TROPICAL AQUARIUM FISHES 93 
DESCRIPTIVE KEY 
To Foregoing List of Aquarium Fishes 
For all practical purposes the breeding habits of known aquarium 
fishes may be classed under 18 headings. Instead of needless repetition, 
each of these is described but once. By matching the following key letters 
and figures with those in the preceding Alphabetical List, full information 
regarding any of the listed fishes may be had. 
EXPLANATION: The letter B stands for “Breeding” and the 
figure in alphabetical list specifies to which breeding group each fish 
belongs. 
The letter N stands for “Nature” or disposition of the fish, particu- 
larly with reference to whether it may be kept with other fishes, and if 
so, under what conditions. 
B1 GROUP 
DANIO FAMILY. All fishes of this group drop their eggs freely 
in the water, while actively swimming alongside their mates, frequently 
more than one male participating in the (external) fructification of the 
eggs as extruded. This group of fish have a tendency to devour their 
eggs as soon as dropped and under aquarium conditions this should be 
guarded against by providing shelter for the eggs to fall amongst, such as 
stones, densely-growing vegetation, etc. The eggs are non-adhesive and 
can be moved by the action of the water or otherwise at any period during 
development, which lasts only from 3 to 5 days, according to the tem- 
perature of the water, action of sunlight, etc. The young fish hang like 
“commas” against the glass sides of the aquarium in which they hatch 
(the parent fish having been carefully removed immediately after 
spawning was completed), and after a couple of days they adopt the 
position of normal adult fish in the water, ‘swimming horizontally in 
search of food, such as infusoria, etc., and later small daphnia and 
cyclops. Young fishes of this group take kindly to finely powdered dry 
fish foods and do well on it. As they grow, the larger specimens should 
be separated from the smaller ones or the latter will be starved. Tem- 
perature of the water should be maintained at the MAXIMUM given 
under temperature herein or slightly higher and so kept until at least two 
months later before allowing it to drop at all. 
Bla GROUP 
BARB FAMILY. Same as the preceding, except that the eggs are 
adhesive to the plants, stones or glass aquarium sides. 
