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Florida Flag Fish
I first saw this fish in 1953 - a now deceased Botany Professor at Iowa State
University had a little Fish Store in his basement, and he introduced me to
them. He called them Florida Flag Fish. He had an "interesting"
(potentially fatal, in fact!) way of heating those basement tanks - he had
ordinary incandescent bulbs, hanging downwards from ceramic sockets screwed
to a board, partially submerged IN the water of each tank. Heat and light at
the same time. I remember he had Cryptocoryne griffithii blooming under the
bulb in one tank. The bulbs, burning 24 hours a day, lasted for years,
probably because they never got very hot.
So - - - - - We have the colors of the Jordanian Flag, one person says it was
named after the German Flag, others the American Flag.
Hey, it is cool little fish! I have had them spawn in a patch of hair algae
in the bottom of a gallon jar! Mama was hovering near the surface, papa was
frantically fanning eggs with his pectoral fins, first on one side then the
other. A lot like Red Skelton's Gertrude and Heathcliff, one arm at a time.
OK, fess up - how many of you remembe Gertrude and Heathcliff?
Jean