Evening star., 1936-03-30

cause the purchasers, though adult,
thought goldfish were necessarily kid
stuff" They did not know that the
goldfish, as CUR correspondent points
out, have wonderful history, and that
their care is not as easy as they thought.
Most of the early demise of goldfish is
due to one Of three causes: Overfeeding,
changing them from water of one tenn
perature to that of another temperature,
and trying to keep too many of them in
too small a body of water.
~
This column made its entry into the
fish field by way of the goldfish three
Of them having been purchased in May,
1882, for tub in the back yard. These
grew and prospered, and in the Fall were
put into a 5-gallon aquarium. In the
latter they nearly gasped their heads off
for air, the change from outdoors and
larger amount of water being too much
for them. So we gave them away, and
then had nice aquarium. Hence the
tropicals.
In two years we had 13 aquaria, or
aquariums, whichever you prefer 1--WE
like the latter, inhabited by some two
dozen varieties of tropical fishes. There
were about 300 of these. We had one
aquarium of goldfshes
Today we have five aquariums of
tropical or exotic fishes, and four OF
goldfishes.
The tropicals are all years old, or
older
All along we have kept up our regard
for the humble goldfish, in its many
forms, and have refused to be coerced
by the attitude of the typical fish fan"
And we are glad of it.
The truth is that the goldfish, if given
a chance, enforces respect for it, SIM
ply because it requires more water,
therefore fewer Of them can be kept.
Therefore-and this is the big there
fore"-each goldfish becomes an indi-
vidualized creature, an animal in its own
right far excelling and exceeding any
thing that the average tropical specimen
can do.
In the long run they are more inter-
esting, because more individual. We
hope sometime to tell you about Reddy
and Big Reddy, about fiddle. who has
but one eye, and little Whitley and
Buckaroo, and the others. These ami
mails are as individual as dogs, in their
way.
Our correspondent points out the in
tereSt of aquatic plant life. This. of
course, fiourishes as we'll in the goldfish
tank as in that devoted to the rarest and
most costly exotic specimens. Perhaps
just little better, because normally just
a little cooler. Anacharis, especially,
loves the goldfish, if We can judge from
its response.
X
The use of an old bathtub sunk in the
earth is a sensible idea. No doubt one
could be purchased very cheaply. To
many persons the idea of concrete work
is appalling. A tVb of some kind solves
this neatly but care must be taken that
the stopper" is in tightly. 1t would be
a good idea to place such tub on a
bed of cinderS in order that 1t might
have good drainage, if necessary. In
this event the stopper could be kept,
and fastened tightly, but could be taken
out at will. to let water escape. This
whole arrangement, however, would
necessitate some mechanical arrange
ments, so perhaps the best way would
be to seal it up tightly once and for all.
The only drawback to the Summer
vacation for goldfshes in the outdoors
is that it makes them demand more room
when they come back indoors in the Fall.
The change should be made carefully,
both out and back, and in the Fall more
water per fish should be allowed. The
use of a hand aerator is advised for all
goldfishes indoors Two hundred pulls
will take the gasp" out OF a 5-gallon
tank of fish, even when overcrowded.
This will have to be done in the morn
ing. at least. Twice a day is preferable.