88 Fish and Game Warden. [Bull. No. 1. 



FISH CULTURE IN GENERAL. 



While it is the primary object of this bulletin to treat of 

 Pond Fish Culture, in order to do it intelligently it will be nec- 

 essary to give a certain amount of information concerning 

 fish culture in general, and especially the kinds of fish culture 

 best adapted to the streams, lakes and ponds in this part of the 

 country. We desire to make this part of the bulletin, at least 

 to a limited extent, cover all fish culture in the state, for the 

 simple reason that the natural streams and lakes will pro- 

 duce more fish for many years to come than it will be possible 

 to raise in artificial ponds. However, artificial ponds and 

 reservoirs properly managed and cared for will perhaps, in the 

 course of time, produce more fish than can be raised in the 

 natural streams and lakes of the state. As will be apparent 

 from the study of this entire bulletin, artificial ponds can be 

 better managed and cared for and are more completely under 

 the control of the owner and manager than natural bodies of 

 water. Fish will do better when cared for, fed, handled and 

 sorted in well managed artificial ponds. They can be bred and 

 reared under conditions of domestication, and in time will un- 

 doubtedly yield to the treatment under these influences, the 

 same as other wild things in nature have yielded to influences 

 of mankind. 



METHODS OF FISH CULTURE. 



When we come to study the subject of fish propagation 

 throughout the country, we find that there are t^vo well defined 

 methods. Each method is based upon the nature and habits of 

 the fish. There is one large group of fishes that spa^\^l free 

 eggs, of which the trout family is one of the best examples. 

 The eggs and milt can be taken or stripped from such fish by 

 hand, so to speak, and these same eggs after being artificially 

 fertilized, can be hatched in specially constructed troughs or 

 runways, or even in jars. Hatcheries with hatching houses 

 are built in many parts of the country to accommodate fishes 

 of this kind. 



There is another group of fishes, of which the Black bass and 

 the catfish families are good examples, that do not produce the 

 so-called free eggs. On the other hand, the eggs are adhesive — 

 that is, they stick together more or less and adhere, when they 

 are spawned, to various objects that they may come in contact 

 with. Fishes belonging to this group can not be handled in the 

 same manner in hatcheries as fishes belonging to the groups 

 that produce free eggs. 



This natural division that we find in nature makes it neces- 

 sary to handle the two groups of fishes in altogether different 

 ways when it comes to building hatcheries for their propaga- 

 tion. Fish hatcheries, such as we find in Colorado and many 

 other states where trout are to be propagated, are built along 



