FOOD AND FEEDING OF GOLDFISHES AND OTHER 

 FRESHWATER FISHES 



One of the fundamental principles of dietetics is that the chemical 

 composition of food should conform with the chemical composition of the 

 body and that those which furnish this in the best proportion are not only 

 the most nutritious but also best maintain the animal organism in its most 

 perfect condition. For this reason the diet of coldblooded animals should 

 consist most largely of vegetal substances and of coldblooded animals, their 

 natural food, as having no body temperature to maintain they do not re- 

 quire as large a proportion of the rich hydrates of carbon and other heat- 

 producing foods necessary to warmblooded animals. Experiments with 

 food fishes have demonstrated that with this natural food the fry will grow 

 seven times more rapidly than on a diet of mammal flesh. 



Dietaries for mature goldfishes may be divided into several classes : 

 Barely subsistence diets, leading to semi-starvation,stunting and deformities; 

 healthy diets, producing normal growth, vigorous health and fine develop- 

 ment ; fattening diets, leading to coarseness of appearance, insufficient fin 

 development, indolence and predisposition to disease; overfattening diets, 

 producing disturbances of the digestive system and a suppression of the 

 reproductive organs ; and overfeeding, which leads to water contamination 

 diseases, asphyxiation and death. 



Barely sustaining diets usually occur from the dread of overfeeding or from 

 overstocking, and reduce the fishes to a point below healthy development. 

 When the fishes are starved in infancy they become permanently stunted, 

 the bones hardening so that no subsequent care or feeding will cause them 

 to expand sufficiently to permit of normal growth ; for which reason the 

 early feeding stages are the most important in the rearing of fine fishes 

 and require intelligent understanding of their wants and requirements. 

 Healthy diets imply not only a sufficient quantity of food, but those com- 

 posed of the proper constituents to stimulate active assimulation, to supply 

 all the needs of the animal organism in proper proportion and to produce 

 a vigorous growth, fine development of both body and fins, a clean and 

 elegant appearance, and robust health. Fattening diets are such as cause 

 overstimulation and excessive nutrition by their too considerable richness 

 of composition and produce fishes lacking in vitality, and the elegance 

 of appearance and fine fin development, noticeable in those more carefully 

 reared. This is sometimes attributed to pond culture, but is as often due to 



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