Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-03-04
Success with Fish.

If anybody comes TO me aud wants
to know how to Tx up an aquarium,
sald l.. b. Spencer, who has charge of
the experimental laboratory on the roof
Oh the New York aquarium i'll Battery
PARK, the hrst thing | tell them is to
nave fewer fish and more water, because
mat the mistake everybody makes
cfoWdlng III fishes where they can't live"
Then l say, get \ large, straight
sided glass Jar-nOt n globe. 4 globe
hasn't enough air surface, and that's the
main thing. Put gravel or sand i'll the
botom-We like gravel best because we
can get it easier-and put in your right
proportion of plant and animal matter.
W hat Is the right proportion! Well,
that what were figuring out here most
of the time. Enough plants to give out
the oxygen the fish are going to use up
and about eight gallons Of water to four
little fish 1t is always safe 10 take
more water aud plants than you think
you need, and less fish. Now, this little
fellow here has been living in this tank
for fifteen years or more, without once
enjoying a change of water. That's be
cause the plants kept the water clean
and supplied the oxygen, and because |
was very careful about keeping out any
decayed matter.
You need light, too, TO keep the
plants which supply the oxygen. but di-
rect sunlight isn't necessary. DuckWeed
Is sometimes used as Il floating plant on
the surface, and then there's foutinalis
and sagttaria for fresh water. and all
kinds of Seaweed for salt water fishes"
Mr.. Spencer says he doesn't care much
about goldfish. and the only reason
they're used so commonly by people who
have aquaria of their own is that they
are easy to get and make good showing.
But they're stupid" said Mr.. Spen-
Ger. Fancy fish aren't ever worth any
Il, u.
tons by the Japanese, who succeeded in
making this glttering creature out of a
plain fork-tailed iish. If you leave them
alone now and don't bother about select
ing them when breeding time comes
around, in few generations they'll
retrograde into the same dull-coi0red
common little fish. These Chinese para
disc fellows are much cutter and brighter,
and they're more democratic and ready
to fight for themselves. They don't need
any selecting to be done for them. They
keep up their own family name. Here
are some cunning little minnOws ard
sunfsh. They're much more fun than
goldfish, and these solaria, with the bit
of blue, we put in all the school tanks
we fix up. I'd rather pay 50 for a para
disc fish than have all the goldfish in
the world given to me"
When Mr.. Spencer approached a tank
with the short stick which he carries
about with INN, the hSh all swan toward
him and opened their round little mouths
i'm greeting.
"Oho," he said, so you thought was
coming with your dinner. But ! fooled
you that time You had one dinner yes
terday. and you don't get another till to-
morrow. I'm sorry, friends, but that's
the rule
Then he explained that the fish are
fed three times a week, on chopped raw
beef which they all like very much. Salt
water fish get chopped CLANS, and 9TH
ers little snails, but a starfsh in one of
the tanks had wearied Of this diet and
had got himself wound around a piece
of wood in a search for barnacles.
"Well, if you haven't got the Unmer-
ciful cheek to eat harnacles when snais
are all I can afford for your dietr' re-
marked Mr.. Spencer, rs he proceeded to
unite the knots in the creatures Eve
arms. You've got the gall Of lobster,
and I always thought you were nice.
quiet starfsh that knew his place in the
world. New YorL Tribune