FRESH WATER MUSSELS AS A FISH FOOD. 



By D. Lydell, 

 Corns tock Park, Michigan. 



During the time when the price of liver, etc., was almost 

 prohibitive for feeding fish, we began the search for a substitute. 

 We found tons of fresh-water clam meats going to waste along 

 our rivers in Michigan, so conceived the idea of using them for 

 fish food. Some of the fresh meat was taken to our hatcheries 

 and ground up and the adult fish seemed to take it very readily, 

 but it was impossible to get the fresh meat fine enough for our 

 fry and fingerlings. 



Fresh clam meats do not keep for any length of time, and the 

 season for collecting them covers only a few months in the summer, 

 so we attempted to devise a way to preserve the meats for feeding 

 throughout the year. Drying seems to be the only method. 

 At first we dried a few of them in the sun, which is a very suc- 

 cessful way, providing you do not have cloudy or rainy weather, 

 in which case the clams will sour very shortly and be unfit for 

 feeding. Several experiments and methods were tried, but the 

 most practical and economical drier and one that can be moved to 

 any point along the stream where the clams are collected, is a 

 box-like arrangement 3 or 4 feet square, and 5 or 6 feet in height, 

 fitted with trays made of quarter inch galvanized wire. These 

 are filled with clams and set directly one above the other. An 

 old-fashioned box stove is put in the bottom and fired with wood 

 or coal, or refuse picked up along the stream. In this way the 

 clams are dried in nice condition in about 20 hours. These clams, 

 when thoroughly dried and stored away, will keep indefinitely. 

 I have some here on exhibition that were dried in 1916. By 

 placing them in warm water, they will return to their natural 

 size in about 15 hours. 



The next problem was to get the clams fine enough for our small 

 fish and grinding seemed to be the only method. After some 

 experiments we found they could be ground up into a nice meal. 

 This meal when put into hot water swells up very quickly, and 

 a very little of it makes a large amount of food, and it is fine 

 enough to feed to the smallest fry. 



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