FISH MEAL AS A FOOD FOR TROUT 



By Prof. G. C. Embody, 



Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



The College of Agriculture of Cornell University, for 

 the past three years, has offered a Course in Aquiculture. 

 A part of the work of those students electing this course 

 consisted in hatching a certain number of trout eggs, 

 rearing the resulting fry to fingerlings and planting the 

 same in local waters. 



Among the many problems which arose was the one 

 concerning fish food. It very early became evident that 

 the classic food, ground liver, could not be used satisfac- 

 torily. First, no refrigeration facilities were available, 

 making it necessary to buy only a small amount daily and 

 at a very high price. Second, the daily preparation of 

 this food consumed more of the student's time than was 

 deemed expedient. 



A food was desired which might be prepared before- 

 hand in large quantities and which might be kept for a 

 month or so. To this end, a few carp were cleaned and 

 passed through a meat grinder. The resulting hash was 

 boiled tender, passed through a fine sieve, some table salt 

 added and finally one percent boric acid was incorporated 

 in the mixture to insure preservation. The whole was 

 sealed in small wide-mouthed bottles under sterile con- 

 ditions. It was found that this food would keep for about 

 three weeks. Young rainbow trout were very fond of 

 it and grew satisfactorily. It was not long, however, 

 before the task of preparing the food and removing daily 

 the unconsumed waste from each trough, became so great 

 that a substitute was sought. 



In the Transactions of this Society for 1911 (p. 183), 

 Mr. J. J. Stranahan gave an account of his success in 

 feeding bluegill sunfish upon a "Prepared Fish Food," 

 supposed by him to have been made from fresh meat 

 scraps. Upon reading this article, the use of some such 

 dried and concentrated food for salmonoids was sug- 



