Evening star., 1922-09-30

II you already own an aquarium
you will surely want some "guppies,"
and if you never had an aquarium
before you will decide that you must
have one after you have seen the
bureau Of fisheries.
On the first floor. to the left of the
main. door. there is a beautiful ex-
hibit Of the guppy fish, also known
as millions" and more popularly as
rainbow" fish. The guppy was first
described by Gunther and named in
honor Of his friend, Mr.. Guppy.
These interesting live-bearing fish
are native to Surinam, Venezuela.
Trinidad and Barbados, and are. SO
are called the million fish, The
adult male guppy is about an inch
long. with most beautiful coloring in
delicate shades of violet, blue. yell
low. green and orange all in the
same fish. and iridescent as mother
ture rainbow which has been cut
across in small slices and provided
with fms and tail of unusual texture
and design.
1t is seldom that any two males are
precisely alike, and their coloring
especially when the females are be-
ing courted. The males acquire their
beautiful coloration when from eight
to ten weeks old.
The adult females are somewhat
larger than the male. more stoutly
built and usually attaining a length
of about an inch and quarter; they
are silvery yellow in color and with
out the distinctive markings of the
male. Both, male and female arc
alert always moving about with a
swift. darting motion. These beauti-
a home aquarium and make ex-
tremely fascinating and interesting
water pets as they multiply so
rapidly and are so successfully raised
and reared in water having a tenn
perature of about 65 degrees Fahren-
heit, and, quoting from the pamphlet
from the bureau of fisheries. young
guppies grow rapidly and will repro
duce at the age of two and one-half
to three months in water varying
from 15 to SO degrees Fahrenheit.
One Of brood of seventeen born in
February and reared In an aquarium
ten inches long and six inches wide
gave birth to young at the age of
four and one-third months.
The summer-reared guppies grow
more rapidly than those reared in
winter. as it is difficult in the average
home to maintain an even tempera-
ture in aquaria during the winter
season
Every four to six weeks. young
parent fish will bear from ten to
twenty young ones. while older speci-
mems will bring forth sometimes as
many as fifty. 1t is best to remove
the female from other adult fish be-
an aquarium we'll stocked with
plants. After the young are born.
the mother being carnivorous, should
be replaced iB the tank with the
other fish. leaving the young to
grow unmolested. If they make
adult fish in a week or two. Among
the other kinds of fish which may be
kept in aquaria with guppics are
the Sword tall and the ''mOonfish.'
but it is not always advisable to
place. gold fish in the tank with
times kill the gold fish. In select
ing an aquarium choose a round.
straight-sided one. or preferably an,
oblong square one. Put about one
and a half inches of well-washed
sand in the bottom. and in the sand
grass, ;ohtainable a. any pet. fish
store. Also on the surface of the
water place some of the small float
ing plants such as riccia. small
species of utricularia and so forth.
Set the tank in a we'll lighted posi-
strike it for any great length of
time. especially in the summer. A
small amount of sunlight promotes
the growth Of vegetation. warns the
water and keeps the guppies active
and healthy.
Quoting again from the bureau of
fisheries memorandum. THE tempera-
ture of water in which fish are kept
should never be suddenly changed.
especially from higher to a lower
degree. In changing the water in an
aquarium. the fresh water may be
brought up to the temperature of the
old water by the addition Of little
hot water, or the fresh water may
be allowed to remain for several
hours in the same room before max