Evening star., 1933-01-19

The subject Of the home aquarium
cannot be dismissed without saying
something about feeding.
Here there are as many doctors As
there are fish fanciers, and every one
has his favorite food.
The old familiar goldfish Is easy
enough to feed. just so long as he is fed
sparingly, but the so-called tropicals,
fish from warm climates, are not 30
easily handled.
These fellows need less oxygen in
their water to breathe, but more of it,
1t seems, wherewith to aid digestion
and other life processes, commonly
called metabolism.
Many Of the tropical fishes are meat
eaters, living In their native haunts on
invisible and visible insects and the like.
When they are placed in the essen
TALLY artificial surroundings Of the
glass-sided aquarium they become prob
lem fish. in every sense of the word.
The home aquarium Is, after all, q
stagnant pool. No matter how we'll
balanced" or how clear the water or
how odorlcsS, the tank is a pool, and 1t
is literally stagnant.
Not that 1t possesses, OF course, the
usual characteristics which belong to
any idle body Of water, however large
or small, which properly might be
labeled such.
Aquariums would not be kept in the
home If they could not be made sani-
tary. A properly managed tank is as
sweet smelling as new mown hay, and
its water is remarkably clear. taking into
consideration that vital life processes
Of a number of animals are going on
constantly therein.
BY supplying plenty of plants, enough
light and using the dip tube. where
with to remove offending matter from
the surface Of the sand, the amateur
flsh culturist Is able to keep his tank
sanitary in every respect.
There Is another way in which he
achieves this result. usually not men,
toned in public by those addicted to
this hobby. That is by remaking the
aquarium about once every month OF
two.
The books, and the magazines, and
the boaStful aquarist, never mention
this. but the average dabbler in fishes
soon finds it out for himself.
Despite his best care. plants will re-
fuse to grow properly. or become
''leggy"; the glass sides Of the aquarium
become covered with algae; the bottom
may become so covered with debris OF
various sorts that recourse to the dip
tube Is a job
What is to be done?
The simplest thing to do, as many
an enthusiast has found out, is to dip
out the fish. put them in another re-
ceptacle for the time being. and re-
make the big tank from the bottom.
1t is one thing to read about aqua
RUNS which have not been disturbed
for 40 years, except to add water tc
replace that which has evaporated. and
quite another to attain such a fish
heaven for ones self.
The feeding Of the fish not only has
so much to do with their health. live
illness and happiness. but also 1t has a
great deal to do with the state of the
water and the appearance Of the aqua
rum.
As far as we have been able to dis
cover, there is no food of the many
made and offered to the fancier which
will not pollute the water. to some ex-
tent, If left to fall to the bottom.
Most of the foods for tropicals are
made in the shape Of small grains
which float on the surface. but are
easily dislodged therefrom in the COM
motion of feeding time and fall in con-
siderable number to the sand.
If not found by certain varieties ol