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



Crayfish chopped up fine in the same manner made excellent 

 food for the young bass. Fish such as German carp, gizzard 

 shad, goldfish and suckers were chopped up and put through a 

 meat grinder until the flesh was reduced to a paste. This fish 

 hash also proved to be a good food for the young bass. By 

 mixing it with water the fish hash or paste spread out better 

 when thrown on the water, otherwise much of the ground fish 

 stuck together in small chunks and would sink before the fish 

 could get much of it. We tried the young fish with ground 

 pig's liver and heart. They did not seem to enjoy the liver and 

 heart very much. However, they would nibble at it, and if one 

 should continue to feed them with liver, undoubtedly they could 

 be taught to take it in generous quantities. It might at first 

 be mixed with ground-up crayfish or fish. We tried this ex- 

 periment with apparent success. 



It is not our purpose here at the State Hatchery to feed 

 young fish very much, and the above feeding was done only 

 as an experiment. It takes time and is rather an expensive 

 way to care for them, at least on a large scale. It may be suc- 

 cessfully done in a small way, but does not appeal to us as 

 being practical or economical in a fish hatchery as large as the 

 one we are trying to operate. It might work to advantage 

 under some conditions where there are but few acres of water 

 and where a supply of food can be had at no great expense. 

 The only serious objection to feeding fish, whether young or 

 old, is the cost of the foodstuff in time, labor or money. 



The idea put forth further on in this bulletin of raising 

 natural food and allowing the young fish to find it and feed 

 themselves, is the one which we intend to hold to very largely 

 in the raising of young fish at the Hatchery for distribution 

 over the state of Kansas. We desire that the young fish should 

 "hustle," so to speak, for their living. By so doing they will 

 learn how and when and where to find food, and how to care 

 for themselves, so that when they are placed in strange waters 

 they will not expect some one to come around with a basket of 

 food and throw it to them. The training which they have 

 already received, or rather the habits of life which they have 

 formed, will enable them, when placed in strange waters, to 

 immediately seek for food, and if there is anything that can be 

 had they will not be slow about finding it. 



However, we are convinced that where a small body of water 

 is stocked with fish, that the number of fish that can be main- 

 tained in it, and the number of pounds of fish that can be pro- 

 duced in it, can be largely increased by judicious feeding. The 

 food to be used should be anything that the fish will eat, and 

 that can be most conveniently and cheaply secured. The fish 

 culturist with a few ponds can separate, sort and feed his fish, 

 and do a number of things that can not be done economically 

 on a larger scale. At a fish hatchery such as we have in Kan- 

 sas, where there are a hundred ponds to look after, our idea is 



