Evening star., 1933-05-11

Then he put on bars. vertical stripes.
After this show he spent about half
an hour disnpling the sand with his
snout. Round and round the bowl he
went, taking up . mouthful Of sand,
then ejecting 1t, until he had the en-
tire bottom dimpled an over.
1t was after the completion Of this
work that he seemed to catch sight
Of the female.
One look out Of those golden trimmed,
Intelligent eyes, was evidently enough,
for he made q sudden swoop Of her,
which foreboded no good for the lady.
There was no love play, Is the
aquarists like to call 1t, about this
sally; he did not like his selected
mates appearance and evidently re-
garded her Is dinner, and nothing
more.
If she had not evaded his onslaught
she would have suffered, but nip Of
her fms and she was away, hiding be-
to dive head f1rst into the sand, where
he left . bigger dent than usual.
Whenever food was put into the bowl
the male first chased the female away,
20 that he could get al OF 1t himself.
Whenever she would make . tinid
sally toward the surface he would dart
savagely In her direction with ferocity
which left no doubt OF his intentions.
Well, here was . pretty kettle OF
hSh, indeed.
What to do?
It was decided to remove the female,
BY now suffering from evident fright,
- - la until y,
half . dozen milder fishes, called
Rosy Barbs, NTH cousins to gold fish.
This left Jack the sole occupant OF
his bowl. In which he ran up and
down the sides, as II looking for his
late enemy. How lonely he looked
The idea then came that II he were
put in the other tank perhaps he would
find more TO occupy him there. and
the female would be unmolested.
1t was with trepidation for her,
however, that belllgerent Jack was
Topped into the larger aquarium.
At first everything went along nicely.
Neither Cichlid paid any attention
to the other, nor especially to the
Barbs, which were about the same size,
and therefore pretty well immune to
attack. apparently.
What was our surprise, therefore, in
6Oi31S W tilC dQUaIIuLu u1c QAy, W
notice the male cichlasoma Nigra-
faceatum hiding away behind the
plants.
He was just resting, we supposed.
But no. he was hiding from the lady!
For no sooner did he venture forth
than-zowie! After him went the
female.
Pretty soon she had his fms ragged,
probably not 80 much by sheer nip
ping ability as by reason Of the fright
and attending reactions induced.
The tank bully, whether male or
female. or large or small. is a nuisance
in the community of fishes and should
be removed. as nothing tears down the
welfare Of these interesting, small crea-
lures more surely
Here were the tables turned, with q
vengeance. Now the male was on the
run perpetually. It seems In such
cases that 1t Is the fish which makes
the first belligerent dive which con-
tinues the fighting. The bne which
first takes the oNensive keeps 1t. Il
Is the law.
There was nothing to 1t, then, but
to put the male back into smaller
tank. in solitary confinement. Then
the female started pursuing the Barbs
She kept them on the swim. So out
| she went, into q separate container
These fishes. intelligent, savage, beau
tiful, interesting. will not live with
each other. nor with other fishes. Yes
the books are right. Is they usually are