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The old saying, “An ounce of preven- 
tion is better than a pound of cure,” 
when referring to the home aquarium, 
might well be changed to “prevention is 
the only cure worth consideration,” for 
when the fundamental principles are un- 
derstood and followed, disease will be 
practically unknown. 
To make the aquarium a success, it 
must be treated as a kingdom in itself, 
and made independent of outside aid ex- 
cept for food and light. This means 
that it must contain both animal and 
vegetable life. The fishes, which usually 
form the animal life of the aquarium, 
require oxygen, and this must be present 
in abundance to maintain them in health 
and comfort. Their gills correspond to 
our lungs, and are made up of delicate 
tissue ramified by minute blood capil- 
laries. Through the thin walls of the 
capillaries the oxygen meets the blood, 
purifies it and is then returned to the 
water in the form of carbon dioxide, a 
compound that is deadly poison to ani- 
mal life. Here the plants take hold. The 
carbon is needed in tissue-building, so 
the compound is absorbed, the carbon re- 
tained and the oxygen returned to the 
water. This completes the cycle in 
which the oxygen can be said to be the 
carrier of carbon from the animal to the 
plant. 
When the fishes are ailing look to the 
plants. They form the keystone of the 
aquarium. Have them in abundance and, 
if the fishes have sufficient room to swim 
about, you cannot have too many. Those 
plants which best adapt themselves to 
life in the aquarium and are rapid in 
: CARE OF AQUARIA 
GEORGE A. SCHENK 
Ed OP 6 OS PS Oh Oa a at 
a a a a at 
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6 ws 
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growth are the best “oxygenators.” Sa- 
gittaria, Anacharis and Vallisneria are 
the mainstays. Plants must have direct 
light to flourish, but under natural con- 
ditions aquatic species receive it from 
above, and that is reduced in coming 
through the water. In the aquarium they 
Sagittaria 
Photo by Charles M. Breder, Jr. 
are exposed to the light from all sides, 
and if it is too intense, or directly from 
the sun, their leaves become covered 
with algae, nutrition and respiration 1s 
retarded, and they gradually die. A sim- 
ilar decline will follow when the light is 
not sufficient to stimulate active growth. 
It follows that in choosing a location 
for an aquarium that the plants must 
be considered first. At or near a north 
or northeast window through which the 
light can fall direct from the sky to the 
