Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1909 — BUBBLES WHICH ARE NESTS [ARTICLE]

BUBBLES WHICH ARE NESTS

A i|ht; You May See in a Tjjwlk at w Aquarium—'Tiny Eggs Hatched in Air Bubbles in (he Waters—Busy Times for the Domestic Minded Fathers. "Just watch these clever little fellows,’’ said the acquarium man, peering down into one of his glass tanks.’ The visitor peered too and saw 8 bout a dozen little fish not much bigger than minnows, but banded across their sides with dull red and green stripes. "What are they?” he asked indifferently. They didn’t look exciting. "They’re Japanese paradise fish, and they’re mighty clever little beggars. They’re among the yery Tew kinds of fish that build nes •.s." Tie visitor began to be interested and peered more closely into the tank. On the surface he saw something ’which roused his curiosity. The acquarium man pointed to this object and went on. ‘ Ain’t that as cosey a nest as you can imagine being made in water? See that fellow nosing around in the 00 11 cm of the tank? He made that nest. He’s going to be a paterfamilias pretty soon, and he did a good job in anticipation of it. his missus down there near him. This is their busy day. I don’t know just how she conveys the information to him that there’s going to be call for a nest pretty scon, but she manages to give him the lip somehow, and then he gets to work. “First he comes to the surface, sticks his nose out of water, opens his mouth and gets it full of air. Then he shuts it tight, goes down to the bottom of the tank, opens his mouth, and up comes a nice liti'e bubble of air. “It rises gently to the surface and rests there without breaking. Maybe he'mixes something with it in his mouth so that it won’t break easily. I don’t know. “As soon as he sees that bubb’e fairly placed he comes to the surface again, gets another mouthful of air and goes down to send up a second bubble close to the first. They’re mighty good shots too. They dou’t scatter their bubbles all over the place, but bunch them right together.

“He keeps on up for air and down with a bubble of it in his mouth, until he has made that little nest there, with its nooks and crevices underneath, as dainty.and pretty a place to hatch a family in as was ever built. Then apparently he tells the missus that everything is O. K. Or perhaps she sees that for herself. “Anyhow, pretty soon she goes down to the bottom of the tank, and lays a batch of eggs, perhaps eight or ten of them, little bits of black things not' nearly as big as the head of a small pin. They kind of float around in the water and the missus and the pater take them, one at a time in their mouths and fetch them up to the nest and put them up in one of the little crannies among the bubbles. They go back for another and another, and so on until they get every single egg that was laid. “Then the missus lays another batch, and again they pick up the eggs and bring them to the nest. W’hen the missus has finished laying the pater seems to think he’s perfectly competent to finish the job. He drives her off and won’t let her come near the nest. “He watches it himself until the little fish hatch, when they can take care of themselves. If the water is warm and the fish are in good condition they’ll go through this nest building business about every month, and I never get tired of watching them.’’—New York Sun.