The sun., 1893-06-04
THE AQUARIUM OF TODAY
Aquarium Making ~. it yyas and n. II Has
Come TO Re-

Come to Be.
When New York sets up an aquarium at
Castle Garden It will doubtless bo laid out on
n plan to make 1t ono oftne notable aquariums
OF the world. The art OF managing fish In cap.
tivity has vastly improved since Mr.. Coup set
~ his interesting aquarium at Broadway and
Thirty-nfth street in 1876. Tho aquarsts.
as they now call themselves. have been hard
ut work studying and experimenting in thos,
seventeen years. and tbs State and National
Fish Commissions hnvc added q vast amount
to tho stock OF the worlds knowledge cou-
cerning fish. their needs and habits
The modern aquarium Is u thing scarcely
two centuries old. and In its scientific develops
mont good deal less than ono century OH. IL
is q very different affair from the ancicut
AQUARIUM in which Roman bon vivauts kuit
and bred their favorite fish. 1t is only about
$50 years since zo3phytes began to bo kcpt in
aouariums as objects OF study. and 1t il only a
little ovor sixty years since Sir John Graham
Dalzel set tho fashion at his homo in Edln.
burgh OF keeping little aquarium FOR tho
study OF flsh. He wrote about what lie saw,
and 1t Is said that sen ancmone
lived In his aquarium for forty.nys
years. In Sir Johns earlier days nobody
know tho value OF marine vegetation
in an aquarium. Ii was not until about 1883
that agencies for supplying marine animals
began to be established in London and scs
water was regularly purveyed for aquariuma
Then the aGuarists began to learn that the ss-
cret OF SUCCESS with aquariums Is to bal.
ance the animal and vegetable life. Ono ex.
perimenter kept q FISH alive in jar for
sixty days without changing the water. The
study OF the subject went on for ton years. and
somebody hit upon tho compcnsatinG system
OF keeping an abundance OF marino vegetation
In the aquarium. Scaweeds arc not easily
Co., rtaJ hnt wnter ia rich in thu
spores OF seawecd that IL proper minerals he
placed In tank OF sea water the production
Of visible vegetable life soon begins.
After all these things were discovered there
began to be n craze for aquariums. public and
private. Tho Lont on Geological Society es-
tablished one Just forty years ago IN Regents
Park. Then somebody invented method Of
manufacturing q close imitation OF sea water.
and the aquarium craze spread. Great aqua
RUNS became features OF the fisheries exhibl-
tlons at Amsterdam. at Boulogne. at Hayre.
and at several other cities. The great Brich-
ton Aquarium was built, and it was and is one
Of the largest and most most intereS,nE In ne
lin. and at Vienna; Many Of these stu flourish.
long bv 100 feet wide. One OF the tanks holds
10000 gallons and has face Sf plate glass
ese eseP shs wsfn Huf viii n
not not maintain cd. and tho quantity Of water in
the show tanks is large compared with that in
ssg mSs Water IN is Hs
to MI tho show tanks.
The in o.
ing sh9W Pafe te SO afranEeI tha5 IL rs
study marine lilo. Many OF the tanks are SO
arranged that the visitor may walk all round
rlns ns ie sef'T Of !ho riS" ,os
small affair. and the Tark Department Of that
day regretted that legal restrictions made it
H'0 taGiisS i in y Central ' Park. M The while tank
90 feet in diameter. was perhaps rh tho most most
Of hrs.
aquarium: Two die on tho way to this city.
but ha Tss1sd 3d. hFs Sra 1ys ,bss. Ts foa
pools and ten tanks big and little for all sorts sE OF
ht iw% nSa Sc deeI 0ne 0f Waffle tse
bring in untuinted sea water for the reservoir
fully TRANSPORTED to the aquarium.
the art Of handling marine MAJ & animals at ,h has, has
by death is much smaller in the a1uariums Of
the mere commercial aquarists undertake to
supply almost any. finny creature alive and to
u: she sh have
Tx the usfa Ss
aquarium business hns SO deyeloped that
not only Of tho actual containing .ves-
sci. hut of fish. senweeds. fish food.
rist. 1t is interesting to know that tufrstone.
a petri9ed plant used in resh water aqua
RUINS. brings from so cents to So according
to size and form: that river sand sells ut 10
cents quart and pebbles at 10 cents pint:
that about twenty water plants fetch from 10
cents to s;o each; that floating plants of half q
dozen varieties fetch from ~ to SO cents each.
may be had at from 81 to So Fish are even
more Taried in price. Ordinary American
goldfish may be had as low as 2 cents apiece.
and the best OF them cost at retail but 90 cents.
Dwarfed goldfish fetch from 50 cents to 81. and
the Chinese and japanese goldfish. some parti;
cents to S5 each. The albino goldfish fetch
from 50 cents to 81. The nest-building Para
disc fish sell by the pair at from So to $40.