The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-08-07

WaVa In which Nfutea Ucr 4 EMf
Fishes for p Tlme ETaae rureuit
When live kllIies are put ia al
aquarium tank as food for laree
fishes they dart OF through tie water
trying to escape. Most Of them. how
ever, are 500 captured and eaten
sometimes all But sometimes d few
escape for a time, and these use every
means to avoid capture. It IS a COM
mon thing for the ldllie to remain at
the surfnce-there are fishes who do
not like to take their food there, where
they must gulp in air with it. IL the
killie can get actually out Of reach Of
the larger fish it does thatg out into the
shallow water on q shelving stone, 0 r
under stones, where the larger fish
cannot follow It.
In such tanks as those at the New
York aquarium the hIlie may hug the
smooth porcelained side OF the tank. II
is difficult for the larger fish to take
anything from a smooth surface, where
it cannot overlap the object, and a fish
is also very shy about bringing It's o 9
into contact with the wall. Appar-
emily the killie knows these things, for
it hugs the wall. And II lying BY
the wall is taken away from It and put
out in the center of the tankit straight
way returns to the wall again.
The killie gets into a corner, whereit
is yet more difficult to reach ii; and #
there is a jog or recess in the corner it
gets into that, where to reach it ID
more difficult still. Sometimes killie
jumps up on the strainer. The open
ing into the overflow pipe from the
tank is guarded by 4 movable globe
shaped strainer of galvanized wire,
which is in effect 9 little round knob
projecting from the back of the tank.
Perhaps asthird or a half of the strainer
is below the surface of the water. Some
times a killie jumps out of water upon
the strainer, and lies there curved over
it, its head down on one side and tail
on the other. At its highest part the
killie is out of water a distance about
equal to it's own length. It is like q
man jumping upon a stoop to escape
something dashing along the street.
The strainer is the most difficult
place to reach, and the safest place for
the hllie when it gets there, but il
couldn't stay there always, for sooner
or later it would die if it remained
wholly out of water. But wherever
the killie may get it is pretty certain
finally to be captured and eaten. The
killie that hugs the wall or gets into
the corners is pursued even there. The
trout, for example, will come up to a
killie that it cannot take into it's
mouth and nose the killie out, and the
instant the killie takes to the open wa
ter it is lost. There it is no match at
all for the vastly superior larger fish.
Sometimes a Blacklist win swoop up
and take a kinie from the edge Of q
stone step upon which it is lying in an
aquarium pool, in water so shallow
that it is stranded. In nature a kllie
pursued by some larger fish, a black
fish, for instance, might And shelter
under some little arch in q rock, the
opening Of which was not big enough
for the blackfsh to get its head into.
Then as likely as not the blackhsh
would settle down in front OF the arch
and wave it's pectoral fins back and
forth, apparently trying to set up a
current to drive the ki1lie out.-N. Y.
Sun,