The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-02-18
MATCHING OF TROUT.
Extensive Appliances for Raising
Young Fish at the Aquarium.

Extensive Appliances Tor Raising
Young Fish at the Aquarium.
Down at the Aquarium hundreds of
rainbow and brown trout are daily fore
ing their way out Of tiny white eggs.
which are smaller than an ordinary
sized pea. Unlike a chicken. a fish
breaks through the shell by first wrig-
Cling its tail. and after this end is free
the head appears The fish in the eggs
at the aquarium hatchery are wrigglin5
their tails to some purpose, for those
that have been incubated are strong and
healthy and quickly coming to the
point where they win be able to eat. At
the present time their mouths and
stomachs are undeveloped, and accord
ingly their appearance is not altogether
fshike.
The process of incubation is interest
ing, and as the eggs have no enemies
TO contend with in this artificial state.
success invariably attends the Matching
The Matching troughS are placed around
one Of the big pools on the main floor
OF the aquarium. and contain sixteen
Wlre-bottOmed trays in which the eggs
are deposited. The water passes up
| through the bottom of the first tray,
which 1t fills, then flows over and comes
up through the second, and in the sans
manner through the other trays. Thus
an even circulation of water is obtained
+ in all the troughs.
4 hC PCi4OQ OF INCUBATION XalleS with
different fish, and is regulated by the
temperate re of the water In the case
of brown and rainbow trout from forty
to forty-five days are required to hatch
out the eggs, when the temperature is
so degrees. If the water is colder the
period ranges from sixty to Sixty-five
days.
When the fish makes it's appearance
through the egg all one can see is a
sac out of which protrude head and a
x7e.E hot rr.ot,
than the circumference of the egg out
of which 1t was Matched, drops through
the Wire bottom of the tray and is car
ried to an open trough. Here among
many others it develops into a perfect
fish, gradually absorbing the sac, which
provides it with nourishment and at
the same time forms its stomach. This
process of absorption takes about %
days, and when it is over the fish is
ready to begin eating, for the strength
ening of the mouth has kept pace with
the other stages of development Bits
of liver chopped very fine are then fed
to the young trout three or four times
a day.
which has capacity of 100000 eggs.
there are Il glass jars in which shad
perch. and whitefsh eggs are to be
placed as soon as they are received. In
three of these jars eggs of the sculpin
are now being incubated. The spawn of
the sculpin is held together in one mass
and not separated like that of the trout.
Spawn of this description is always
Matched in jars. Two rubber tubes are
attached to each Jar. one of which dis
charges water into the jar at the bot
tom. When the fish are Matched they
naturally rise to the top of the water,
where they reach the mouth of the sec
ond tube, and are siphoned off to a
receptacle.
The method of transporting eggs
without damage to them is now almost
an exact science. The trout eggs being
Matched at the Aquarium came from
WytheVille Va. They were packed III
wire bottomed trays, they covered with
cheese cloth and a layer of damp moss.
The trays were placed one on top of the
other in a box built especially for that
purpose. the top tray being covered with
cracked ice. The melting ice trickles
through the various layers of moss, and
provides an even temperature for all the
eggs. The eggs are never shipped until
they are "eyed''-that is, when incuba-
ton has reached such a stage that two
black spots appear on the she'll These
spots are really the eyes of the coming
fish, and they are the means by which
the fish culturist tells that the eggs
have been properly fertilized.-New
York Post