American Fisheries Society. 141 
rearing of great numbers of young fish is desired these irregu- 
larities should all drain to the draw-off which may be by 
natural drainage or if so situated that this is not feasible can be 
pumped out with a small gasoline pumping plant, that being 
about the cheapest power used. 
This emptying of ponds is only needed for pond cultural 
work. Should the writer ever build more ponds he will have 
them of not less than one acre each, with irregular bottoms and 
long sloping inside banks, the bottoms not so irregular as to 
interfere with seining but having many shoal places for spawn- 
ing grounds as well as basking and feeding places for the young 
fish. While ponds built on the above lines are well adapted to 
all fresh water fish they would be ideal for black bass, crappie, 
strawberry bass, and in fact all of the sunfish family. 
Various methods are suggested and practiced by fish cul- 
turists, each no doubt thinking his own plan the best. 
While good ponds with an abundance of water are the first 
needs yet the importance of choice brood fish cannot be over 
estimated. The mistake that many fish culturists make is over 
stocking the pond and this should be carefully guarded against. 
This may vary with climate but taking one acre as a pond basis 
thirty pairs of fair sized black bass, two and one half to three 
pounds each, and fifty pairs might not be an extreme. One 
hundred pairs of the following fish: Crappie, rock bass, straw- 
berry bass, and twenty pairs of channel catfish or carp. 
If the output is for commercial purposes some fifteen or 
twenty nursery ponds or pools will be needed. These should be 
eight by twenty by two feet deep, with concrete sides and bot- 
toms. The drainage should be perfect allowing them to be 
cleaned at all times. The water supplying these ponds should 
be carried by piping and each pool provided with a separate inlet 
and outlet. The result of various experiments made with black 
bass shows that no young should be transferred to nursery pools 
under three-fourths to one inch long as they can then take small 
particles of food prepared or collected for them. Should the 
brood ponds be well supplied with natural food the young fish 
should remain until they can readily take prepared food and 
small minnows. The best food for most fish is the flesh of fish 
and the best being the flesh of crawfish, in fact the flesh of any 
fish so that it is fresh. 
