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AMATEUR FISH
CULTURE

BY CHARLES EDWARD WALKER

AUTHOR OF "OLD FLIES IN NEW
DRESSES" "SHOOTING ON A
SMALL INCOME," ETC


WESTMINSTER
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO LTD
2 WHITEHALL GARDENS

1901




Butler & Tanner,
The Selwood Printing Works,
Frome, and London.




PREFACE


My aim, in this little book, has been to give information and hints
which will prove useful to the amateur. Some of the plans and apparatus
suggested would not be suitable for fish culture on a large scale, but
my object has been to confine myself entirely to operations on a small
scale. I have to thank the Editor of _Land and Water_ for permission to
publish in book form what first appeared as a series of articles.

CHARLES WALKER.

Mayfield, Sussex.
_March, 1901._




CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE

     I Introductory                                                     1

    II Stocking Waters with Food                                        7

   III Suitable Fish and Suitable Waters                               14

    IV Trout. Preliminary Hints and Advice                             20

     V Trout. Rearing Ponds, Boxes, and Hatching Trays                 27

    VI Trout. Management of the Ova and Alevins                        34

   VII Trout. Management of the Fry                                    42

  VIII Trout. The Management of the Fry (_Continued_)                  51

    IX Trout. The Friends and Enemies of the Fish Culturist            58

     X Trout. Management, Feeding, and Turning out of Yearlings        67

    XI The Rearing of the Rainbow Trout, American Brook Trout,
       and Char                                                        72

   XII Salmon and Sea-Trout                                            81

  XIII Coarse Fish                                                     88

       Appendix                                                        93

       Index                                                           97




CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY


Fish culture of a certain kind dates from very early times, but its
scientific development has only come about quite recently. Most people
know that in our own country the monks had stew ponds, where they kept
fish, principally carp, and also that the Romans kept fish in ponds. In
the latter case we hear more often of the eel than of other fish. The
breeding of trout and salmon, and the artificial spawning and hatching
of ova, are, however, an innovation of our own time.

Much has been discovered about the procreation of fish, and in no case
have scientists worked so hard and discovered more than in the case of
_Salmonidae_. Fish culture, particularly trout culture, has become a
trade, and a paying one. To any one who has the least idea of the
difficulties to be overcome in rearing _Salmonidae_, this fact alone
proves that fish culture must have progressed to a very advanced stage
as a science.

This advance has in very many, if not in the majority of cases, been
made by the bitter experience gained through failures and mishaps, for
these have led fish culturists to try many different means to prevent
mischances, or to rectify them if they have happened. Some of the most
serious difficulties experienced by the early fish culturists who bred
_Salmonidae_ can now be almost disregarded, for they hardly exist for the
modern fish culturist, with the knowledge he possesses of the experience
of others.

So much of what has been done in fish culture is generally known to
those who have studied and practised it, that the beginner can nowadays
commence far ahead of the point whence the first fish culturists
started. Many of his difficulties have been overcome for him already,
and though he will not, of course, meet with the success of the man of
experience, still he ought with the exercise of an average amount of
intelligence to avoid such failures as would completely disgust him.

There are many pieces of water containing nothing but coarse fish which
are very suitable for trout of some kind. Ponds, particularly those
which have a stream running through them, will, as a rule, support a
good head of trout if properly managed. Again a water which contains
trout may become more or less depleted, and here it is necessary to
supply the deficiency of trout by some means. The easiest way is, of
course, to buy yearling or two-year-old fish from a piscicultural
establishment, of which there are many in the kingdom, but I know that
there are many fishermen who would much prefer to rear their own fish
from the ova, than to buy ready-made fish. Any one who has the time and
opportunity to rear his own fish will be amply repaid by the amusement
and interest gained, and it should be the cheaper method of stocking or
re-stocking a water.

The same remarks apply to a certain extent to waters which will not
support trout, or where the owner wants more coarse fish. The stock of
coarse fish may be improved by fish culture just as much as a stock of
trout.

In his first year or two, it is very possible that the amateur will not
save very much by being his own pisciculturist. If, however, he is
careful, and works with intelligence, it is quite possible that he may
succeed better than he had hoped and rear a good head of fish at a less
cost than the purchase of yearlings. In any case he will have had a
great deal of pleasure and gained experience as well as reared some
fish.

