Aquatic Lite 67 
other accessories. A pair of long wood- 
en forceps is useful for removing dead 
leaves and _ snails, neither of which 
should be allowed to rot in the tank, 
or for rearranging the plants and stones. 
Cork or glass food rings confine the 
foods and prevent the particles from 
spreading indiscriminately over the sur- 
face of the water. For snipping off 
leaves a pair of scissors, with round ends, 
can be fitted with extension handles of 
wood. <Any article may be regarded as 
useful that enables one to work in the 
tank without putting the hands in the 
water, for this should be done as little 
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Anacharis 
Photo by Henry A. Dreer 
as possible, lest injurious substances be 
introduced. When it is necessary the 
hand should be clean and free from to- 
bacco. 
The health and growth of a fish de- 
pends largely upon its diet. This must 
be a well-balanced ration, consisting of 
all the elements needed for proper nour- 
ishment, and be fed in quantities such as 
our common sense will tell us is right. 
So much has been written of the ills of 
over-feeding that I often wonder that 
the novice has the courage to feed his 
fish at all. Give them as much as they 
care to eat and will consume within a 
period of ten to fifteen minutes, once a 
day and preferably during the early 
morning hours. For the basic diet any 
of the several foods advertised in 
Aquatic Life are good. By way of va- 
riety, feed raw oysters, shrimp and fish 
finely chopped. ‘To goldfish don’t feed 
raw scraped beef, liver or other parts 
of warm-blooded animals, except as a 
rare treat. Daphnia and Enchytrae are 
without equal, and should be used as 
much as possible. Well cooked, strained 
oatmeal is good, either alone or cooked 
with one-fourth part of finely ground 
dried shrimp. 
Another phase that must be given con- 
sideration is the fact that the fishes and 
plants appropriate salts and other min- 
eral matter from the water, so provision 
must be made for its replacement. ‘To 
this end draw off a half or a third of the 
water each week and replace with new 
water of the same temperature. It will 
be better not to do this at one time, but 
rather take a little every other day or 
so. Once a week add a quarter of a tea- 
spoonful of ground sea salt and a tea- 
spoonful of epsom salt to each ten gal- 
lons of water in the tank. 
When conditions in the aquarium are 
favorable, sickness and death will be 
rare, but of course cannot be entirely 
eliminated. A diagnosis of the common 
ills of goldfish with their treatments 
will be considered in an article to appear 
in the next issue. 
ee 
Aguatic LIFE is indeed very interest- 
ing. I anxiously await its arrival each 
month.—Cuas. F. Hiccrns, New Hamp- 
shire. 
