258 DESCRIPTIVE KEY TO PAGES 2J, !, TO 2.-,2 



then these females may be considered as about to give birth to their 

 young. They must then Ije placed preferably in large straight-sided 

 cylinder jars (8 inch), with thick floating vegetation occupying at 

 least Z/i of the jar and that placed toward the light in a sunny place 

 and covered over with a piece of glass or a plate, \^'hen the young 

 are born, they instinctively seek shelter from their cannibalistic 

 parent and swim toward the light. If the vegetation is toward the 

 light, most of the }'oung ones will be safe from the mother until dis- 

 covered, when the mother fish can be returned to the aquarium. 

 most of the plants removed from the jar and the young fed on 

 powdered fishfood. The breeding arrangements shown on pages 230 

 and 2,^1 do away with the necessity for plants or other shelter for the 

 young. 



t'eniales after Ijeing impregnated can have four broods without 

 further fertilization. 



BIO GROUP 



.MISCELLANEOUS FISHES. While wonderful strides have 

 l)een made in ascertaining the breeding habits of those fishes which 

 have l^ecome domesticated there are and no doubt always will be a 

 number whose life histories have not been revealed. Those which 

 remain unknown at jiresent are listed mider this heading. 



Bll GROUP 



^lOUTHBK !•:]•:] )ERS. The fish should be provided with a mod- 

 erate sized aquarium ^^•ith about two inches of clean sand in the 

 bottiim. The fish ])re])are a shallow nest in the sand, where the eggs 

 are first laid and fertilized. In most varieties the eggs are then taken 

 in the mouth of the female, who, by a chewing movement of the jaws, 

 keeps a constant flow of water among the eggs. The parent not 

 carrying the eggs should lie removed. So large is the volume of eggs 

 that the head of the fish has a noticeably distended appearance. The 

 liatching takes from fifteen to twenty daj'S. After the young are 

 hatched it may be several days before one may see them, for the 

 mother at first onh" allows them to swim out in search of infusorian 

 food at night. -Vt the first sign of alarm they rush back into her 

 mouth. When al)out a week to ten days old they are able to look 

 after themselves and the mother should be removed and the young 

 fed un microsco])ic food, daphnia, etc. The best breeding tempera- 

 ture is a1)out 73 degrees Fahrenheit. From the time of spawning 

 until separated from the young the female should be ofi:'ered no food. 

 As this is a drain on the health of the fish, they should not lie lired 

 oftener than twice a ^"ear. 



