* 4
■ *>V
V
9 * *
The black fish with the bug eyes in this photo are
Chinese Moors and the lighter colored fish, goldfish
Goldfish
(Continued from Page 50)
official. All the while, he has served as a bank director for
the Fulton Bank in Lancaster. Amidst a busy day of
hatchery business, phone calls from several states, and
appointments for the bank and notary concerns, Hiram
Peoples crammed into his schedule some time to show
this reporter the workings of this 2% million goldfish per
year production process.
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CHECK Oi
STORE
HOURS:
MON. thru SAT
7 to 5
TUES. & FRI
till 8:30
Coleman Center
85 Old Leacock Rd. R. 0.1 Ronks, Pa.
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warehouses situated in the rural village of New
Providence, Peoples started his explanation in the pond
area.
“We have 50 to 60 ponds here where the goldfish, bass,
and blue gills are raised,” he began. “The ponds are fed
by creek water,” he continued.
The whole pond system in the meadow is supplied with
fresh creek water by a series of pipes laid underground
starting at the top of the meadow at a dam. An overflow
safety system is also part of the underground plan.
Each Spring all of the ponds have to be emptied and
disinfected before the new year of hatching begins.
Peoples said it takes about one week to drain and disinfect
a pond. The fish that are left in the ponds over the Winter
hibernate under the ice. In the early Spring, they are
removed from the larger ponds and kept in smaller
storage ponds until they can be returned to the disinfected
ponds once more.
Peoples explained that the fish have to be raised m
earth-bottom ponds.
“Some soils do not work well for fish hatchery pur
poses,” he related. “England does not have any soil that
will grow gold fish properly. Italy does, but they are a
very poor quality,” he mentioned by way of illustration.
“This soil here on these 20 acres is very good for fish
ponds,” he remarked.
With the requirements of the right soil for pond bottoms
and the necessary fresh water supply and the assistance
of 22 full and part-time employees, Peoples Hatchery
operates a thriving business.
To make the most of the facilities available, and to keep
a constant supply of live goldfish throughout the year,
even when the fish normally hibernate in the Winter,
Peoples has constantly learned newer management
techniques over the years. His grandfather, Hiram
Peoples Stager, started with one large pond. Now his
grandson manages in excess of 50 ponds, aluminum
storage tanks for Wmter use, and seven delivery tank
trucks. A number of changes have taken place since 1880
when the founder of this hatchery started the business.
“By the old method of fish hatching,” Peoples ex
plained, “You would allow the fish to spawn and hatch in
the same pond and then collect out of the pond whatever
happened. Now we use breeder ponds where the female
lays her eggs upon a spawning net.” These nets are wire
screens which have Spanish moss entwmed in and out of
the wire mesh. The male follows the female and throws
his sperm on the eggs the female has recently laid.
“If the male and female are not equal in size, and the
male is smaller, for instance, he will not be able to cover
the entire egg area and all those uncovered eggs will be
lost. That is why we sort the fish for the breeding pond to
keep uniform sizes,” Peoples added.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 27,1978
Once the spawning nets are covered, they are removed
from the breeding pond and placed into another pond for
hatching. When covered with spawn, the nets are white.
Without the spawn on them they are dark gray in color.
“By using the breeding ponds, the spawning nets and
separate hatching ponds, you can use your ponds more
efficiently,” remarked Peoples. “You can increase your
production from 50,000 to half a million, and you have
much better control by using this newer method.”
“You are left to the mercy of the weather as far as
hatching goes,” he added.
Once the fish are hatched, their size will depend on the
cubic feet of water each fish has to swim in. The fish are
fed every day until Fall to give them plenty of body fat to
hold them through Winter’s hibernation. The goldfish
hatch in the Spring and are sold in the Fall as are the bass.
The blue gills have to be a year old before they are sold,
however.
As the fish hatch in the hatching ponds during the
Spring, they are taken out and sorted on wooden sorting
tables twice a week. After being sorted according to size
gradations by inches, they are placed into wire mesh
holding cages inside a storage building with sides open to
the elements. The cages are two and one-half feet wide by
five feet in length.
Part of the storage area is used to hold purchased or
ders of goldfish overnight Each day, usually in the af
ternoon, the fish are counted out on the sorting tables and
placed mto similar cages and coded by purchasing orders.
The fish stay in the filled-order cages overnight. At 3
o’clock in the morning the delivery tank trucks pull up to
the storage area and load the orders for that day’s
delivery.
“We want the fish to be in the tank trucks for as short a
time as possible,” Peoples explained. “Some of the fish
are hauled for as much as three days, though, without
problems because air is agitated mto the delivery tanks,”
he added.
For local delivery or those which are shipped by United
Parcel, the fish are placed in plastic bags inside card
board boxes. Most of the goldfish are delivered by tank
trucks, however.
To keep a supply on hand for Winter distribution,
Peoples utilizes special Winter equipment supplied with
Spring water. Aluminum tanks have the Spring water
supplied to them and the half million fish are fed and
maintained in these tanks as if it were not their Winter
hibernation period.
The biggest problem with fish hatching is hot weather,
according to Peoples. Trout need colder water than found
in Lancaster County ponds to survive through hot sum
mers, he explained. The goldfish, bass and bluegills,
however, will tolerate warmer water.
To establish bluegill or bass in a farm pond. Peoples
suggests that the owner have it properly stocked ac
cording to cubic feet of water per fish. The bass and blue
gills are very adaptable to the pond environments found
locally, said Peoples, and will maintain their population
themselves for at least five years. They need not be fed,
but an application of 5-10-10 fertilizer at a rate of 100
pounds to an acre of water surface would be advised.
As with most other farming techniques and operations,
the raising of goldfish, bass, and bluegills requires con
stant upgrading of management to improve production
and quality as well as efficiency.
To drive past the quiet meadow with its ponds scattered
across its breadth and length, one would hardly imagine
that such a large business and such precise scientific
technology is actually controlling the peaceful ponds. And
behind all of that is an energetic man who says retirement
is not in the picture as far as he is concerned.
“Retirement is the worst thing to happen to a lot of
people and I don’t intend to ever retire! ” he stated.
"COMf WITH M£
ON A FARM TOUR
TO FUROFi"
Aueusr 15,1978
Mrs Ziegler and i are taking a group of
farm folk, just like you, to Holland, Ger
many, and Switzerland We’ll visit farms,
see an auction sale, and some of the
beautiful sights in Europe.
Everything will be prearranged, so there
will be no problems along the way I'll send
you a brochure describing the trip m
detail, if you’ll send the coupon to me.
Space is limited, so send for the brochure
right away
VICTOR ZIEGLER
RD2, MYERSTOWN, PA 17067
,ME
ADDRESS
CITY
53