222 WHOLESALE BREEDING 



float partially out of the water and dry some of the eggs. Willow roots 

 can be gathered, but they are usually imported in a dry state from Japan. 



Feeding. Goldfish can rear themselves on the natural food they 

 will find in a pond and the insect life which falls into the water, but it 

 is a poor policy leaving them to their own resources in this matter. 

 They will grow much faster and be more valuable if fed liberally. The 

 young should have daphnia. Pools for supplying this food ought to be 

 prepared in the spring. Various methods are employed, most of them 

 based on the decomposition of organic matter. A mixture of manure 

 and leaves from a compost pile spread liberally on the bottom forms a 

 good basis for a culture. A mixture of two-thirds sheep manure and 

 one-third super phosphate (a fertilizer) has been found excellent. When 

 the water has stood in the prepared pond for about two weeks, a culture 

 of daphnia may be added. Multiplication will be very rapid. If the 

 pond has previously contained daphnia probably no fresh culture will 

 be needed, as the winter eggs withstand freezing and drying. 



Finely divided yellow of hard boiled egg is a suitable first food when 

 the fry is from 3 to 10 days old. Then up to an inch they ought to have 

 as much daphnia as possible. After that they are fed heavily on mush 

 composed at first of oatmeal and later of an equal mixture of oatmeal, 

 cornmeal and "red dog," a low grade of wheat flour. In some hatcheries 

 Epsom salts are cooked in with the mush about once a week. Fish meal 

 and soy-bean meal are also ingredients occasionally added. In order to 

 secure the best results the mush should be thoroughly cooked and stirred 

 for approximately two hours. The most modern plants use pressure 

 boilers and automatic agitators. This shortens both time and labor. 

 Figure 208 shows such an equipment. We were fortunate to secure this 

 picture just before it was to be enclosed by a building that would have 

 made the photograph impossible. The mush is cooled 6 hours before use. 



In large establishments the food has to be conveyed to the ponds 

 on small automobile trucks, so in laying out a plant, space enough for 

 a truck should be left in the main aisles between ponds. 



Sorting. On account of the enormous difference in the rate of 

 growth in goldfish, sorting is very important for a number of reasons. 

 As stated elsewhere, the very large eat the very small. Grading for size 

 prevents this. Then they are graded for color. In commons the prin- 

 cipal standard is whether they have turned to gold. Sometimes they 

 will not turn the first year and must be sold cheaply or carried over. 

 In Fantails the sorting is more critical, and fins must be considered, as 

 well as size and color. Another advantage of sorting is that the best 

 fish can be given the best and most protected positions, and the best 

 food— occasional feedings of daphnia, for instance. 



