Evening star., 1933-05-11
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACENELL.

Two fishes. in Chinese symbolism.
always 20 with the real inmates Of the
deep, by any means.
Recently we acquired two Jack
DempSeys," as they are popularity called,
and since that time have been having
our hands full, figuratively speaking, at
tempting to keep them happy.
These small members of the Cichlid
family swim around under the per-
fectly astounding scientific name Of
Cichlasoma Nigrafaceatum. 50 1t Is no
wonder that when they were introduced
to fish fans" many years ago . new
name was thought desirable.
A Philadelphia aquarist coined Jack
Dempsey" since the popular pugilist was
at the height Of his fame ut that time.
One has but to take a single look at
this interesting fish to see the fitness OF
the popular designation.
Not only has 1t q powerful and pecu-
liarly pugilistic looking jaw, but the
patches, somewhat reminiscent, at least
In fancy, to the growth Of beard which
the great man always wore when he
went into the ring.
Since that day thousands Of these
fishes have found their way into the
tanks Of home keepers Of tropical fishes,
SO that by this time ali connection has
been lost, except Is . matter Of history,
between the name Of the fish and the
name Of the man.
The enthusiast who today speaks Of
his Jack Dempsey" therefore, does 20
without thought Of the pugilist. It u
simply an easier name to say, that Is all.
Every one who has made even the
slightest study Of aquarium literature
now extending itself by leaps and
bounds-knows that the Cichlids are
diffcult fishes to keep in the home
aquarium, being carnivorous, meat eat
erS. which means, without translation,
fish eaters. Of course.
Most of the members Of this tribe are
highly intelligent. bringing up the ques-
ton whether intelligence and savage
dispositions 60 together in Nature. This
would be an interesting question to
trace through the entire animal king
dom.
with the exception of the eyer-popu-
lar Angel nsh, Pterophyllum scslare,
and q few others. the Cichlids do not
make good inmates Of the so-called
community tank"
Every home aquarist, even the new
conner, knows this. but still he wants 10
ind 1t out for himself.
There is nothing like personal expert
ence, after all.
Proudly we bore home the pair Of
Dempsies.
They were of a size, about an inch
and . half long. probably not more
than . few months old, since this
specimen commonly grows pretty large
for an aquarium fish.
One was very dark, the other lighter,
each with the big head and jaw and
mouth, Characteristic of the variety.
They were put at once into gallon
bowl Of the type nobody likes. but Of
which every one has a specimen or two
sitting around.
This round bowl distorted SO badly
that it made each Dempsey seem as
big as whale when it got to the other
side Of the vessel
The male spent his first half hour
going through q series Of remarkable
color changes, an ability Characteristic
o. the species.
First he was almost coal black, with
dark blue spots. Then he faded out to
large black spots, with his dorsal nm
edged with red.
After this display he went back to
dark, with more dark red spots, while
his blue sheen deepened In his charac-
teristic blue jowl.