Florida Flag Fish

[JOlson8590 at aol_com]

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