Texas Game and Fish, Volume 13, Number 4, April 1955 Page: 9
32 p. : col. ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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stakes. Always have the flat side hor-
izontal to the pond bottom. It is
recommended that these two species
be the ones tried because it is our
belief that they will prove the most
successful minnows to raise.
FOOD
For years our hatchery personnel
has been feeding meat meal or meat
scraps to our young channel catfish.
When some of the personnel started
raising minnows they fed the same
food to the minnows with excellent
results. The meat meal or meat
scraps are specified as follows in Cir-
cular No. 115, entitled, The Texas
Feed Law, by F. D. Brock, Chief
Feed Control Service: "50% Protein
meat and bone meal shall have
crude protein not less than 50%,
crude fat not less than 6% and
crude fiber not more than 3%.,
The amount to be fed should be
judged by experimentation. Feed
until minnows stop eating it at a
feeding. The feeding should be at
the same time each day. For a pond
of minnows in a hatchery, usually
600 pounds per year are fed.
The uneaten food will prove to be
a fair fertilizer.
TAKING MINNOWS FROM
POND
Minnows can be taken from the
ponds by draining, seining, use of
an umbrella net or by the use of
glass jar minnow traps.
In draining a pond, if a drain box
patterned after the style in the ac-
companying photograph is pres-
ent, a screen as shown is set in the
drain box and then the drain valve
opened. The valve should be com-
pletely opened at the onset and kept
that way until the water is about
three feet deep in the drain box.
The valve is then partly closed in
order to bring the minnows into the
drain box. The minnows will not
enter the drain box if the water is
running too fast or too slow. If a
happy medium is hit they will enter
the box in large numbers. A long-
handled dip net is used for dipping
the drain box. This net should be
constructed so it will just clear the
two side walls of the drain box and
should be about three feet deep.It can be made from a reinforcing
rod attached to a long handle and
covered with Bobbinetting of about
1/16" mesh. Nylon material will
outlast cotton material. The bottom
of the net is placed at the entrance
of the drain box and drawn through
the water until the bottom of the
net contacts the drain box screen.
The net is then lifted up and the
minnows placed in a container. If
golden shiners are being handled, a
clear plastic or glass container will
be found to be desirable because
golden shiners are bad about jump-
ing. They apparently jump for light
so their jumping can be stopped by
placing them in the clear containers.
By following this procedure practi-
cally all the minnows can be re-
moved from a pond before all the
water runs out.
If submerged vegetation is pres-
ent in the pond it should be raked
into windrows, as the water recedes
in the pond, to keep the minnows
from being trapped by the vegeta-
tion. After vegetation is exposed to
the air it should not be again cov-
ered by adding water to the pond
until all the minnows have been
taken from the pond, nor should
minnows be placed in a freshly
drained pond where such vegetation
has again been covered. Many min-
nows and fish have been killed by
hatchery operators when this was
done.
Should raking vegetation become
too arduous, a chemical can be used
several weeks before the pond is to
be drained. The best chemical to
use is sodium arsenite. Sodium ar-
senite can be purchased from chem-
ical companies and large seed stores.
Its trade name is "Sodium Arsenite
Weed Killer." The commercial weed
killer must contain four pounds of
arsenous oxide per gallon. One gal-
lon of weed killer added to 64,082
cubic feet of water will make a mix-
ture containing one part per mil-
lion of arsenous oxide. Never make
the maximum dose for treating your
pond over eight parts per million.
As an example, suppose that after
carefully computing the volume of
water in your pond you find that
your pond contains 10,000 cubic
feet of water. You wish to give the
pond a treatment that will amountPowde-ed meat scraps as fed to mimn:ws.
to seven parts per million concer-
tration, so divide the 10,000 by
64,082 an- you will obtain the
amount ir- gallons of weed ki ler
necessary to give you 1.0 parts per
million concentration. This wo-ld
amount to 0.15 gallon. Then by
multiplying that amount by 7 you
obtain 1.05 gallons or slightly over
one gallon, which is the amourt of
weec. killer you must apply to ab-
tain a seven parts per million con-
centration in your water.
When bought, this weed killer is
sold ir a thick, heavy state so it
should be diluted one-half with
pond water. The best way to apcilv
the weed killer is by spraying it
over the pond surface with pres-
sure sprayer. Treatments should
only be rade in warm weather
since the chemical spreads th-ough
the water 1rore quickly when the
water is warm. It might be neces-
sary tc give your pond several treat-
rnents of sodium arsenite to kill
out he vegetation.
This substance is extremely caus-
tic so you should be very careul
to keep it ad your clothes and body.
It has been found that livestock
can drink water treated with ths
substance, provided that the arsenic
content does not exceed =welve
parts per rr-illion. Ordinarily, most
vegetation can be killed when a six
parts per million treatment is used
It should be pointed out, however.
Continued on page 26APRIL, 1955
- esasgssur
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Texas. Game and Fish Commission. Texas Game and Fish, Volume 13, Number 4, April 1955, periodical, April 1955; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1588361/m1/11/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.