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



Food for Other Fish. 



Here at the State Fish Hatchery we hatch them in great 

 numbers and raise them to different ages and sizes as food for 

 other fishes. They feed upon the so-called "mosses" and 

 various other kinds of vegetable matter. They also feed upon 

 many small and low forms of animal life, the same as carp. 

 They make most excellent food for the game fishes, and the 

 young of the goldfishes at the Hatchery constitute a good por- 

 tion of the food for the bass and the crappie, as well as for the 

 sunfishes and the catfishes. The goldfish, when from one to 

 two years old, make fine food for the large spawning bass. 

 When not too large, they are also eaten by the other spawning 

 game fishes in the ponds. Great numbers of goldfish are 

 spawned in some of the ponds, and especially in the ponds con- 

 nected with the bass ponds. In these double ponds the fish 

 are turned together at the proper time, and both young and 

 old bass feed upon the goldfish when they are of the proper 

 size. 



Food Habits. 



The goldfish, like the carp, eat a great variety of vegetable 

 matter and waste stuff that naturally grows in the ponds and 

 streams, including small and minute animal life. When we 

 feed goldfish at the Hatchery we give them oatmeal, bread, fine 

 corn chop, and a variety of other stuff. They seem to prefer 

 bread, oatmeal and corn chop, especially when the latter is 

 partly cooked. We have over 20,000 yearlings that are being 

 kept this summer (1913) in a pond which is not over eighty 

 feet square. They are fed on such green food as aquatic 

 plants that are raked and gathered from other ponds. They 

 are very fond of stonewort (Chara) and duckweed plants. 

 They also get such food material as a stream of water coming 

 through a three-inch pipe brings from an open ditch that is 

 fed by the Ninnescah river. However, bread, oatmeal and corn 

 chop make up the bulk of the artificial food that we feed them. 

 The water in this special goldfish pond is from two to five feet 

 deep. Every week or two a wheelbarrow load of "moss" 

 (aquatic plants) taken from near-by ponds is thrown into this 

 goldfish pond. Goldfish seem to prefer duckweeds to all other 

 plants. They eat much green vegetable matter, especially the 

 small and minute stuff that naturally grows in ponds, and in 

 this way the fish help to purify any body of water in which 

 they are placed. They are especially fond of such small animal 

 life as mosquito larvse, and one or two little goldfish will keep 

 the water in a "rain barrel" free from such insects. Goldfish 

 placed in ponds, or even in small pools, will destroy the mos- 

 quito wrigglers. 



Goldfish do not grow large. In the fall of the year, during 

 September and October, when the ponds are drained, the young 



