CHAPTER THREE 



Fishfoods 



Prepared Fishfoods Living Fishfoods ^ 



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PREPARED FISHFOODS 



Of recent years a number of careful experiments have been made 

 as to the best and cheapest foods to be used at food-fish farms. The re- 

 sults of these tests confirm in a general way the principles borne in mind 

 by most of our manufacturers of food for aquarium fishes. At the same 

 time it must be admitted that we are a long way from any exact knowl- 

 edge on the subject, so far as the aquarium is concerned, especially as to 

 the actual comparative merits of different compounds in dried foods. The 

 condition of a fish is dependent on so many factors other than the in- 

 gredients of its food that it is difficult to arrive at scientific conclusions 

 in this matter. The question of food quantity is one of them. A fish fed 

 the proper quantity of a poor food will be better off than one fed an 

 improper quantity of a good one. This fact could easily bring us to a 

 false conclusion regarding the merits of the two foods in question. 



The author, after thirty years of observation among fanciers and 

 breeders, together with his own experiments, believes that any reasonably 

 balanced food is satisfactory; that no food however excellent can coun- 

 teract incorrect aquarium conditions or practices; that when there is 

 sickness among fishes, the kind of food is the last place to look for the 

 trouble. A strange statement with which to open a chapter on an im- 

 portant subject, but undoubtedly sound. 



When one observes that among a large number of successful fanciers 

 scarcely two use the same fishfood, but all practice virtually the same 

 principles in aquarium management, it is not difficult to place the em- 

 phasis where it belongs. 



We do know a few facts about foods for aquarium fishes. The rest 

 is guesswork, based on principles which in the main are probably correct. 



Nearly all aquarium fishes naturally desire a variety of foods, and 

 the nearer we can approximate Nature in this matter, the better will be 

 our results. Whatever foods we employ we should always keep in mind 

 the necessary balance of vegetable, animal and mineral content required 



