THE STUDENT'S AQUARIUM. 



17 



insult will have a terrific battle, and the weak ones will go to 

 the wall and the strong live,— and these are what you want. 

 You will likely keep out of seven or eight fish, one or perhaps 

 two pair. They breed three or four times a year, and during 

 those periods the male fish will possess as beautiful and brill- 

 iant colors as the Humming-bird, and will divide the attention 

 to the nest with the female : their attention consists in blowing 

 water on their eggs all day and night until their young are 

 hatched, and it is certain death for any other small variety of 

 fish to approach their nest during this operation. There is the 

 brilliant Golden Carp or Gold-fish, Dace, Roach, Perch, Sun- 

 fish, Cat-fish, Eels, and numerous other varieties, all of which 

 will do well if the specimens are not too large. You can at 

 any time divide your tank with a small piece of wire netting 

 with very small meshes, or a piece of glass will answer all pur- 

 poses, so that you can keep the varieties named with the nest- 

 building Sticklebacks, otherwise Mr. Stickleback will soon end 

 their career. All the other varieties will live harmoniously 

 together. You can add with perfect safety a small Nute, 

 or Lizard, and a small Turtle. If your rock-work does not 

 allow of them getting their heads out of the water it will be 

 necessary for you to put a piece of cork or wood in for them to 

 rest on, otherwise they will be drowned. They must be well 

 supplied with raw beef for feed, which should be placed on the 

 rock-work or wood, — and they will have no fooling about it ; 

 if you do not supply them they will help themselves, and some 

 fine morning you will find your other captives minus their cau- 

 dal appendages. Again, I beg the student to get the size of 

 the fish in accordance with the size of the tank they are to be 

 kept in. 



And now let us understand something about the location 

 of the aquarium, as this is also a very important matter. It 

 wants all the light it can possibly get, so that the plants can 

 thrive, but under no circumstances must the sun be allowed to 



