GROWTH OF FISH AND LOCATION OF HATCHERIES ' 



By John W. Titcomb 



Consulting Fish CuUurist 

 Albany, New York 



In the past year some interesting information has developed in 

 regard to the varying sizes of brook trout and brown trout raised 

 at a number of different hatcheries. Briefly, the point to which 

 attention is directed is the wide variation in size between fish of 

 the same age reared under different conditions. The data assembled 

 show that brook trout selected on March 1 from ten hatcheries graded 

 all the way from the sac stage up to fish nearly 2^ inches long. Simi- 

 lar observations at five hatcheries in respect to brown trout, which in 

 the earlier stages do not grow quite as rapidly as brook trout, gave a 

 range at the same time from sac fry to good sized fingerlings. On 

 June 1 these fish varied from about 1^ to 2^/4 inches at four hatch- 

 eries, one of the plants having been closed in t"he spring on account 

 of the water becoming too warm. Comparative sizes of both brook 

 and brown trout on August 1 were also observed. 



It is interesting to note the fact that on the first day of May the 

 largest fingerlings at one hatchery cost no more than the eggs at 

 another except the actual outlay for the food given to the former. 

 If three-inch fingerlings can be produced by the first of May at 

 some hatcheries, why spend money operating other hatcheries until 

 the first of August to produce the same sized fish? 



The answer seems to be largely a question of the proper location 

 of hatcheries. Before any extensive fish-cultural work is under- 

 taken, test stations should first be operated to see what can be done 

 in regard to the economical development of the fish to the stage con- 

 sidered most desirable for planting. In connection with such tests, 

 an important feature is to see that the fish reach the planting stage 

 as early in the season as possible after the water has become normal, 

 as there is then probably more natural food for their proper de- 

 velopment and growth than two or three months later. 



This matter of testing the water should not be limited to trout 

 hatcheries. IMention may be made of a hatchery built on Lake Erie 

 within the last four years, representing an investment of $50,000, 

 for which establishment the water comes from a depth of about 40 

 feet in the lake, then passes into a deep well from the city supply 



^ This address was accompanied by a series of interesting photographs showing wide'"' 

 varying sizes of brook trout and brown trout at different hatcheries on the same dates. 



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