Part II.] Pond Fish. 69 



FOOD HABITS. 



The sunfishes, especially the common green and pond 

 varieties native to Kansas, are more or less omnivorous in 

 their habits, eating a considerable amount of vegetable matter, 

 various kinds of insects, worms, small minnows and young 

 fish, sometimes including specimens of their own kind or 

 near relatives. For this last reason I very much doubt the 

 value of their presence in some ponds. For example, if the 

 ponds were stocked with crappie, both kinds of fish would 

 be competitors for almost the same kinds of food. The food 

 that would be consumed by the sunfishes would feed crappie — 

 a fish that grows much larger and one that does not destroy 

 its own kind, so far as my observations go, unless pressed 

 to the starving point. The crappie eats but very few young 

 fish of any kind, but confines its fish-food diet almost ex- 

 clusively to small minnows, which constitute ordinarily but 

 a small proportion of the food of this fish. However, if you 

 have a pond, the chances are that you will have some variety 

 of sunfish in it, for they are in nearly every body of water. 

 Water birds are said to carry the sunfish, catfish and other 

 fish eggs of the sticky or adhesive variety on their feet and 

 feathers from one body of water to another. Thus ponds are 

 sometimes stocked with fish in a manner not easily explained 

 by those who have not given some attention to the subject. 



SUNFISH REARED WITH OTHER FISH. 



We know of ponds that have bass, crappie, catfishes and 

 sunfishes in them. They all seem to get along very well in 

 a way. We also know for a certainty that in certain localities 

 and under certain conditions Black bass feed very extensively 

 upon sunfish; and on the other hand we also know for a cer- 

 tainty that when a Black bass is caught or driven from its 

 spawning bed, the little sunfishes, if they are present in the 

 pond or stream, will devour the bass eggs in the spawning 

 bed in a very short time. 



The entire subject of the relationship of various kinds of 

 fishes in ponds of various sizes needs to be carefully studied 

 to determine just what species can be reared together to 

 advantage under known conditions. 



The purpose that the breeder has in mind must also be 

 taken into consideration. If you desire to raise Black bass, 

 and the bass are known to eat young crappie and sunfish, 

 they can all be placed in the same pond, the old crappie and 

 sunfish producing thousands of young which may serve as 

 food for the bass under such circumstances ; provided, further, 

 that the yearling sunfish do not eat up the bass fry. 



