130 PREPARED FISHFOODS 



Here is a simple but good formula in use by the author: Two 

 tumblers powdered puppy biscuit, half tumbler powdered mussel 

 flesh, quarter tumbler powdered codfish, two level teaspoons pow- 

 dered chalk. Mix well and add scalding water to make a thick paste. 

 Spread out thinly to dry on pie plates or other tin. Breaking into 

 small pieces when partly dry helps the drying. When bone dry, 

 grind to size. The author prefers slow oven drying to sun drying 

 because there is less chance of fly eggs being deposited in the food. 

 On the other hand too much oven heat drives some of the virtue out 

 of the ingredients. 



An important point about such foods is this : If a quantity is 

 made to last a considerable time, only that part of it should be 

 ground up that will be used in a few months. In coarse pieces it is 

 much less liable to attack by insects and their larvae. 



Dried fishfoods should be sifted through suitable screens to sizes 

 desired for use. There is always a considerable amount of fine 

 powder which is declined by many of the larger fishes, and which is 

 liable to do harm unless found by the snails or other scavengers. 

 The powder and very small grains can be fed to the young stock, as 

 well as to a tank of breeding snails. 



When fish have been without fresh or living food for some time it is 

 well to occasionally give them a small quantity of dark, soft part of 

 oysters, chopped and slightly rinsed. Fresh shrimp, obtainable in most 

 fish markets in winter, if passed through a fine meat chopper, makes an 

 excellent change of diet. Canned shrimp has come to be a fishfood 

 of decided value. Several of the fishes which otherwise demand live 

 food take this readily and thrive on it, notably Pterophyllum scalare 

 and the Banded Sunfish, the only other prepared food these two seem 

 to relish being scrambled egg. This is something of a coincidence, as 

 a similarity is often noted between the general appearance and move- 

 ments of these really very different fishes. After opening a can of 

 shrimp keep contents dry in a covered saucer in refrigerator. It keeps 

 about three days. 



A crushed oyster crab suspended from a thread makes a choice 

 tidbit for small tropical fishes to pick at. 



LIVING FISHFOODS 



It may safely be said in general that fishes do better on living 

 foods than on an artificially prepared diet. The difference seems 

 to be about the same as that between canned and fresh food in our 

 own experience. The living foods which are really of practical 



