AQUARIUM MANAGEMENT 



the contrary. If already over-stocked, some of the specimens should 

 be disposed of or a larger aquarium secured. Should the fishes get 

 into poor condition from overcrowding it will be difficult to save any 

 of them. 



When the fishes persist in coming to the top and gasping air, it 

 is usually a sign that they are overcrowded or that the water has 

 become bad from some kind of decomposition. The trouble should 

 be quickly found and remedied before the pets become seriously 

 affected or perhaps suffocate. A partial change of water or the 

 removal of some of the fishes will usually improve matters. Some- 

 times the condition is produced by a dead snail or mussel, or again 

 from the decomposition of uneaten food. 



Overfeeding. JNIany people kill their fish by kindness. When- 

 ever they seem hungry they are fed. This is a very great mistake. 

 In Nature the food is scarce and difficult to get. Therefore the fishes 

 have to exert themselves in procuring it. In the small confines and 

 artificial conditions of the household aquarium, less food can be prop- 

 erly digested, for fishes, like men, suffer from, indigestion, but with 

 cjuicker and more fatal results. Fish should never, on any account, 

 be fed more than will be consumed at once. (This does not apply in 

 raising young stock.) If an}' food is left after five minutes, they have 

 been overfed and the surplus should be removed with a dip-tube. 

 (See Chapter on Aquarium Appliances.) In summer or at any time 

 when the water is at 60 degrees or higher, it is allowable to feed daily. 

 Should the water range from 55 degrees to 60 degrees, every other 

 day is sufficient, and when it is from 40 degrees to 55 degrees, feed- 

 ings separated by about three to six days, will keep them in good con- 

 dition. An exact scale is difficult to establish, partly because fish, 

 under one year of age, can assimilate more food than old ones, and 

 partly because the temperature in an aquarium varies at different 

 hours in the day. The foregoing scale will give a very good working 

 basis, to be followed with a certain amount of personal judgment. 

 Let it be said there is practically no danger of starving a fish, the 

 errors being almost altogether on the other side. A correspondent 

 once wrote the author that she kept a fish for seventeen years, and in 

 that time had fed it on rice wafers once a week only. 'The matter of 

 feeding fish is a difficult point to correctly impress on the mind of the 

 general public. AVhen they swim coaxingly to the near side of the 

 aquarium it is truly a great temptation to feed them, whether it is their 

 meal time or not, but those who love their pets will do them a far 

 greater kindness by depriving them until the usual feeding hour. 



