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Although attention must be paid to the basic causes, such as overcrowding, gray cloudiness may often be temporarily corrected by brisk aeration or by the addition of disinfectants and anti- biotics. Another effective method with both gray and green cloudiness is to place one or two large fresh-water mussels in the tank for a few days. These will clear water when a filter will not.

Removal of Mulm

In the course of replacing some of the water at intervals of one or two weeks as recommended, it is easy to siphon off much of the mulm from the bottom of the tank. A convenient way to do this is to take a glass tube of 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter, slightly shorter than the aquarium depth if it is left straight, or a little longer if the top is given an angle bend, to prevent the rubber tubing which is attached to the glass tube from kinking. The business end of the glass tube should be softened by heat and then gently pressed onto a flat surface, holding the tube upright, so that the entrance is slightly constricted, to prevent pebbles, snails, and so forth, from getting into the tube and clogging it up. Any that do enter will be small enough to pass readily through the siphon. The rubber tubing should reach for 2 or 3 feet outside the tank below the water level, so as to give a convenient head of pressure.

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The Cory dor as of various species (South American armored catfishes) breed fairly well in captivity, particularly C. aeneus and C. paleatus, or perhaps it is only that these have been most tried out. They lay eggs on plants, or on the glass, and do not harm either them or the young. The eggs hatch in 3 or 4 days, and the young like to disappear into a thick bed of humus or mulm. In C. paleatus, courtship is brief, with the male swimming over the female. Finally, with the male underneath, they take up a crossed position and the female swims up with 4 eggs clasped in her ventral fins.

These she deposits on leaf, and the process is repeated. It is not yet clear where the eggs are fertilized; some observers allege that the female takes sperm into her mouth and sprays it over the eggs, but others deny this. In C. aeneus, it is also said that the male spreads sperm on the glass, and that the female follows and lays her eggs. In Cory dor as the best stimulus to spawning is said to be a gradual overnight cooling from 85°F. down to 65°F.or even60°F.

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They therefore consume more oxygen weight for weight, and allowance is made for this to the extent that 1 ounce of 1/2-inch fishes is allowed five times the oxygen consumption of 1 ounce of 21/2 -inch fishes, and each ounce of 6-inch fishes is allowed rather less oxygen than that of 2 1/2-inchers. The base line is the 2 1/2 -inch tropical fish, which is allowed 20 square inches of surface area a generous allowance and all estimates should be divided by 3 for cold-water fishes and by 6 for fancy goldfish varieties. The 20-square-inch allowance is intended to permit further growth and good health.

The fishes would not be expected to show distress if their numbers were doubled, but they would not flourish so well. The estimates are clearly approximate and could be misleading in special cases, but from experience it is felt that they are a much better guide than other current recommendations. It will be apparent to the thinking reader that fat fishes of the same length are likely to use more oxygen than slimmer fishes, but this fact is fortunately minimized by the greater activity and therefore greater oxygen need of the slimmer, minnow-like types.

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These subjects have a chapter to themselves, but a few general words are not out of place here. A tropical tank is usually heated electrically, with a control known as a thermostat, which is set to keep the tank at about the same temperature all the time. Of course, the thermostat works only downward, and if the outside temperature rises above that set by the thermostat it cannot prevent the tank from getting warmer too. Actually, even fairly small tanks take quite a time to absorb heat from the air and do not usually heat up unduly as long as the night brings some relief.

The thermostat is nearly always clipped onto the side of the tank, and more than one tank may be controlled by the same instrument, as long as they are in similar situations. Heaters may be clipped onto the side or may be totally submerged, but if submerged they should never be buried in the sand, for they may overheat and fuse. Both thermostat and heater are usually placed on opposite ends of the back of the tank, so that they do not obtrude and so that the warm water rising from the heater does not immediately affect the thermostat and cause it to switch off the current too quickly, before the rest of the tank is warmed up. A good thermostat has a small differential, which means that it does not allow the water to vary by more than a degree or two in temperature.

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