In the present little volume, I propose to try and deal with fish
culture in such a way as to help the amateur who wishes to rear fish to
stock his own water. Much of the existing literature of the subject
deals with it on such a large scale that the amateur is frightened to
attempt what is apparently so huge an undertaking. Fish culture may,
however, be carried out on a small scale with success, and though
considerable attention is necessary, particularly with young
_Salmonidae_, it is not a task which involves a very great proportion of
the time of any one undertaking it. It is absolutely necessary, however,
that the amateur fish culturist should live on the spot, or have some
one who is intelligent and perfectly trustworthy who does. In every case
in my experience, trusting the care of young fish to a keeper or servant
has resulted in failure, and in every failure I have seen where the fish
have not been trusted to the care of a servant, the cause has been very
obvious, and could easily have been avoided.

The rearing of trout is the most important branch of fish culture to the
amateur, and fortunately but slight modifications are necessary in
rearing other fish. What is good enough for trout is good enough for
most fish, therefore I think that I shall be right in describing trout
culture at considerable length, and dealing with other fish in a
somewhat summary manner. The difference in the management, etc., of
other fish I shall point out after describing how to rear trout.

To begin with, the amateur must not suppose that because he puts fish
into a stream or pond he will succeed in stocking that water or
increasing the head of fish. There are many other things to be
considered. The river, stream, or pond must be of a suitable character
for the fish, and there must be plenty of food. I am sure that it is
much more important to consider carefully whether the water is suitable,
and contains a proper supply of food, than to consider how the fish are
to be obtained, for recourse may always be had to a professional fish
culturist--fish of almost any kind and any age can be bought ready
made.

The point I would impress upon the amateur more forcibly than anything
else, is that he should be sure that there is plenty for his fish to eat
in the water, before he thinks of putting them into it. It is for this
reason that I devote my next chapter chiefly to the stocking of waters
with food and to the improvement of the food supply in waters where some
food already exists.




CHAPTER II

STOCKING WATERS WITH FOOD


It may seem somewhat superfluous to say that fish cannot live in any
water unless that water contains the food supply necessary for them to
thrive upon, and yet this is the point most often overlooked in stocking
waters with fish. Small attempts at stocking with creatures suitable for
food, particularly after the fish have been already introduced, are not
at all likely to succeed. Such an important matter when treated as a
small afterthought is almost sure to end in failure of the whole
business of stocking.

But a small amount of thought will convince any one that in order that
there may be a sufficient amount of animal life in a water, there must
be an adequate vegetable life, for weeds are almost always necessary to
the well-being of the creatures which serve as food for fishes.

In the case of a pond it is generally fairly easy to introduce a good
stock of suitable weeds. The best method is to let the pond down as low
as possible, and then to plant some weeds round the margin; the water is
then allowed to gradually fill up the pond, and as it rises weeds are
planted round the rising margin of the water. In ponds which cannot be
emptied at all, or not sufficiently to carry out this plan, weeds may be
planted in an easy but not quite so effectual a manner. They may be
planted in shallow baskets containing some mud from the bottom of the
pond, and then lowered in suitable places from a boat, or bundles of the
weed may be tied to stones and dropped into the water in a similar
manner.

These latter methods are, of course, not so good as actually planting
the weeds round the advancing margin of the water, for success depends
to a certain extent upon chance. Some of the weeds thus planted are,
however, sure to take root and grow. Plants of different kinds, of
course, are necessary at different depths and on different kinds of
bottoms, and good kinds are necessary at the margin of the water as
well. I give a list of some suitable plants of each kind at the end of
this chapter.

Similar methods are used in planting weeds in rivers and streams to
those used in ponds. If the weeds are planted in baskets, the baskets
must, of course, be weighted when put in a position where the current
can act upon them.

Besides vegetation in the water, vegetation on the bank is of
considerable importance. I shall deal with this at a later period more
fully, as trees and bushes, besides harbouring many insects which serve
as food for fish, have also considerable importance in giving cover to
the fish and to the fisherman who is pursuing them.

I think that in the case of a bare water, a year at least should be
devoted to developing a good supply of vegetation. This will generally
produce a considerable amount of animal life, without any artificial
help, but judicious help will be sure to accelerate matters to a
considerable extent. I would, however, advise the amateur not to attempt
to introduce a quantity of creatures into his water, until the vegetable
life therein is well established. For instance, though fresh-water
snails are desirable in every trout water, if introduced in large
numbers into a water in which the vegetation is small and not well
established, they will eat down the weeds too much and then die off from
disease caused by want of sufficient nourishment.

Having established the vegetable life well in a water, and developed it
to a considerable extent, the amateur may begin to examine his water,
and find out how much animal life exists there, and to stock with
creatures suitable for food, according to what he finds in the water.

Fresh-water snails are always desirable. In streams, or in ponds with
streams running into them, the fresh-water shrimps (_Gammarus pulex_)
should always be tried. It does not do in some waters, but where it does
thrive it increases