128 GOLDFISH VARIETIES AND 



PREPARED FISHFOODS 



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. 

 One of the poorest fishfoods obtainable is the white wafer usually sold 

 in pet shops and drug stores. Of recent years many better foods have 

 been placed on the market, most pet stores keeping at least one of them. 

 They are granular in form, usually of a dark color and are composed of 

 a mixture of dried insects, meat, fish roe, flour, codfish and other ingre- 

 dients. Unless one needs a large quantity of fishfood it is better to pur- 

 chase a prepared article of the sort described. 



An extremely good fishfood is puppy biscuit broken up and ground 

 in a cofifee mill to small sizes. This is cheaper than regular fishfood and 

 is very satisfactory. It is used as a base by some manufacturers to add 

 a few ingredients to and then place it on the market under their own 

 label. 



A food used with considerable success is oatmeal prepared exactly 

 as it comes to the breakfast table, containing the same amount of salt. 

 This is especially recommended for feeding young fish when daphnia 

 have become scarce. The shape of a fish is permanently influenced by its 

 body development in the first few months, and different methods of 

 feeding produce, to a certain extent, different shapes. The effect of 

 oatmeal, fed plentifully, is to build the short, round body so generally 

 desired. For fish under ten weeks old the oatmeal should be squeezed 

 through cheesecloth to take out the kernels. Let the young fish have as 

 much as they can eat all day, but let none remain over night. This does 

 not apply to fish in their second year or over, although oatmeal in much 

 smaller quantity is good for them also. Large fish may be allowed to 

 eat uncooked rolled oats. 



An improvement on boiled oatmeal is secured by adding a moderate 

 portion of powdered shrimp, dried fish roe or powdered shredded cod- 

 fish. For preparation of these ingredients see page 129. 



A cereal known as Cream of Barley when cooked is a good fish- 

 food and may be used in conjunction with oatmeal. 



Dried bread crumbs make good food for goldfishes, especially if 

 Graham or whole wheat bread is used. 



In feeding any kind of dried granular food it is best to use small 

 sizes. Water causes the grains to swell considerably. This sometimes 



