BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 401 



Vol. BBi, TCo. 2®. Washington, B. C. Oct. 29, 1883. 



70— PRODUCTION OF YOUNG FRT OF THE CARP.* 



By CARL NICRLAS. 



For centuries it bas been customary, in pond-culture, to place more 

 spawners than milters in the spawning-ponds ; and it bas been recog- 

 nized as the most profitable plan to make the proportion two males to 

 three females. 



In opposition to this plan, the arch-ducal farmer, Mr. Gasch, at Kaniow, 

 published a phamplet, on the occasion of the Berlin Fishery Exhibition of 

 18S0 in which he recommends the proportion of one spawn er to two milt- 

 ers for spawning-ponds. He says: " According to Dub's method, I in- 

 variably make the proportion of the stock in each spawning pond one 

 spawner to two milters, which is sufficient to produce all the young fry 

 need for the stocking of our own and Prince Pless's ponds, which we 

 rent; in all, G0,000 young fish. To place more spawners in a pond is 

 not only unnecessary, but also injurious, because very easily too much 

 fry is produced, which would not find sufficient food in the pond." 



Weighing the pros and cons in this question from a purely theoretical 

 point of view I arrive at the only conclusion which, in my firm opin- 

 ion, can be in any way defended, that it certainly, Ls more rational to 

 make thtf number of milters greater than that of the spawners. This 

 does not, however, force me to the further conclusion that the reason 

 why so many pond-farms cannot raise the necessary quantity of small 

 fry is found in the circumstance that more spawners have been placed 

 in the ponds than milters, much less in the fact that several sets of fish 

 are placed in the spawning-ponds in nearly all cases. In the many 

 pond-farms which I have had occasion to visit, I have not once come 

 across a case where I found a pond, be it ever so small, stocked with 

 only one set of fish. In my own practice, although retaining the old 

 method, and placing, in all cases, several sets offish, each having more 

 spawners than milters, in one spawning-pond, I have always obtained 

 an ample supply of young fish. 



In stocking a spawning-pond with several sets of fish, the proportion 

 between the spawners and milters cannot exercise any great influence. 

 In this case the natural desire of the carp finds ample room for play, no 

 matter whether there is a tendency for one male to associate with sev- 

 eral females or for one female to associate with several males. If several 

 sets are placed in one pond, for example, nine females and six males, 



* Erzeucjung von Karpfenbrut. — la " Deutsche Fischerei-Zeitung," Vol. VI, Nos. 1 and 2, 

 Stettin, January 2 and 9, 1883. Translated from the German by Herman Jacobson. 



Bull. IT. S. F. C, 83 26 



