Fish The Sunfish 
Having thus prepared the home, he goes court- 
ing, and when trying to persuade his chosen one to 
come to his nest and there deposit her eggs, he faces 
her with his gill-covers puffed out, so as to show the 
scarlet spot on the ‘‘ear-flap.’”” He may not be the 
only wooer, and he may have to take part in a sun- 
fish duel before he wins. This is not a duel unto 
death, but is a spiteful attempt on the part of the 
rivals to mutilate each other’s fins. The fellow 
with a torn fin seems to be ashamed of himself and 
retires from the field. After the eggs are laid, the 
father fish remains on guard and defends his nest 
with great valor until the young are hatched and 
swim away. 
CARE 
Since the sunfish is usually found in ponds or 
streams where there is dense vegetation, we at once 
take the hint as to the arrangement of its aquarium. 
It. should be put into a balanced aquarium, with 
plenty of pond weeds of different kinds. Its natural 
food is small crustaceans, mosquito larvae, wrig- 
glers or other small water creatures: if such can 
be procured, the sunfish will be very comfortable 
indeed. However, earthworms, meal worms, and 
raw lean meat, cut fine, may be substituted. All 
food that has not been eaten should be removed by 
a pipette to keep the water pure. The larger lumps 
of ground fish will be eaten. But with this and the 
cut meat—the bits will not be eaten after they have 
sunk to the bottom of the aquarium, and so should 
be removed soon. 
I have kept one of these beautiful shimmering 
pumpkin-seeds for nearly a year in my aquarium, 
feeding him every alternate day with an earth- 
242 
