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THE FRESH-WATER AQUARIUM. 
THE FRESH WATER AQUARIUM. 
Some of our young friends may wish, before engaging in the more difficult 
task of stocking and maintaining a sea-water aquarium, to try the easier 
but not less charming experiment of establishing an aquarium in which 
fresh-water plants and fresh-water animals shall live and grow, and disport 
themselves, and afford endless delight and instruction to the proprietor, and 
all who will take the trouble to watch with intelligent interest their ways 
and habits, and the changes that occur in their short lives. The theory 
of the fresh-water is exactly the same as that we have just described in 
explaining the sea-water aquarium. In both it is the oxygen, generated by 
the plants under the influence of light, that supports the animal life ; and 
the precautions to be taken with regard to heat, the selection of animals, and 
the removal of all impurities, are likewise, in both cases, exactly identical. 
The tank for the fresh-water collection is like the receptacle for marine 
animals and plants. It may be either cylindrical, standing on a broad foot, 
or rectangular. The cylindrical form is tho cheapest. 
Having your tank prepared, you cover it about an inch deep with clear, 
well-washed white sand, on which you strew fine pebbles, with here and 
there a few coarse lumps of stone. At or near the centre, place two stones 
near together, and so arranged as to form a sort of arch, and to support each 
other. These must be so large that the end of one will project out of 
water when the tank is seven-eighths full, so as to allow your newts, et 
