arrival of our brook trout eggs for our Trout in the Classroom Program! We tested the water quality by checking the ph, ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels of the water to make sure everything was perfect for our trout. To my students, its just fun to see the water change colors as they count the drops of the chemicals that I add as we perform the chemistry tests...they simply learn that trout need certain conditions to live and grow which includes cold, clean water!
The students announced the arrival the UPS truck and our driver agreed to celebrate our delivery with a picture!
The students observed a first hand lesson on
living and nonliving things as many of the eggs this year arrived dead. This was a little hard for them. However, we celebrated the ones that we placed in the tank hoping for the best. We received 235 eggs total. Unfortunately, we had 172 eggs dead upon arrival...We placed 63 living eggs in two baskets in our aquarium. overnight some hatched, but died immediately. Over the weekend they all hatched with more dying. We currently have 27 alevin in our tank. The students remain optimistic, but also begin questioning what we will do if we do not have enough for them to release in the spring.
Here's a peek at how excited they were just prior to the eggs arriving! Wish us luck as this teacher is also concerned about each student being able to place a trout in the stream in the spring...every year is a new challenge...stay tuned to see how we make out!
