Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-22

merely sending in request. In this way the
ponds and aquaria in all parts Of the country
are being rapidly stocked with these orna-
mental carp. Associations Of persons inter-
ested largely in the stocking of waters are
OFTEN given thousands at a time.
Inns omo OF year is chosen for the distribu-
Non because the young gold fish hatched last
sPring are now grown to about finger length,
M Mhlch Is the most suitable size for aquaria.
t utney are propagated in the carp ponds near
the monument, whore you may see whole
SCHOOLS OF all sizes swimming about like nata-
tory rainbows any fine day, some of them
whopping big fellows q foot or more in length
ana weighing several pounds. The stock 10
drawn upon by requisition whenever the COM
mission wants any of the beauties to give
away. No individual is allowed to have more
'nan eight, and the ordinary number 10 six.
WHERE THEY CAME FROM
All the gold fish in this country originally
came from Japan and China, where the bust
ness OF breeding them has been carried on for
no one knows how many hundreds of years.
lou Will be surprised to learn, perhaps that
their brilliant colors are obtained altogether
oy arunce. Nature unassisted never produced
gold hsh-that is to say the paint was lack
ing. The creature at tho beginning 10 OF a
somber, yellowish bronze hue Take q pair,
preed from them, and once in q while will
occur freak that will exhibit more or less
color. Mate two such freaks and you obtain
progeny with more decided tnts Out Of this
last generation take a pair that show the most
| color, proceeding continuously in this way, and
eventually, with sufficient care aud patience
you Will produce golden fish.
Inns Is precisely the way in which the in
genious orientals produced gold fish. Now and
then white freak would be found, which was
simply an a!bino, and this they crossed with
the golden, so as to make a brindled white and
g0id, such as one very commonly sees. Fun
nily enough, by the way, this sort OF carp, in
the process Of turning to golden, becomes black
first. But the breeders Of the east have ac
complished all sorts Of things with gold fish
beyond this. They have caused them to de.
velop astonishingy exaggerated fins, and tails
twice as big as their bodies. Most remarkable
OF all, they have obtained strains Of gold fish,
specimens OF which are on view in aquaris at
the commissions building. with two separate
tails, each OF huge size, and two pairs OF anal
INNS. Anatomically speaking this is precisely
az II man or any other mammal were 70 be so
pred Is to be provided with four legs and four
arms, and persons expert in biological science
are much interested in discussing the question
whether an eight-legged beast is not a posi-
bility of future development. What might man
not achieve if he were quadruped and had
two pairs OF arms besides.
Such an extra equipment OF limbs would be
In his way presumably, if one is to Judge from
observation OF the gold fish referred to- They
are rendered very beautiful by their great
spread of deicately shaded fms but they seem
to find them cumbersome and have to keep
continually WrigginE along to prevent their
great tails from weighing them down at the
rear end and causing them to assume a peroen-
dlcular attitude. One OF the freaks in the com.
missions aquaria is white, with fins of an ex-
quislte hight yellow, and its body is 30 trans.
parent that You can see its red blood and the
very food inside its stomach
SHAPE OF THE BODY.
People who have not learned about such
matters are not aware that an important point
in properly bred gold fish is the shape of its
body. The ordinary ones that YOU see are
rather long and slim, but the really beautiful
form IL short and thick and this can only be
obtained, like big fins, by judcious propaga-
ton. 1t ID probable that comparatively few of
the readers Of this article have ever behe,d
what an expert would consider handsome
gold fish. few good ones find their wav into
the fanclers' shops now and then and sell for
from ~ to SO each, according to the develop
ment of their fms But they should be stout
and stumpy also. ANY one who cares to follow
the rules can breed and improve gold fish in a
tub in his back yard. Left to breed by them
selves they will retrograde, lose their fins and
their colors and finally become yellowish
bronze carp again.
HOW TO KEEP GOLD FISH,
Now, as to the rules for keeping gold fish, or
any other sort of fish, in q tub or any kind of
aquarium. They are exceedingly simple, and
yet few persons have the slightest notion of
them. Place your receptacle-supposing that
it is OF g1ss-close to a window where the sun
will shine brightly upon it for several hours
during the day. Cover the bottom with stones
and sand, in which set such plants as grow In
ponds. Fill up with water, which, IL your tank
is a good big one and there are not too many
fish kept in it, will not need to be changed
Oftener than once in six months, for you will
thus have established what is called a .baI-
anced aquarium" The plants will grow and
give out the necessary oxygen to the water.
while the fish will in breathing supply carbonlc