i THE HOME AQUARIUM. 
: By Dr. H. BADE. 
Illustrated with photographs by the Author. 
Bey HE keen business competition of to-day compels 
; \ most of us to live in town during the greater 
\ part of the year, and we are consequently restricted 
\ to a very few weeks in which to contemplate 
nature. A vague force is, however, continually 
urging man to keep in touch with nature, and 
so nature must come to him, since it is denied him to 
eo and study her in freedom; he mstals in his home a 
small fragment of nature. 
No branch of nature-study has of late years made 
such progress, or found so many enthusiastic followers, 
as the keeping of fresh-water aquaria. This is easily 
accounted for by the fact that the forms of life observed 
in the aquarium, the world of animals and plants which 
live in the water, are in the natural state almost entirely 
shut out from observation. The wonderful objects which 
nature has created in unsuspected abundance and variety 
in our ponds and rivers remain for many an eternal secret, 
except in the case of crayfish and other fish which make 
their appearance at the dinner table. 
Goldfish are in the first place largely responsible for 
the extension of the custom of keeping aquaria. They 
have already been employed as ornamental fish for over a 
hundred years, and the ease with which they can be kept 
has done much towards making them the special pets of 
ladies. But their maintenance and rearing are even to-day 
widely misunderstood, and they often drag out their exist- 
ence in a prison—sometimes in a prison in the truest sense 
Gia THe Gay WERE TE of the word, because they are given one of the well-known 
goldfish bowls for a home, or are forced through the 
narrow neck of a spherical globe, in which they slowly but surely die. 
Both of these fish-bowls are eminently unsuited for the keeping of aquatic 
animals. Their opening is far too small to allow of sufficient contact between air 
and water, so that the fish soon consume the air which is already im solution. 
When this is the case, the animals are forced to provide themselves from the air 
direct: they come to the surface and gasp for breath. This especially happens 
during hot nights, and in consequence the animals are deprived of their night’s rest. 
In order to provide the fish with sufficient air it is necessary to refill the bowl 
frequently with clean fresh water. Each change of water, however, affects the 
organisations of the fish more or less injuriously, especially if it is a change from 
warm to cold. Such a transposition may indeed prove fatal to the fish. All this 
may be avoided if only tanks having a large surface are used for the keeping of 
fish, so that as much air as possible is dissolved in the water. What form the 
vessel takes does not much matter, but round cup-shaped bowls are decidedly 
preferable. Square open glass tanks are more particularly recommended for the keeping 
of single fish, and in them charming water-plants may also be grown, 
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