Men and women have a natural love for pets and sometimes pick out very odd ones. You know what the flea is—or if you do not know it is all the better, for the flea's way of making itself known is by biting. Yet even these small pests have been taught to do things, such as being harnessed to little carriages, which they drag about in a way to please those who are near enough to see them.
A strong little insect is the flea. It can leap, we are told, two hundred times its length, while few of us can jump twice our length. And it can pull a heavy weight for a creature of its size. But it is not tamed nor taught. It is simply tied fast and pulls to get loose, and in this way draws its carriage. So to talk about learned fleas is to talk nonsense and most of us would be satisfied if there were no such thing as a flea.
There are other insects which man has at times taken under his care, the ant, for instance, and some others. But these also are not tamed, they are simply studied and made use of in various ways. When we talk of taming animals we must come to those of a higher order, such as the birds and the four-footed creatures. We speak at times of the fish being tamed, but this is only from its losing its fear of man and taking food from his hands. It has not brain power enough for much more than this.
Yet man at times makes a pet of the fish, which he keeps in the little table pond called the aquarium as he keeps his bird pets in the cage, and of these fish pets a few words may be said.
PETS OF THE AQUARIUM
The aquarium is a very pretty piece of furniture for the lovers of animal life, for a variety of water-living things can be kept in it alike for study and pleasure. Plants are needed of various kinds, to give beauty to the collection and keep the water in a fit state for the fish, for animal life and plant life need to go together. The plant gives off oxygen for the fish to breathe.
There are a number of other small animals kept in the aquarium, such as the tadpole, the water-beetle and several kinds of fresh-water snails. But it is the fish that gives life and action to the parlor pond. Swimming in its little lake, now up, now down, darting nimbly about, with its bright scales glistening in the sun, it is always a pretty and attractive object.
From D. M. Smith's Japanese Gold Fish
The Fantail. The Japanese have had wonderful success in changing the form of the gold fish