INCREASING AND INSURING THE OUTPUT AND 

 NATURAL FOOD SUPPLY OF SMALL-MOUTH 

 BLACK BASS FRY, AND NOTES ON COMBINA- 

 TION OF BREEDING AND REARING PONDS 



By Dwight Lydell 



spawning conditions 



In speaking of the habits of the small-mouth black bass, 

 I have often said before this Society that I think it neces- 

 sary for every fish culturist engaged in the propagation of 

 rmall-mouth black bass to work out his own salvation, 

 a'^cording to the locality and surroundings of his station. 



I do not think any fixed set of rules can be laid down 

 which will work out successfully in every latitude and loca- 

 tion, therefore I think some of the following notes may be 

 of interest to those engaged in the breeding of the small- 

 mouth black bass, and may apply to work farther north 

 or south as the case may be. 



The conditions at the Mill Creek Station, in Michigan, 

 are such that if the parent bass are placed in the ponds 

 early in spring and left to spawn, we lose about one-half 

 of the fry, and sometimes nearly the whole spawning is a 

 failure ; this is caused by the sudden changes in temperature 

 which occur. 



The stream from which we derive our water supply flows 

 several miles through open country and is very shallow, 

 therefore two or three warm days or even one will warm 

 the water to a point where the male bass feels that he must 

 prepare a nest for his mate ; the result is he often gets this 

 done and he and his mate cover their nest with eggs. Then 

 a cold night or two, and possibly a couple of cloudy days 

 follow and the temperature of the water falls from per- 

 haps 65° to 45°, and all the eggs that have been deposited 



