Stow-aways?

Clear Brook Trout? I don't know.

Most of are trout are dark brown with beautiful sparkling spots but a few are clear and yellowish. We are wondering if a few Golden Trout eggs could have possibly gotten mixed in with our Brook Trout eggs. Although this could just be a great example of differentiation among the species... but we have heard rumors that some of the other Trout in the Classroom participants having received different kinds of eggs - even EEL eggs!! Hmmmmmmmm...........


Look at the difference:


Brook Trout:












Possible Golden Trout:










Tell us what YOU think!!!!

TANK HUGGERS!!!

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank....................

Trout Unlimited:
This Tank Hugger Award goes to Trout Unlimited for periodically visiting our classroom and their generous donations to our cause!

Mr. Savitch and Mrs. Ackerman:
They recieve a Tank Hugger Award because we would like to thank them for teaching us everything about the trout, letting us participatie in this project, replenishing our water supply, and coming in on vacation to be our "Trout Sitters"!

Mrs. Agner: She recieves a Tank Hugger Award for being the Trout Team Advisor, helping us write the grant and planning the blog posts, scheduling water changes, being our personal marine biologist, and so much more!

Julie S:
A Tank Hugger Award goes to her because she made a rotation sign-up which gives every Watershed parent an oppurtunity to donate water to the RMS Watershed Trout Orginization!

Lexus Eco Challenge:
We give them a Tank Hugger Award for inspiring us to challenge ourselves and to make a difference in our watershed!

Without these Tank Huggers none of this would be possible. Thank you all so much!

Friday's Chemical Tests

Chemical Tests:

pH AM: 7.6

pH PM: 7.4

Ammonia: .25ppm

Nitrate NO-3: 10PPM

Look how much like real Trout our babies are beginning to look!! Isn't Life AMAZING??!?!!!

How to Impliment this Program in Your Classroom

Today we had a teacher from Montgomery Day School visit us. Hopefully he liked what he saw and will be able to create a similar program in his class. We love being able to share what we're doing with educators and students alike!! We're always open to visitors and are always excited to share all the work we've done.

We used a program called Trout in The Classroom as a guideline to raise our trout. Below are links that will help you find information on the program. Trout Unlimited has helped us greatly from supplies to donations to information. You can also check with your states Fish and Wildlife Service.

Remember: the Brook Trout is not only the state fish of Pennsylvania but
New Hampshire, Michigan, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and
West Virginia!!!

Trout in The Classroom
http://www.troutintheclassroom.org/

Trout Unlimited
http://www.patrout.org/

Trout Hit The Movies!

Our first attempt at bringing you a video so you can see exactly what we're up to! We promise it will get more professional as time goes on... this is just an overview :)

Trout Food in the Wild

We hope you did your research just like us!

We now know that Brook Trout eat crustaceans, frogs, amphibians, insects, molluscs, Benthic Macroinvertebrates, smaller fish, small aquatic mammals such as voles, worms and flies in the wild. It is a cycle because some of the amphibians eat the trout fry but when the trout become adults they eat the amphibians.

Salvelinus fontinalis

Our babies are eating up to 1/2 a tsp. of the special "size 2" food a day! They always seem hungry - but we monitor the amount we allow them carefully. We have begun to notice great size differentiation among our little fry - some are more than 2.5cm and some are still only 1cm. What could be causing this?

Our theory is that most of the "swim up fry" who stay near the top of the tank are able to consume the most food. The little guys at the bottom are forced to forage through the pebbles for left overs. In short... some are greedy and some are content just waiting for the crumbs. It is basically survival of the fittest.

We will be trying to photograph this size difference today after our trip to the Eastern Planetarium!

So, you know what WE feed them... but what do you think they eat in the wild?

(the answer when we return...)

OUR PATRIOTIC FISH WELCOME PRESIDENT OBAMA!!

Water Fairy

Today we got a large donation of water! w00t! Thanks to whoever gave it to us, it is greatly appreciated!

Thanks to you we were able to do a 36% (20 gallons) water change. The trout are looking great! They are swimming happily in their cold fresh spring water.

Nyckel Preview

We have promised you an excerpt from our children's book in progress, Nyckel.

"Below the quiet, still pool, deep into the Darby Creek, swam a group of shimmering speckled Brook Trout. One of them was me. I was not raised like any normal fish, I was pretty lucky. My name is Nykel and this is my story."

The Plants Kicked The Bucket

Well some of them at least. A couple of the plants died and they started to rot. We think the plants died because the water temperature is to cold for them. Remember we have a chiller for our trout who need a constant temperature of no more than 50 degrees F. Yesterday the nitrates were 40 ppm which is almost fatal to our friends! We took the plants out, cleaned and today the nitrates are 10 ppm. Phew!

P.S. Nyckel update is coming soon!

Trip to Newlin's Mill

Today we we went on a field trip to Newlin's Mill (Click on it to link to their web site). Similar to us taking care of baby trout they make sure their stream (the west branch of Chester Creek) is healthy for adult Brook Trout. They do this by performing many tests to make sure the stream is healthy. Newlin's Mill also makes small dams so there are enough deep pools. Check them out when you have some time!

On an unrelated note, we did a 10 gallon water change today for our trout and the plants we put in look great!!!! New Pictures are coming soon!!!!

P.S. Even though they take great care of the trout we hope to be releasing them somewhere more local!

Trout go Green

Today we brightened up the tank with some plants. The reason we put plants in is because they help to lower the nitrate count. We did a full water change on Tuesday. This brought the nitrates down.

Ringing in the New Year with Nitrates!!!!

Over break Connor went to New York City, KM went to Chicago, Lauren stayed home, Eric got a tan, and the trout grew half an inch and sprouted spots! (Pictures coming tomorrow!)

Mr. Savitch and Mrs. Ackerman came in almost daily and diligently took care of our responsibilities while we were on break. Without their dedication our little friends wouldn't have made it. However, because we weren't able to be here every day over break the water quality is not as high as we usually keep it. Not to worry though, we are working twice as hard as usual to prepare for a major clean out!!! Unfortunatly we estimate 35 trout died over break; which is around 15% of our trout population. Hopefully we will see a drop in the mortality rate now that we have retuned.


Nyckel fans: he is alive and well! We caught him flipping his fins around and foraging for food!

Our plans for tommorow:

• 30% water change
• major filter cleaning
• hopefully we will be adding freshwater plants soon (to help reduce nitrogen)
• wipe down sides of aquarium because there is slight alagea growth

P.S. Spring water donations are desperatly need and greatly appreciated. Thats all the trout wanted for the holidays! Please make their dream come true!!!

Drop offs are being accepted at the Watershed classroom door on Windermere Ave.