Feed goldfish lightly and only once a day. If they become torpid and slow moving, try feeding them every other day, or every third day, and see if they don't become livelier. If they do, hold them to the lighter diet. I know fanciers who feed their fish only every fifth or sixth day, and theirs are among the finest I have seen. This is not unkind. By keeping fish hungry you keep them lively and comfortable, and prolong their lifespan by several years.

   It is far worse to overfeed than to underfeed, and the worst thing you can possibly do is to load up your aquarium or pool with extra food when you go away for a weekend. It is better to let the goldfish miss a few meals. Do not feed them any heavier than usual when you return and resume the feeding schedule.

   Goldfish thrive on variety in their diet from time to time. Feed them scraped or finely chopped oyster, clam, or shrimp-preferably raw-or earthworms, if you want to go to the trouble of digging and chopping them. Fish will nibble at cooked spinach, and it is good for them. And they like salad as well as you do, for they will pick frequently at the greenery growing around them. The larger fish-3 to 4 inches or longer -seem to consider freshly swatted flies a delicacy. Any of these things, however, are to be given instead of the regular food, not in addition to it.

   Goldfish hovering near the surface of the water, "blowing bubbles," "playing," or "just being friendly," are a pretty sight to anyone who knows nothing about them. All of these "cute" doings have been reported to me by customers now and then. However, all indicate a cruel situation, for they are sure signs of suffocation.

   Plenty of room for living is vitally important to goldfish, for living room is also "breathing" room. As fish breathe water and extract oxygen from it, the water absorbs more oxygen from the air. This absorption is not rapid, and considerable water surface must be exposed to provide enough absorption to sustain life properly. I use the expression "considerable water surface" in a relative sense. To illustrate, a 21/2-inch goldfish needs all the oxygen that can be absorbed in about 50 square inches of water surface; that means the entire water surface of a 7- by 7-inch square bowl or of a circular bowl 8 inches in diameter at the water level.