Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/74
converted into their vegetable tissue, and throwing off the free oxygen for the animals to breathe. By having plants as well as animals in your tank, both classes are supplied with breathing material. When you start your aquarium, first cover the bottom with sand and gravel. Then build your rockery; it is better to cement it together and into place.
After this is all arranged, go to the nearest pond or brook, and dredge up some water plants. Any, that are not too large, will do—starwort, milfoil, bladder-wort, pondweed, etc. Fasten the roots of your plants to small stones with a bit of string, and arrange them about the tank to suit your taste. Fill the tank with water, and let it stand in the window for a week or two, where it will receive plenty of light and but little sun. By that time all your plants will be growing, and numerous other little plants will have started into life of their own accord. Then you may add your animals, and, if you do not overstock the tank, you need never change the water. Be sure not to handle the fish; if, for any cause, you wish to remove them, lift them gently with a dip-net.