THE GOLDFISH AND ITS CULTURE. 75 
ventilated apartment, must be emptied frequently and a new supply 
of fresh water put into it. 
Some people object very strenuously to the formation of alge 
upon the glass sides, and on that account clean the vessel very 
deligently, removing every particle they can find. Others again 
change the water because it does zot form, their taste preferring the 
fish in all the natural surroundings of a rural locality. 
The former carefully wipes each pebble till it shines, and would 
polish the fish too if it were possible, while the latter will walk for 
miles to some creek in order to procure some moss-covered rocks, 
so divergent are tastes in this matter. 
One must be able to exercise his own judgment as to the best 
time and when, for the changing of the water in the aquarium, 
as it may sometimes be better to leave it undisturbed for some 
length of time, and at others to change it several times. 
The best means to clean the glass sides from the adhering alge, 
when an aquarium is emptied, is by the use of ordinary cooking 
salt applied with wet fingers, this will remove every speck with- 
out scratching the glass. 
The best side of a room for the aquarium is that having a window, 
near which it is to be placed, as the light can be increased or 
reduced by opening and closing the shutters. 
In the winter this position is the best, for the constant ventilation 
that goes on in the immediate vicinity of the window protects the 
water from the injurious effects of coal and tobacco smoke, and the 
poisonous fumes from the gas-burner; in the summer, in close hot 
weather, before a thunder storm, it can be easily and effectually 
aerated. 
There remains yet one point: ‘‘Should the sun shine upon the 
aquarium?” This too is a matter of taste, though we would 
recommend a middle course, that is, let the fish have the sun part of 
