Evening star., 1934-04-06
F. THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACENELL,

tions adequate, there will be some
plant debris, that Is, few dead
leaves, floating branches and the like.
A common mistake Of the inexperi-
enced aquarist Is to want to keep an
aquarium too tidy. 1t should be clean,
but not tidy in the fussy sense.
A few dead leaves, even q few dead
stalks, will do no harm, in fact do
good, not only giving the tadpoles
something to eat-how they love the
fallen leaves of the Ludwigia-but
constituting what the scientist calls
buffer" to stand between good and
bad conditions in the tank, in .
chemical relationship which also and
naturally includes the inmates.
None Of the scavengers will eat ex-
crement-at least we have never seen
them do 1t. and we do not believe that
they do. Why should they? Yet the
belief that the various scavengers do
SO eat is common among all begin
ners. What they should attain by
good management, based on study and
observation. they try to turn over to
Q couple Of tadpoles and q few snails.
The glass dip tube can do more to-
ward cleaning up the bottom of an
aquarium than all the snails, taddies,
weatherfish, catfish in the world.
Or the siphon, properly used, will do
a far better job. Some home fish
keepers profess to find their use too
great task. but II one looks at it
that way. keeping fishes in tanks
itself is too great bother.
The weatherfish Is a faker, when 1t
comes to being a scavenger. As an
interesting addition to an aquarium it
has its place. especially when it dives
into the sand and just sticks its little
whiskered head out. But it will eat
more fish food from the surface Of
the water than any two fish in the
aquarium. 1t is a regular surface
vacuum cleaner, never missing q
crumb.
The small editions Of catfish are
good for eating bits of food which
fall to the bottom, but in doing this
they kick up the mulm. or bottom
deposited on the plants. causing them
to have an unclean look.
We have seen two tanks side by
side, one with small Planorbis snails,
the other with two small tropical cat
fishes. Corydoras aenus. The sand
surface in both is clean, but cleaner
In the tank with the snails. The
plants In this tank are beautifully
clean. whereas those In the aquarium
with the catties are fuzzy in appear
ance.
The clean. odorless condition of the
water in these two tanks, unchanged
for many months, Is attributed by the
owner neither to the snails or the cat
fishes. but solely to the proper feed
ing, SO that no food is wasted. but all
Is eaten up by the inmates. The
owner believes that these tanks would
be In as good condition, or even bet
ter. If neither snails nor catfishes
were present.
This same aguarist had a 10-gallon
tank containing three Angel fishes,
large. and two Gouramis (three spot.
so-called). With five hours Of south
- - DNAAAASAt. tllLs ldllA DtRdIl 10 90
green" Ut must never be forgotten
that this water condition is a healthy
one for aquarium fishes, however un-
slightly 1t may seemJ The owner
placed in the tank many additional
plants, at the same time he cut in
three tadpoles and a dozen small
snails. Also. he pulled down the
blind. Within four days this tank
nad cleared up. and the water became
crystal clear, and remains so to this
day. Which did 1.-THE snails. the
tadpoles or the lessened light? The
owner believes none of these did il
although they may have helped a Bit
He thinks the greatly increased mum
ber of major plants did it, together
with less light for a few days. This
Is a pretty problem for amateur
aquarists to squabble over,