as 

 placing it against the window pane. I 

 have experimented with this plan for a 

 long time, and have found it to give 

 wonderful results, even in this climate 

 (Washington, D. C), as it cuts off the 

 direct rays of the sun, which promote 

 the growth of Alg?e. It passes enough 

 light for the plants to grow and main- 

 tain their natural brilliant green color, 

 instead of turning yellow, transparent 

 or brown, as too much light has a ten- 

 dency to cause. — /. Henri Wagner. 



My ' 'Faulty Techniques" 



JACOB MERGET 



In the June, 1916, number of 

 "Aquatic Life" appears an article by the 

 present writer concerning the hybridiza- 

 tion of fishes, in which was explained the 

 method followed to accomplish the cross. 

 Subsequent to this I began to lose in- 

 terest in further experiments. I had 

 seven hybrids — two males and five fe- 

 males. Of those a friend in Chicago re- 

 ceived four, and for myself, in spite of 

 my waning interest, I reserved one male 

 and two females. The mother of (these 

 fish, a female Xiphophorus helleri, I lost, 

 together with a female Girardinus 

 guppyi, which I had bred to a male of 

 X. helleri, receiving from it a lot of 

 weaklings that did not survive a week. 



More than once I had been told that 

 these hybrids would be sterile and in- 

 capable of reproduction. It was this 

 opinion, more than anything else, that 

 denuded the hybrids of their earlier 

 charm. My surprise can be imagined 

 when, on day in August, I discovered 

 that one of the hybrid females was preg- 

 nant. I promptly made- arrangements 

 for the delivery. Ten days later the 

 young were expelled, seventeen of them, 

 and not a bad beg-inning-. Twelve of 



these survived and are strong and 

 healthy ; five died, being so weak at 

 birth that they did not rise from the bot- 

 tom of the aquarium. In the meantime 

 the male made love to the other female, 

 and at the present writing she shows 

 signs of pregnancy. The coloration of 

 the young is the same as that of the 

 hybrid parents ; lower portion of the 

 body black, upper portion red with black 

 spots. Whether they will have the 

 sword-like extension of the caudal fin 

 is problematical. 



In view of the unanimous doubt that 

 was cast upon the possibility of the fer- 

 tility of the original hybrids, I have 

 named the youngsters "Faulty Tech- 

 niques." 



Philadelphia Goldfish Fanciers 



The December meeting was held Wed- 

 nesday evening, the 21st, in Saull's 

 Hall, 804 West Girard avenue. 



Exhibition : Lionheads, Orandas and 

 Celestial Telescopes. 



Judges: Joseph E. Van S tavern, 

 George W. Price and R. L. Harding. 



Awards: Orandas, silver cup and blue 

 ribbon, A. A. Phillips, Jr. ; red and yel- 

 low ribbons, J. Martin Wacker. Celes- 

 tial Telescopes, blue, red and yellow rib- 

 bons, A. A. Phillips, Jr. Lionheads, 

 silver cup and blue ribbon, Fred Schae- 

 fer; red ribbon, Mrs. Elizabeth Ahlers ; 

 yellow ribbon, Joseph E. Tyler. 



Messrs. Edwin R. Keck, Joseph 

 Wheatcroft and Edward R. Stembach 

 were elected to membership. 



The next regular meeting will be held 

 January 17th. The regular competition 

 will be for nymphs and single-tail tele- 

 scopes, scaled and scaleless, three rib- 

 bons to be awarded in each class. At 

 this meeting there will also be a com- 

 petition for scaleless telescopes bred in 

 1916, to the winner of which will be 

 awarded the cup presented by Charles 

 E. Visel. — Fred Richardson, Secretary. 



