Halloween Treat!

What a treat...our Brook Trout eggs arrived on Halloween... The students were so excited. We checked the temperature of our tank to determine how long the eggs would need to acclimate.

 Our tank was 54 degrees.

The eggs arrived in a Styrofoam box packed with dry ice. The temperature of the water inside the bag of trout eggs measured 58 degrees. We allowed the bag to float on the top of the tank for 1 hour before separating living and nonliving eggs.           

                This year's shipment contained 349 total eggs. Some of them had already hatched into alevin. There were 82 eggs that did not survive the trip from the hatchery in Bellefonte, PA leaving 267 living eggs to be lovingly place in our trout tank.

             The eggs and alevin below appeared to be struggling so I placed them in a separate basket to prevent any bacteria from harming the other eggs in the even that they did not survive the first night at Lack-Tuscarora. As you can see their color is a little gray. They should be peachy/pink like those above. I just had to give them a chance to survive...Hoping to see them looking better in the morning.

  

I place a sign over the tank to help keep the Brook Trout from being stressed in the busy hallway and to help keep out the light until the trout transition to swim-up fry and begin to eat. This should occur right before Thanksgiving break.

Just for fun, I gave the students a pack of Swedish fish candy. The students were thrilled to have the trout arrive on Halloween...it was definitely a treat!