CHAPTER XIV. 



GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE MARINE AQUARIUM. 



Feeding Fish— Fighting for Food— Crabs' mode of Eating— Rapacity of Minnows- 

 Overstocking— Hermit-crabs die first— Remedy for Overstocking— Scavengers- 

 Aerating the Water— Fountain— Net— Filtering the Water— Artificial Sea Water- 

 Amount of Plant! necessary— Opacity of the Water at certain seasons— Remedy- 

 Evaporation. 



A few bints as to the management of a' marine collection 

 may not be unacceptable to the reader, and as they are 

 the result of much labor and some experience in this 

 branch of science, I trust they will, if attended to, be use- 

 ful, and assist many in the keeping in order of these 

 beautiful ornaments and sources of instruction. 



In feediug fish in a marine tank, the same precautions 

 must, of course, be taken, as when so feeding the fresh- 

 water animals. Not only the fish, but the other creatures 

 that we keep iu a marine Aquariiun, must be fed, or else 

 we shall find the stronger preying upon the smaller and 

 weaker ; thus, crabs, lobsters and shrimps are inclined to 

 attack the fish, but not the Zoophytes." Some authors have 

 said, that Anemones will eat crabs and shrimps ; but a 

 writer in Blackwood's Magazine, for January, 1851, when 

 speaking of these creatures, iu an extremely interesting 

 article, on " New facts and old fancies about sea Anemo- 



