118 



•aquatic JLitt 



mashed rain-worm, Corethra larva, the 

 inside of meal-worms, scraped meat, and 

 at intervals a little dry fish food of stand- 

 ard brands. Trichogaster and Osphro- 

 menus must also have vegetable foods 

 such as fine algse and tender leaves of 

 water plants and lettuce. 



To breed the labyrinths it is abso- 



THE PURRING GOURAMI 

 osphromenus striatus (Ctenops vittatus) 



lutely necessary to keep them warm, 

 warm, and again warm. The temper- 

 ature should never fall below 80 de- 

 grees, Fahrenheit. Success is impos- 

 sible of attainment unless they are 

 maintained between 80 and 86 degrees. 

 A sudden change, even though it be 

 only a few degrees, may kill all the 

 young fish. A draft, or cold air, strik- 

 ing the surface of the water, always 

 proves fatal to the eggs and to the 

 fry swimming immediately below ; the 

 foam nests are very sensitive to drafts. 

 If the cover of the tank is carelessly 

 raised while a draft passes, or when the 

 air in the room is cool, the bubble nest 

 will dissolve and the fry die. The 

 temperature, when the young begin to 

 swim, should be raised one to one and 

 one-half degrees and kept so for two 

 weeks. Then as the young grow it is 

 gradually lowered, but must never drop 

 below 73 decrees. 



The aquarist lacking experience with 

 these fishes usually attempts to breed 

 them in too small a receptacle or in 

 one recently re-set and containing 

 clean, fresh water. Consequently, as 

 the water in the small recently-filled 

 tank is deficient in Infusoria, the young 

 soon starve to death. It is of little use 

 to pour "infusoria water" into such a 

 tank, because to feed all the young so 

 much would be required that the water 

 would be fouled, and more harm than 

 good result. Some writers have as- 

 serted that fresh water is better for 

 promoting the propagation of infuso- 

 rians than old water. This would be 

 true if fresh water contained the foods 

 of Infusoria, but it does not. When- 

 ever fresh water is used to raise In- 

 fusoria we find that these fishes do not 

 thrive and gradually die. The water in 

 natural pools contains foods for the 



THE DWARF GOURAMI 

 (Trichogaster lalius) 



infusorians such as decaying plants and 

 animal excrement of all kinds, so only 

 old water should be used. 



I wouldn't miss one issue of Aquatic 

 Life for the price of the twelve. I wish 

 it was published twice a month instead 

 of once. — H A. Knight. 



