OBSERVATIONS 
Almost every book on the 
subject of aquarium manage- 
ment begins with the funda- 
mental principles of sustaining 
aquatic life which consists of 
sufficient space, sufficient light, 
sufficient oxygen, and sufficient 
food besides having the cor- 
rect temperature. 
OXYGEN 
This may sound like a scien- 
tific challenge to the average 
beginner but these factors are 
extremely simple, in fact, they 
are so simple that they become 
hard to understand. It has 
only been a short time, so to 
speak, that men knew what 
oxygen is and that man knew 
he inhaled oxygen; and this 
happened towards the end of 
the 18th century. Before that 
man didn’t even know that he 
breathed oxygen. He did know 
however that he had to have 
fresh air in order to live and 
you will soon find out after you 
set up your aquarium that the 
fish will have to have fresh 
water in order to live; that is, 
water which is not polluted 
with overfeeding, over crowd- 
ing, or over planting. Keeping 
an aquarium fora year without 
having to clean it, change the 
water, have it looking erystal 
clear is just so simple that if 
we went about the right way 
of setting up this aquarium we 
would have no further diffi- 
culties. If we would only make 
certain minute observations in 
order to see that nothing goes 
wrong, 
FILTER 
The writer has kept aquar- 
iums absolutely erystal clear 
for a period of two years with- 
out spending much more than 
just a few minutes a week 
feeding the fish and replacing 
evaporated water and perhaps 
cleaning the filter thoroughly 
once a week. The relaxation 
afforded by observing: fish life 
in an aquarium according to 
medical science is medicine for 
the mind and this medicine 
cannot be bought in a drug- 
Store, it is jyours= free) vor 
charge as you sit down and 
watch the aquarium and your 
finny. pets and the satisfaction 
Which you feel in having and 
owning a nice aquarium. with 
a good collection of tropical 
fishes or faney goldfish. 
COLORFUL PETS 
On account of the wide se- 
lection of colors and the many 
interesting shapes and breed- 
ing habits, tropical fish have 
during the past 25 years con- 
stantly displaced goldfish as a 
pet in the home aquarium, so 
that today perhaps there are 
more tropical fish sold than 
goldfish; so that the tropical 
fish industry has grown rather 
large from a very small be- 
ginning. 
GETTING OLD 
We published our first trop- 
ical fish catalog in 1928 and it 
may surprise you to know that 
at that time there was hardly 
a pet shop that handled trop- 
ical fish but the entire output 
was sold direct to fanciers— 
so that this tropical fish hatch- 
ery which we operate here in 
Florissant Valley, 18 miles 
from downtown St. Louis, has 
become a rather large business 
which operates on several ac- 
res which are covered with 
buildings and pools for the 
propagation of aquatic life, 
plants and fish, and also with 
buildings for the manufacture 
of various accessories *and fish 
aquariums. 
VERY SIMPLE 
By now the reader will have 
become disgusted because all 
we are doing is bragging about 
how big we got. But that is 
not the point which we are 
BELDT’ 'S AQUARIUM, INC. 
i eee ee at a = — — <= SST TEE —— _ _ 
FEATURE COLLECTION 
A Dwarf Gourami, pair 
B Blue Betta, pair 
C Hy. Bifasciatus, pair 
D Aplocheilus Panchax, pair... 2.50 
Australian Rainbow Fish, 
Panchax Playfairy, pair 
Black Spotted Red Hybrid, 
H Mexican Helleri, pair.. 
One pair of each of these 8 fish, as 
illustrated; 
total, 16 fish 
ATURE COLLECTION 
Here is a fine collection of 16 Tropical Fish for a 10-gallon aquar- 
ium. All have brilliant colors; are easy to feed und take care of. 
Very hardy and active. 
Regular Catalo Sue: Val Ue ees oe ee a $14.50 
special Collections Prices Only. eee ee $13.25 
Insulated shipping containers, $1.25 extra 
trying to bring out. We are GET A GOOD BOOK overfeeding. While we are on 
just trying to bring out-to you It would be impossible for the subject of information we 
one factor and that is how sim- us to even begin to try to cannot recommend ‘‘Eyxotic A- 
ple it must be to maintain an Sive you the necessary infor- quarium Fishes” too highly 
aquarium and how little time mation required for aquarium William T. Innes has spent 7s 
it must take to take care of success, There are a lot of lifeti tine 1 e ] é 
hundreds and of thousands things which you can find out eee pimatine 2nd develops 
shes if you have the right by reading a book but there 1g information Of ale ato 
setup and equipment; so the is nothing as valuable as your the fish fancier and really all 
al point which we are act- own observations. Try to you need for aquarium success 
ily trying to bring out is study the mistakes you have is a keen, observing eye. Al- 
at it is extremely simple to made if something goes wrong, Ways remember there is a rea- 
lintain a nice aquarium in Ninety times out of a hundred son for everything and that 
ur living room. it is either overcrowding or includes failure and success, 
Page 18 
