FISH FOOD 71 



Spread to about a quarter inch thick. Stand them in the sun or on 

 radiators to partially dry. Better select radiators at the top of the house 

 and pick a time when the rest of the family is out, especially if they 

 have keen nostrils. In about two hours, when the surface has become a 

 little dry and caked, separate the food from pie plates with a thin knife, 

 placing the dry side down on either newspaper or fine screen. Either 

 replace over radiator, or in sun or in slow oven until bone dry. Grind to 

 suitable sizes and save the finest sifted powder for baby fishes. 



The author prefers slow oven or radiator drying to sun drying because 

 there is less chance of fly eggs being deposited in the food. On the other 

 hand too much oven heat drives some of the virtue out of the ingredients. 



An important point about such foods is this : If a quantity is made 

 to last a considerable time, only that part of it should be ground that 

 will be used in a few months. In coarse pieces it is much less liable to 

 attack by insects and their larvae. If bone-dry and placed in tight preserve 

 jars it will last for years. 



Dried fishfoods should be sifted through suitable screens to sizes 

 desired for use. There is always a considerable amount of fine powder 

 which is declined by many of the larger fishes, and which is liable to do 

 harm unless found by the snails or other scavengers. The powder and 

 very small grains can be fed to the young stock, or to breeding snails. 



When fishes have been without fresh or living food for some time it is 

 well to occasionally give them a small quantity of dark, soft part of 

 oysters, chopped and slightly rinsed. Fresh shrimp, obtainable in most 

 fish markets in winter, if passed through a fine meat chopper, makes an 

 excellent change of diet. Canned shrimp has come to be a fishfood 

 of decided value. Several of the fishes which otherwise demand live 

 food take this readily and thrive on it, notably Pterophyllum scalare 

 and the Banded Sunfish, the only other prepared food these two seem 

 to relish being scrambled egg. This is something of a coincidence, as 

 a similarity is often noted between the general appearance and move- 

 ments of these really very different fishes. After opening a can of 

 shrimp keep contents dry in a covered saucer in refrigerator. It keeps 

 about three days. Canned salmon, with a little of the surplus oil washed 

 away, is a very good fishfood, in fact one of the best. 



One of the most relished tidbits for your aquarium fishes is flakes 

 of boiled fish, just as it comes from the table, especially a tender steak- 

 fish like cod or halibut. Cutting with scissors across the grain minces it 

 well. Same for crab meat. 



A crushed oyster crab or a canned shrimp suspended from a thread 

 makes a choice morsel for tropical fishes to pick at. 



