FEEDING TROUT FRY, OR THE FOOD PROBLEM 



SOLVED.* 



By S. E. LAND, Wyoming Fish Culturist, 



To. begin the process of providing food for fishes, we should 

 first look into nature's mirror; what kind of food is most natural 

 to the fish which we have in hand. Next, what are the tempera- 

 tures of water most suitable to the habitat of such fish. Let us 

 take for example the young trout, salmo fontinalis; while 

 this fish is tleveloping from sac stage to feeding stage, say 

 in water at 45 degrees Fah., when the sac on these 

 fish is one-tliird al)Sorl)ed, just l)efore they begin to 

 scatter, they will take very fine food if fed little and 

 often during die day. In nature we find these small fish feed in 

 that way and they do survive if planted in water where insect life 

 is known to abound, and temperature of water is below 60 de- 

 grees. In order to come as near as possil)le with artificial food, to 

 that wdiich is provided l)y nature, we take the animal food and 

 prepare it as fine as flour, then mix it with water and feed it in a 

 diluted form to the fry impounded in the hatcherv troughs. When 

 fry are removed to the nursery ])on(ls, this fine food should be 

 furnished from first to last or until fry are fingerlings. The food 

 prol)lem is then solvetl and the result is no loss from starvation. 



The most natural food is fish flesh, suckers or anv inferior fish 

 can l)e fed to trout. To prepare such food for fry, to save labor 

 and get the l)est results, fish should be taken without dressing and 

 be cut up so they will go through a meat cutter, then of this 

 ground fish flesh two-thirds should l)e placed in a tin milk 

 pan with one-third water and baked in an oven until the water is 

 evaporated and the fish flesh is done thoroughly: then put this 

 cooked fish flesh through the meat chopper again, this luakes a 

 paste, and if not fine enough, you can grate it through a fine sieve, 

 but it must be as fine as flour when vou mix it with water to feed 

 to }-our small fry. You can do this with liver and get gootl results, 

 init the fish flesh with this pulverized* and cooked fish bone in it, is 

 more natural and more beneficial to the young trout. 



* The followinjj paper was received too lale to lie read before the Society, I'ut is pub- 

 lished as a valuable contribution to the subject of wliich it treats. 



