Evening star., 1934-05-03
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

these are used to steady the structure,
which may be as much as three or
four inches in diameter, and some
times two inches high.
As the eggs are laid they are
fertilized and seized by the male in
his mouth, which is slightly upturned,
and gently deposited in the nest
When all the eggs are attended to
in this manner the male chaseS the
female away, and usually she is with
drawn from the tank by the anxious
aquarist.
Now Gomez che most remarkable
part of the whole story. The male
keeps an eagle eye on the nest and
If any egg falls out he retrieves it.
blowing it back into the nest with
bubble of fresh air
After the eggs hatch the fry hang
like tiny commas, living off the egg
sack, which Suffices them for about
three days. Any which lose their
grip on the nest are gently put back
into 1t by Papa Gourami.
Even after the fry are free-swim-
ming, darting here and there with
rapid, almost flealike movements, he
watches over them and hastens to
the aid of any which falters, blowing
it to the top with a new bubble OF
precious oxygen. Also he sees to II
that weakly ones are placed where
there are good supplies of infusoria
those microscopic forms of single-cell
life used as food by all fry, whether
IN natural waters or in tanks.
***
The gentleman with the two three
spots did not pay much attention to
them, when he noticed that there
were bubbles on the water.
He saw the nest, but somehow
merely regarded it as a preliminary
attempt, since it was not very wide
nor very thick.
That evening the nest was entirely
diSsipated.
The next day he noticed the male
Gourami chasing one of the angel
fishes, rather unusual procedure
but he did not connect this with the
nest building. Which, Of course. was
an error. Nevertheless, the aquarist
removed the two Gourami to another
tank. so that the angel fishes would
not be moleSted, since they were his
prizes and he had had them a long
time.
The next day he noticed hundreds
OF small objects hanging TO the sides
OF the aquarium at the waters edge
The Gourami had spawned, after all
X X +
1t happened that the parents had
been transferred first to a small tank
This tank had stood all night un-
covered, the water going down to 7C
degrees.
In that water-cold, as far as such
tiny creatures are concerned-several
specimens were darting around AL
| the books will tell you that under
no circumstances must the water be
permitted to go below 80 degrees.
In the meantime the three angel
fishes had dined heartily off Gourami
fry
So they had to come out.
Now remained the entirely prob
lematical matter Of bringing up the
remaining hundreds Of baby fishes
Could it be done? The aquarist who
got a surprise spawning in his tank,
one that he was not expecting and
did not fully realize was there, was
faced with the problem of providing
sufficient microscopic life to suffice
scores upon scores of tiny but never
theless hungry mouths and stomachs
The tank, filled with old, clear
water. no doubt contained multitudes
of infuSOria-but would they be
enough?
Well, time would show, and in the
meantime he would attempt to pro-
duce more. 1t was all just another
problem in the daily life of fish fan.