PROBLEMS OF FISH AND FISHING 



299 



Finally, draft a plan for stocking and maintaining the 

 waters of the district at their maximum production, and 

 have this printed in the local papers. 



Fishes Day. 1 We have Bird Day and Arbor Day and 

 Apple Day. Why not have Fishes Day ? We ought to 

 know our fishes better. We ought to know their habits and 

 habitats, their foods, and especially their nesting and spawn- 

 ing seasons; and if we did, it would come to be considered 

 as much an outrage to 

 take a fish from her 

 nest as to kill a mother 

 bird on hers. When we 

 all know these things 

 and come, as a whole 

 people, to have a right 

 feeling for them, we 

 may then combine in- 

 telligently to have our 

 waters teeming with all 

 the best fishes they are 

 capable of supporting. 



Aquarium manage- 

 ment. This may be 

 used as a key to the solution of our problems. A " balanced 

 aquarium " is one in which just the right proportions of animal 

 and plant life are maintained, with the right amount of light, 

 so that the water remains clear and sweet. This means that 

 there are plants enough, under the light admitted to the aqua- 

 rium, properly to oxygenate the water for the animals, and ani- 

 mals enough to supply the carbonic acid and nitrogenous wastes 



1 Anglers often wonder why the fishes do not interest the public as do the 

 birds, as they are also attractive and their habits interesting, indeed, fasci- 

 nating. The reason, possibly, is, that birds are always in sight, while it takes 

 searching to find the fishes. HOLDER and JORDAN, "Fish Stories," p. 226 



FIG. 140. Bluegill sunfish best fish for 

 pond culture 



Photograph by Reighard 



