348 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Feeding Goldfish. 



BY WM. T. INNES, JR.. PHILADELPHIA. 



A great number of good and kind 

 people are very much worried as to 

 what they should feed goldfish. This 

 really is a subject of some importance, 

 but not as important as many imagine 

 it to be. Considerations of how much 

 to feed, and the conditions surround- 

 ing the goldfish — plants, light, tem- 

 perature, air surface of water, etc., — 

 are tremendously more important to 

 the health of the inhabitants of the 

 aquarium. 



Having a rather large aqua-terra- 

 rium at my place of business I natur- 

 ally get on the aquarium subject with 

 persons of all degrees of ignorance on 

 fish-keeping lore. Scarcely a day pass- 

 es that someone does not ask, "What 

 shall I feed my goldfish?" My stock 

 answer is "Anything they will eat." 

 Of course, this answer requires an ex- 

 planation, but in itself is intended to 

 convey two facts; that the range of 

 acceptable food for goldfish is very 

 large; that the subject is not of as 

 much importance as supposed. 



A gentleman who has been a prac- 

 tical aquarist and a leading authority 

 for a quarter of a century told me that 

 he feeds his fish almost anything from 

 the kitchen or table which is not too 

 greasy, including cake! His fish are 

 in large, shallow indoor tanks in which 

 there is a profusion of healthy plant 

 life, and an abundance of water. In 

 a household aquarium of the ordinary 

 type this haphazard method would 

 not do, but nevertheless it is still true 

 that if an aquarium is right, the fish 

 may be fed on anyone or all of a score 

 of foods, particular!)' if they are not 

 given too much. 



Nobody would think of feeding" 

 goldfish on pears. In the summer, I 

 place my goldfish in an outdoor con- 

 crete pool which is partially shaded 



by a pear tree. Some of the pears 

 drop in, and when, they soften suffi- 

 ciently, the fish nibble at them until 

 they entirely disappear. The pears 

 and the insects which fall into the 

 water are the only foods they get dur- 

 ing the summer. When they are taken 

 in in ( )ctober they are in perfect 

 health. 



Oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, vermi- 

 cellr, soft parts of boiled fish, or any 

 other cereal composed of small grains 

 are good foods exactly as taken from 

 the table. They may also be used un- 

 cooked, taking care not to feed heav- 

 ily. Some of these cereals swell to 

 eight times their dry bulk. We would 

 not want the fish to meet the fate of 

 the boy who ate dried apples and then 

 drank water. Scraped beef (once a 

 week), bread thoroughly dried and 

 crushed, earth-worms, meal worms 

 finely chopped, crushed dog biscuit 

 and water crackers are a few of the 

 easily obtained items which would be 

 acceptable on a goldfish bill-of-fare. 

 The white wafer food usually sold in 

 pet and drug stores is only a fair value. 

 Most pet stores sell a granular food 

 composed of a number of ingredients 

 which is better. 



The subject of fish food has been 

 gone into very carefully by a number 

 of our semi-amateurs. Several of them 

 now market prepared foods composed 

 largely of the dried form of the insects 

 which as living food is generally recog- 

 nized as the very best of all foods. 

 Dried fish roe, shredded codfish, pulver- 

 ized ant eggs, dog biscuit, chopped 

 liver, rice flour, bran meal, and a small 

 quantity of pulverized cuttle-bone are 

 some of the ingredients mixed with 

 the dried insects and entomostraca. 

 The mixture has a certain amount of 

 salt added, and in some cases Epsom 

 salts. The whole is then cooked, dried 

 and eranulated into different sizes. 



