Why are they all swimming the same way???

Last week, a question arose. Why are all of the trout swimming the same way?  Are they just good friends?  Are they doing a group dance?  What is the deal?

   

So... We thought about it.  We made some observations and we came up with a conclusion:

Up next... We are going to decide when to let the trout out of the basket to roam free.  Stay tuned.

Movin' On Up!

10/30/15

Our Trout are swimming like crazy!  More and more are swimming to the surface to eat and are actively swimming around in the basket.  We are very excited!!!

Mrs. Horsley, our PE teacher, loves to see them move and get active!

Bring on the FOOD!

10/27/15

Today is the day!  We have been noticing that the trouts' yolk sacs have been getting smaller and even disappearing on some of them, so we decided it is time to start feeding them! We use size '0' food (we have size '0,' size '1,' and size '2') now because they are really small and still in the basket.  The basket helps us to keep the fish together and monitor them, it also helps them to get to the food when they are ready.  Right now, some are ready to eat, and some aren't...yet.  When the trout want to eat, they just swim up to the top to grab some food (see the video below).  At first none of them were hungry, but after a few minutes, some of them started to swim up and eat!

10/23/15
Question of the Day:  Why are the trout so lazy?  They are just laying around...

In nature right now, the baby trout, or alevins, would be working hard to not get eaten by other fish and predators.  Their natural instinct is to burrow down into the gravel or the mud in the rivers that they live and feed off of their yolk sac.  Once their yolk sac is used up, they will start to swim more and will be ready to eat food.  That should be in the next week or so.  

The Students Have Taken Over!

10/16/15

Yesterday the students took over!  Now they collect all daily data, remove any bad eggs, test the water, monitor the condition of the tank and make great observations!   They have done a great job so far.  Two students from each fourth grade class come by each morning. They are becoming Trout Experts and sharing information with the whole school. 
Throughout the day, classes come by the tank, make observations and check out the progress of our baby trout, or alevins.  If you have any questions that you would like answered in our blog, just email Mr. Turnbull at christopherturnbull@hvrsd.org.

10/14/15

What a difference a few days makes!  Most of our trout have gone from 'eyed' eggs to squirmy, wiggly "alevins."  Notice that they still look like they have their eggs on their stomachs.  These are called 'egg sacs' and they are how our baby trout, or alevins, get their food.  We don't need to feed them until their egg sacs dissolve, or go away.

Tomorrow is the big day!  Our fourth grade students will be taking care of the data sheet, monitoring the trout and testing the water.  They have been learning and are ready!

10/13/15

It is starting!!!  Less than one week after the  trout eggs were delivered, some are starting to hatch.  Look below and see if you can tell from the picture on the left before looking at the picture on the right.  The next step is for the fourth graders to share some information on the blog about what an "Alevin" is and what we can expect next.  Stay tuned!

 

Also today, fourth grade students met with Mr. Kirwan and Mr. Turnbull to learn all about how to take care of the trout.  They learned about clean water, habitats and what trout need in order to live and be healthy.  They also learned about the daily data sheet that we'll be using to record observation and information about the trout. This includes testing for pH and ammonia twice a week, counting eggs and removing bad ones, noting the water level, confirming the water clarity and even making sure that there are bubbles in the tank.  We are going to have a great time becoming trout experts!

10/8/15

The trout eggs have been a great addition to the school!  On the first day, we had to remove 20 'bad' eggs out of about 250-300.  Today, only one.  That is great news, because in nature, the reason that trout lay so many eggs is because a lot don't survive; so we are doing pretty well so far.  Since yesterday, classes have been able to use the eggs to make observations, to practice estimating and counting and to read a lot of background information about trout and their life cycles.  Check out how you can see the trout's eyes through the egg!

   

10/7/15

The wait is over; the trout eggs came today!  We have started our journey to raise Rainbow Trout at Bear Tavern with the hopes of releasing them into the wild at the Forest Resource Education Center in Jackson, NJ in early June.  The preparation has been a total team effort that included help from Mr. Kirwan in setting up the tank and fixing any leaks as well as a tremendous amount of support from our PTO!  We even had a man named Paul drive over from Howell to lend us a chiller to make the water cold enough until ours came in the mail yesterday.  The water is a chilly 53 degrees and the chemicals look good!  We hope to use this blog to share our school-wide trout experience with you.  For the first three days, Mr. Kirwan and I will be taking care of the daily maintenance, but will turn it over to our fourth grade students next week.  It is exciting for the whole school.  ~Mr. Turnbull

What we need to do:

• Each day, students will remove 'bad eggs.'  These are the ones that turn solid white and the ones in which you can no longer see the trout's eyes.  That is why at this stage they are called "eyed eggs," because you can actually see the eyes through the egg.
• Fill out a data sheet each day that includes temperature, water clarity, chemical tests, water level and egg count.
• We test for pH and ammonia twice a week each and record the results.

Even though fourth grade will be spearheading the project, the whole school will get to watch the trout grow, making observations and connections to what they are learning in class.  Plus, it's just really fun to watch eggs hatch and fish grow!