Evening star., 1934-08-15
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

The relation of the state of vision
! to the general health is very close.
Different diseases may cause trou-
BILE with the eyes. SO that treatment
| of them by means of medicine taken
into the stomach is no new thing
Yet it invariably causes wonder OF
the part Of those first making the ac-
| quaintance of this remedial measure;
| sometimes they express doubt OF its
| efficacy much on the order of the
urChin's slang phrase, "Oh. yeah?"
A very striking case of such cure
was demonstrated recently in the
home aquarium of local tropical fish
| fancier.
No doubt it is easier to understand
the working of such cures when ap-
piled to the small denizens of the
watery world.
They are absolutely dependent upon
the food which is dropped into their
tank. Therefore the owner becomes
to them, sort of god out of the
! machine" to use the expression OF
! the classical Greek plays.
He is their very life, for, without
him. there is no food, and, without
food, there is no life, either in a tank
or in the pools and streams.
In Nature the food is supplied, and
| in that very best form, alive.
Every keeper of small fishes has
heard of the value of live food, as, il
! is called, to the vari-colored SWIM
merS in his tanks.
Often he tries to beat the game
by giving his charges dried foods
only. Often enough he feels that he
has been successful, for the fishes
seem happy enough, have good color,
spawn and live for a long time.
X X x
The well-known guppy, for IN
, stance, about which every one has
heard, whether fish lobbyist or not
can stand any amount of abuse, both
as to improper food and improper liv-
| ing conditions in general. Although
| there is no good reason why this lit
| tie fellow should be forced TO endure
| such conditions, it is well for him
| that he is able to, for often enough
| he will be forced to meet them.
The guppy will eat almost any
thing put into his tank. What is
more, he will thrive upon it. What
runs down the guppy constitution
more than anything else is lack of
swimming space. This, alas, is the
one factor he most often has too
little of. A line of guppies will run
out" into sickly fishes unless they are
| given more space than commonly ac-
corded them. Almost every fancier,
particularly those who have tried to
keep all the ones born in their tanks
has had this experience.
The guppy would be the last fish Of
| all the varieties to be found in home
tanks on which to try food expert
ments, because he is the most re-
sistent, the hardest and can stand
the most abuse. in this as in other
matters. Results would be incon-
| elusive.
What the fancier needs, if he un-
| dertakes experiments as to the rela-
tive values of foods, is some strictly
carnivorous fish, one which lives upon
a diet of smaller fishes in its natural
| habitat.
| 1t was this sort of creature which
recently had a queer eye disease
which was cured by recourse to a
strict diet of garden worms.
1 .1' x x K x
Everybody has seen the telescope
| eye goldfish, monstrous variation OF
the original form of these small mem
bers Of the carp family.
On account of these queer google
eyes this type of fish has long beer
a favorite with keepers of goldfish
1t is with them as with bulldogs, the
uglier they are the more priced.