14 



aquatic Hitt 



home, whereby the eggs are collected and 

 hatched in jars, being thus small enough 

 for very young fishes. This plan, while 

 entirely suitable where the output is 

 small, would not be practicable for an 

 establishment rearing many thousands of 

 goldfish. 



Tubifex worms, which will be found 

 described in most zoological textbooks, 

 occur in sand and mud, especially in 

 dirty drains and ditches. They are con- 

 sidered indispensable in rearing lion- 

 heads. When they are collected, much 

 mud will be taken. This may be placed 

 in a pan of water and stirred several 

 times, when they will assemble in masses 

 and may be removed. Otherwise, put 

 the catch into a sieve with a wire-cloth 

 bottom, or in a bamboo basket, finely 

 woven, through the meshes of which they 

 will eventfully find their way into the 

 water below. For young fishes it may 

 be necessary to cut them into small 

 pieces. At other times care should be 

 taken not to use too many, as they may 

 be injured in handling and quickly die 

 and pollute the water. 



The silkworm is very abundant in 

 Japan and the chrysalids are very cheap. 

 These are dried and ground and mixed 

 with vegetable ingredients, such as wheat 

 flour, bran and com meal. It is consid- 

 ered very nourishing, and is used by most 

 Japanese breeders. If fed alone, it is apt 

 to kill the fish, as it is rich in fats and 

 decomposes readily. 



Dried, ground shrimp is a very nour- 

 ishing food and may be used alone, but 

 it is rather expensive and for that reason 

 is usually added to mixtures of the vege- 

 table substances. 



The bonito is a fish of the mackerel 

 family and is widely distributed over the 

 world. In method of using and in effect 

 it does not differ much from shrimp, but 

 is at times used for fishes while being 



transported great distances. 



"Yolk water" is made by filtering, 

 through cheese-cloth, the yolks of hard- 

 boiled chicken's eggs. This is for larval 

 fish not yet large enough to take 

 Daphnia, and may be used as a substi- 

 tute in the absence of the latter. Some- 

 times the yolk, broken in small pieces, 

 rather than mashed and filtered, is fed to 

 adult fish in advance of the spawning 

 season. 



Dregs of meat or lean meat scraps are 

 used as an ingredient in mixtures. 



Worm-eaten wheat flour, flour that 

 has been infested with weevils, is consid- 

 ered valuable, and has the added advan- 

 tage of being cheap, an important fea- 

 ture considering the quantities used by 

 the large fish farms. In connection with 

 the other vegetable materials it forms 

 the basis of many food mixtures. 



An artificial food for young fish may 

 be composed of "just a trifle" of ground 

 shrimp or chrysalis, 10 parts corn meal, 

 25 parts rice bran and 65 parts wheat 

 dust. These should be thoroughly mixed 

 while dry and then stirred into a pot of 

 boiling water, blending well and making 

 a mixture harder than mash. For older 

 fish the ingredients may be a trifle of 

 shrimp, 20 parts corn meal and 80 parts 

 wheat. Before and during breeding activ- 

 ities there is need for a more non-nitro- 

 genous food, so the mixture should be 

 changed to 20 parts shrimp and 80 parts 

 corn meal. 



Due to the increasing difficulties of 

 securing sufficient quantities of live 

 foods, the Breeders' Association of 

 Tokyo has been experimenting with a 

 view of making prepared food simulate 

 more closely in calories and bulk the live 

 foods. The materials available are 

 grains and flesh. The grains should be 

 powdered and the flesh boiled, all hones 

 (Concluded on page 20.) 



