Trout In the Classroom

 Our classroom is once again participating in the Trout in the Classroom program sponsored by the Nebraska Game and Parks.  Our tank is provided by a Nebraska Environmental Trust grant.

We set up our fifty-gallon tank the second week in November.  The tank has to cycle for six to eight weeks to set up a colony of bacteria to complete the nitrification process in the tank.  The eggs arrived the second week of January and are now feeding and swimming throughout our tank.  This has offered our students many learning opportunities as demonstrated by the article below.

Eight weeks prior to the trout actually arriving we had to treat the water and test the levels of ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH, and high pH.  Before even putting the water in the tank we had to rinse it and clean the rocks that were in it. This was to make sure that water was suitable for the fish to actually live in and that there wasn't any bacteria or harmful chemical that would hurt the trout. Then we had to test the temperature of our tank to make sure it wasn't too warm. Trout need cool water around 50°F in order to keep oxygen levels high. We then set up a steady stream so it would be like their natural habitat. Water flows over the eggs like it would in the river. We test the water twice a week to make sure there aren't any drastic changes. Finally, the trout arrived. We put the eggs in a breeder basket at the front of the tank. We calculated that the eggs would hatch anywhere between 5-9 days after their arrival. We also had to remove any dead eggs from the rest of the group. The dead eggs were cloudy and white. Once they hatched they kept their yolk sacs and relied on them for food. Then once they started getting bigger and becoming less reliable of their yolk sacs they began shedding them. Once they had begun shedding the yolk we started to feed as they swam towards the top of the tank. And here we are.

By Tarah Ross & Madie Rauch