Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-06-28
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES z. TRACEEELL.

"shushed" all who came into the room.
in order to stop any possible noise which
would prevent them from hearing the
signals" Of some far-away station.
Well, It Is q question which is the
bigger nut" but it cannot be helped,
In the case Of tropical fishes, except by
the use of electric heaters In every tank.
The electric heater is all right, in one
or two tanks, but when the enthusiast
has q dozen or more, it Is another
problem altogether.
There are, then, only two other ways
In general use, Of keeping number Of
tanks warm in cold weather. These
are exterior heat, furnished by radiators,
or by lamps.
In addition, one may keep windows
closed on cool days and nights, run the
gas oven and fireplace, and resort to
sweaters and muffiers at night to cover
the tanks from onrushing cold.
~ ~
All this, to the uninitiate, will seem
pretty silly, but it would not if he would
undertake the keeping of few fishes.
He would see then what the fishes
see, or rather feel that water not lower
than IA degrees at any time of day or
night Is life-saver to them.
Many attempts have been made to
acclimate tropical fishes to lower tenn
peratures, with what success is more
or less in doubt. When dealing with life
it is difficult to trace subsequent dis
eases. No doubt thousands of fishes
have died weeks later from a chill SUI
fered one night in June!
1t Is the best opinion that to attempt
to keep these creatures at a lower tenn
perature than given above is unfair to
them, no matter II they have been born
in breeders tanks in New Jersey, and
have never known the pools of India,
Brazil or Sumatra.
1t is here as with cabomba, favorite
plant for goldfish tanks. In the Spring
it grows well, and f1ourishes, but in the
Fall it answers to the season, and begins
to die down, and no amount of coddling
can make it do well thereafter all Winter
long.
The fish that has had thousands of
years of tropical chimes behind it does
not forget them in few years. The
dim ancestral memory of such animals
is tenacious.
He does we'll who keeps them at all,
to accede to their desires for the old
ScuPSio suASo ~ Will AAAAA4AN AAAoA ASAA
decades.
A succession of cool nights, while de-
lightful to the human skin, is real
problem in the keeping of tropical or
exotic fishes, for what is pleasant TO
us is deadly to them.
The real trouble comes in the house
temperature, which steadily goes down
a degree or two every morning, until IT
is at 10 degrees or Whereabouts.
While the water in the tank will not
drop as quickly, unless it is a very small
affair, even in the larger aquarium 1t
will approximate the room temperature
every morning.
If the room heats up during the day
the tank will follow. but a great deal
more slowly. Thus every morning it is
a degree lower than the morning before,
If the cool outside weather keeps up.
Persistently cool Summer weather
offers a problem to the owner of a
number of tanks, especially if many
of his charges are old, and therefore
must be treated with the courtesy and
consideration due the aged.
Perhaps the old fish is the original
poor fish" of common slang. AT any
rate, it rates as much warmth and COM
fort as it can get, under the artificial
conditions in which it is kept. No
doubt many keepers of these pets will
give over the struggle, on account of
unreasonable weather, and hereafter
stick to goldfsheS.