For the benefit of new rules in the interest of rational feeding, the demand that eggs 

 must be gotten exclusively from parent fishes grown only on natural food or from "wild 

 fishes" which are caught just two months before stripping and have received no artificial 

 food, should not be so strictly enforced. This demand actually has seldom "been and frequent- 

 ly cannot be followed. 



But aside from this, the rearing of broodstock in brooks and open ponds through natural 

 feeding, exclusively, offers other difficulties and disadvantages, 



(1) It is practically impossible to ascertain the hereditary traits of each 

 spawner with regard to growth and resistance under customary, ordinary 

 pond conditions, 



(2) The selection of a broodstock of best food assimilative qualities is also 

 not possible since feeding (then) did neither take place nor was it 

 supervised. 



(3) Diseases (even Gyrodactylus ) can be easily brought in, 



(ii) It is difficult altogether to raise broodstock to a desirable spawner 

 size on a food supply of micro-organisins alone* 



These viewpoints lead me to the conviction that every possibility of raising spawning 

 trout, particularly brook trout, in natural waters should be fully used, and along with 

 this a rational feeding of the spawning trout (especially of rainbow trout) must be con- 

 sidered advisable. The main object is to obtain the largest possible, not too old, 

 spawning trout whose progeny will be good food evaluators. Therefore, there must be an 

 increasing demand for rational feeding. It must begin in the earliest youth, for whatever 

 is missed in early youth cannot be regained later in spite of the best feeding. 



The nutriments should preferably consist of life-fresh and uncooked food, such as 

 snails, frogs. ( Ahrens states that the ovaries are to be removed .) fresh shrimp, mussels, 

 i^ally fresh sea fish, etc. Reduction by meat chopper, if necessary. An occasional feed- 

 ing with substitutes, but as rarely as possible, will then be tolerated with less dcinger. 



Strictly to be avoided are irregularities in feeding! Also, sudden changes in the 

 diet, and worse still, a sudden change from natural foods to artificial food or vice 

 versa. 



I have found, upon occasion, that 3 year old rainbow trout would be sterile or pro- 

 duce small and unusable eggs. These fish had subsisted for one year upon natural food, 

 were then intensively fed (artificially) and then again returned to open ponds where 

 they were left to natural feeding. 



Trout spawners are best kept in larger ponds. I have often seen that breeders kept 

 as many as 200 young spawners per are (1/30 acre) and with good results, but it is really 

 better to store not more than from 1 to 10 per area, especially in the case of spawners of 

 pound weight and over. 



Under good pond conditions and in not all too muddy ponds, trout broodstock may be 

 kept in large carp ponds and together with carp. In this case, though, the ponds have to 

 be fished out with the fish box outside of the pond. In this way the trout will be caught 

 cleanly and without loss before the carp mature. 



But once again and in order to avoid any misunderstandings, I wish to emphasize that 

 natural pastures are for trout broodstock of the same importance as for carp and should 

 be available for them as much as possible. They provide, and without any effort on the 

 part of the breeder, what artificial feeding will provide -only by greatest care and with 

 much work, to wit: Vitality, resistance, fertility and good health of all organs. In 

 the case of brown trout — far more resistant to domestication — this is especially to be 

 remembered. 



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