THE FRESH-WATER AQUARIUM. 
BY C. B. BRIGHAM. 

(Continued from page 377.) 
Ir is useless, even were it possible, to give the exact 
amount of plants that are necessary to keep an aquarium in 
order. A very few pieces will be sufficient to purify the 
water, but as some water-plants are very beautiful, it may 
be desirable to have the maximum rather than the minimum 
amount of them in the aquarium. The fishes should have 
space enough to move around freely, and at the same time 
to be seen to advantage. Bearing this in mind my own 
taste would be to have as many plants as the tank would 
allow. As the water in the tank is changed from time to 
time the plants can be thinned out and the decaying stalks 
eut off. 
The live stock of the aquarium is generally selected from 
fishes, lizards, snails, and mussels. One word as to the 
propriety of having many kinds of fish together in one tank. 
me fish, such as sticklebacks or pickerel, are so voracious 
that either the other fish are wholly eaten up by them, or 
else their fins or tails are so maimed that they become ob- 
Jects of pity instead of amusement. Again, in selecting 4 
stock of fish we should try to have them of a size propor- 
tioned to the tank they are to be put in. It is a great mis- 
take to have in the tank a fish so large that it can hardly 
turn about; as a general rule, in our common sized tanks, 
the smaller the fish the better. At the same time we thus 
have a chance of having more specimens without diminishing 
too much the supply of oxygen. It is often very difficult te 
get small specimens of some kinds of fish, such as perch or 
eels. At certain seasons in the year it is the custom, in 
some places in the country, to draw off the water in the mill- 
pond and make repairs; if such a chance presents then is 
2o 486 puc . 
"a 























. 
