27 



At least twice as many fish can be raised per acre 

 of water by artificial feeding. Consequently, onlyhalf 

 as many ponds are needed to produce a good supply of 

 minnows. Though the cost of production is higher when 

 the fish are fed artificially, this may be offset by a 

 reduction in the original cost of the pond and in the 

 annual maintenance. The artificial feeding of heavy 

 fish populations (over 2,000 pounds per acre) requires 

 a constant flow of water through the pond for aeration 

 and cleanliness. Only a small part of the natural pond 

 fertility and very little of the fertility available 

 from the decomposition of food wastes are used. Such 

 concentrated populations must be treated for disease 

 at frequent intervals. The Michigan Institute for 

 Fisheries Research has developed a combination method 

 whereby creek chubs are artificially fed and suckers 

 are raised on the bloom produced by the decomposition 

 of the feeding wastes. The cost of production is lower 

 than for other methods. 



STOCKING THE POND WITH ADULTS 



A very important step in operating the pond is to 

 stock itwith the correct number of brood fish. Minnows 

 that are pond-spawned are stocked as adults seined from 

 streams or lakes in the spring before the fish have had 

 time to spawn. Because of the uncertainty of the 

 natural supply, it is desirable for the dealer to hold 

 the brood stock from year to year. The available 

 information on stocking rates is included in table 1. 



Table 1. -Recommended rates for stocking of adult minnows 



y Notes on bait propagation by Harold Wasko. Ohio Div. 

 of Conserv. and Nat. Res. Leaflet 156, 2pp. (mimeo- 

 graphed) . 



