Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-12-17
FISHES As PETS.
RARE SPECIMENS NAY BE SEEN IN
NEW YORK ACUAFlUWS.

Costly Japan Creatures That Are Used for
Breeding Purposes Vow One Society
Woman Has sea Aquarium Arranged
in Her Hrawir. Room.
Lovers Of ho--, hold pets who find d.
light in rare fishes of beautiful color and
form ar. rapidly increasing IN number.
( During the last year the salt water aqua
I rum has been more in demand in this city
and in different parts OF the country than
ever before. 1t las been found to be as
easy TO make this kind of aquarium self
sustaining-that s, arrange = SO that a
change of water or artificial aeration IS
unnecessary-as a fresh wal er aquarium
An advautaGeoy feature of the marine
aquarium also is that a great number Of
Interesting specimens can he accumno-
dated in a very nall space, and can he
kept successfully for q number of years
without requiring much attention More
over, the specimens in a marine aquarium
are less common than those usually found
in the ordinary fresh water aquarium.
well known society woman who lives
on Fifth avenue. near Fifty-nnth street
has recently kept small imported glass
vessel on little table in her drawing room
near the window, which has attracted con
I
tiful groupings aui great variety OF grow
ing seaweeds therein. and because Of the
display of fine specimens of sea urchins-
those curious looking mem berS of the fam
lily of radiates, wi IA spines sticking out all
over their bodies, something like the hedge
hog. This lady has taken "a great deal OF
! pleasure in collecting living anemoues ali
along the coast, and she has brown, yellow,
red, white and salmon colored varieties.
| On several occasions she has entertained
callers by feeding her pets with small
! shrimps and the tiny white crab that is
found inside the oyster shell.
| After eating one of these little crusta-
ceans the anemonc would rise up to almost
twice its normal length and display it's fine
! array of tentacles with which its food is
| grasped to he care ed to the sac which serves
| as a stomach. Some of the anemones in
| the aquarium reproduced, and one point Of
| the rockvorll on one side of the tank was
recently literally covered with tiny speck-
of various colors, and these We're the spawn
of the anemones
But the specimen in her collection which
this lady has taken the most pride in has
been an oddly formed piece of living coral
which she obtained off the coast of Massa-
chusetts. 1t has become so acclimated and
accustomed 20 the artificial method of feed
ing which she has employed that the tiny
polyps come forth to be fed when she All
tates the water n the vicinity of their
| homes
Mrs. Burke Roc he's two little bows have
| two fine specimens of the Chinese nymph
which has peculiarly dwarfed body, hand
somely marked rel and white, and fins os
! an abnormal size
Thomas Arnold has pair of very smaR
frlnged tail goldfish half an inch long, of
which fully oue-quarter is caudal fin, wide
] ly divided with four hukes These fishes
are the young of very expensive pair of
japanese fringe tails imported and raised
In New York The little mites are now
worth twenty dollars, but when they at.
tain an adult size their value for breeding
purposes will be over 800. Both fish wont
easily 90 into an ordinary vial Their tails
are SO heavy that they can hardly swim in
a horizontal position. They are unusually
lntelligent. even for goldfish. but that is