Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Breeding of Fish

Breeding of Fish. The necessary qualities of a pond for breeding fish, are very different from those which are requisite to make it serve for their nourishment. A good breeding pond is more rare to be met with than a good feeding one. The best indications of the former, are plenty of rushes and grass about its sides, with gravelly shoals like those of horse-ponds. The quantity of the spawn of hsh is prodigious; and where it succeeds, one fish may sometimes produce millions. Hence two or three melters, and as many spawners, placed in such a pond, will, in a short time, stock a whole country. If it be not intended to keep these ponds entirely for breeding, but to let the fish grow to a considerable size, their numbers should be thinned, or they will otherwise starve each other. Different kinds of fish may also be added, which will prey upon the young, and prevent their increasing in number. For this purpose, eels and perch are most useful, because they not only feed upon the spawn itself, but also upon the young fry. Some fish will breed abundantly in all kinds of waters; of this nature are the roach, pike, perch, &c.