Ingredients
- four larger ones
- one-quarter full
- 3 water in the tank shall be clear
Directions
These can be procured from brooks and ponds near at hand. A good way to plant them is to tie a small pebble to the roots or base of stems and sink them below the surface of the bed. The arrangement of the plants should be made with regard to the best effect, the smallest plants being placed in front and the tallest in the center or at the back of the tank.
A tank of water-plants can be made quite as ornamental as a fernery, while the fish, snails and mussels prove very attractive to all beholders, old as well as young.
Among the best varieties of water-plants are : Arrowhead, a very common plant in brooks and fcreeks, which has white flowers with golden centers and arrowhead-shaped leaves ; eel-grass is a very popu- lar plant for aquaria, as its habitat is in slow-moving waters ; water- nymph, a slender, thread-like plant, with knot-like lobes ; water-feather, a lovely little plant, a gem for the aquarium; water-cress, water-mill- foil. After all the plants are arranged, throw in a few lemna minor, or duckweeds, which are tiny, stemless, floating plants that harbor minute insects that are delicacies for the fish.
The plants should be planted in good soil, in saucers or similarly low dishes, then procure some coarse gravel, sand, fine sand, white gravel or pebble stones, a few common rough stones, and three or four larger ones, with which to construct a miniature arch, placing the closed ends of the arch toward the ends of the tank, in order that the fish may not hide themselves beneath, as they will be sure to do. Place a layer of the coarse sand over the bottom, then the saucers containing the plants upon the sand ; construct the arch firmly by the use of a little cement, and so arrange the balance of material that when finished the bottom will be one of apparent sand and gravel, with mounds, ridges, etc. A few small shells of the most ordinary kind will add to its pic- turesqueness.
The tank is now ready for the water. Fill about one-quarter full and let it stand for a day, then dip out a part of the water and replace with fresh. This treatment must be conti^iued from day to day until the
SUITABLE FISH FOR WATER LIFE. 3
water in the tank shall be clear and clean ; ordinary soft water — brook, spring or pure cistern — required. Fill the tank within about two inches of the top, and it is ready for the fish. The smaller they are the larger the number that may be put together.