Title: Goldfish breeds and other aquarium fishes, their care and propagation; a guide to freshwater and marine aquaria, their fauna, flora and management
Identifier: cu31924001144652 (find matches)
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Wolf, Herman Theodore, 1855-
Subjects: Aquariums; Goldfish
Publisher: Philadelphia, Innes & Sons
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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AQUATIC INSECTS OF FRESHWATER hatches on the surface of the water, and stocking with these is an approved preventive measure. The larvEe and pupae of mosquitoes are one of the best natural foods for goldfishes, in many respects preferable to the entomostraca. They are usually more easily obtained, larger in size, more tenacious of life and are eagerly eaten by the young fishes, who acquire a most remarkably rapid growth on this diet. It is not ad- visible to feed them to very small fishes, as these are not able to swallow them and may, in turn, be at- tacked by the larvas, but for fishes which have reached a growth of half an inch, they should form one of the principal foods. A few barrels filled with rain water at any convenient place only are required; in which they may be bred either by the visits of female mos- quitoes, or more quickly stocked by catches in ponds and ditches. They breed very rapidly and are a cleaner diet than the usual live pond food. The use of mosquito larvae is almost universal among goldfish breeders and is to be in every way recommended. Net-Winged Midges belong to the families of Blepharoceridae and Chironomidae, of which the tiny larvae appears more like crustaceans than insects. Some of the species, Blefharocera capitata, Chironomus minutus and C. plomosus, live in the water during the larval and pupal stages, are of black color and consist of segments bearing leg-like appendages, each having sucker breathing gills. They usually occur in clusters which form black patches on submerged rocks. When the final metamorphosis takes place the pupa detaches itself from its mooring, floats to the surface, and the Midge rends the case and takes to flight. They form the natural 267
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FIG. 221. Full-grown larva and pupa of Ca/«/ia»j«/iJ. Greatly enlarged.

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