FEEDING AND REARING FISHES. 
291 
have reduced the quantity below the point of healthy development. One of the early 
writers has said, Avith every appearance of correctness, that if the fry are starved in 
infancy they become stunted, the bones harden, and afterwards no amount of feeding 
will cause them to expand sufficiently to permit of growth. Unquestionably, it is at 
this stage in the rearing of Ashes (the earliest feeding of the fry) that the greatest 
amount of damage is possible and the most lasting hurt frequently done. It is the 
most difficult stage in feeding and rearing, because it is at this iioint that intelligence 
and hdelity are needed more tlian at any other time. 
In the first feeding of fry it is not irracticable to weigh the fry or their food so as 
to instruct tlie caretaker as to the allowance of food; thongh after the fry have been 
taking food for some little time it is possible to determine their weight, but it is 
scarcely probable that any except the most careful experimentalists Avill ever expend 
the time and labor necessary. It is not likely that any better method for this deter- 
mination AAull be deAused than that of Mr. Charles G. Atkins, of the U. S. Fish Com- 
mission. His method is as follows: 
Tlie flsli are first gathered in a line, soft hag net, commonly one made of cheese cloth, and from this, 
hanging meam\'hile in the Avater, yet so that the fish can not escape, they are dipped out a few at a 
time in a small dipper or cup, counted, and placed in a pail of water or some other receptacle. This 
counting is generally -[)reliminary to weighing, and in this case the fish after counting are placed in 
another hag net, m Avhioli they are lowered seA’eral hundred at a time into a pail of water, which has. 
heen previously weighed, and the increase noted. With care to avoid transferring to the weighing 
pail any surplus of water, this is a correct method and A-ery easy and safe for the fish. — ( Bulletin of the' 
U- S. Fish Commission, 1893, p.227.) 
Mr. Atkims does not stw so, but it would seem that lie must deduct from the 
increased Aveight the Aveight of the wet bag net immersed in the weighing pail. 
Only judgment, experience, fidelity, and Avatchfnlness on the part of the attendant 
charged Avith the feeding will be fonnd to answer at the time Avhen the fi.sh first com- 
mence to take food ; and unless these qualifications are employed the fish are either fed. 
to death or starved. Some of the rules for feeding young fry would he laughable if it 
were not for the memory of the helplessness of the fish. A rule at one hatchery is tO' 
giA-e them all they Avill hold; another acquaintance says keep tiiem hungry all the 
time. There are few happy mediums in practice. Years ago the idea Aims dissemi- 
nated that any clever youth of ordinary capacity could safely be intrusted with the 
care and feeding of fishes. Unfortunately the idea is not yet entirely eradicated. 
They are short-sighted managers, blind to the principles of protection of animals from 
cruelty, who leave this most important branch of the Avork in the hands of any except 
the patient, intelligent, skilled workman. 
ISTot all cases of semistaiwation and stunting liaA’e resulted from the causes 
mentioned — ignorance or fear on the part of the attendant. Cases have fallen under 
my obsei'Amtion where, from Am.rions causes, the desired food, either as to kind or 
quality, was not obtainable. Again, some fishes, particularly brook-trout fry, Avill 
persistently decline the most dainty and delicately prepared foods. My oath oifiuion 
is that when a lot of fry is found acting in this manner the best thing the cnltiirist 
can do for himself is to get rid of them at an early day. They will never make fine 
fish. * Several reasons have been advanced to account for this peculiarity on the 
* In this connection the qnestion pre.seuts itself: May we not from this find a po.ssible reason 
why in certain streams, presenting a fair ahnndance of food, we never find trout aboA’e lingerliugs in 
size. I, of course, suppose that in nature, as Avell as in artificial fish-cnltnre, there arc cases Avhere 
the Amung, from some cause, Avill not eat, and it is more than prohalde that in many lots of fish 
hatched naturally a large percentage never find any food, or find it too late to prevent or arrest the 
stunting process. Once stunted, ahvays stunted. 
