10/17/2011: Trout Log—Eggs Have Arrived!

10-17-2011

The Cottage School has the privilege to participate in Trout Unlimited’s “Trout in the Classroom” program for the second year in a row. Last year we had a great first experience, supervised by biology teacher, Meredith, and we are looking forward to another great year.

Thursday October 13, 2,000 rainbow trout eggs were delivered to TCS from Trout Lodge Hatchery in Soap Lake, Washington. We divided the eggs up between the three local Trout in the Classroom participant schools—St. Pius X, and Crossroads Second Chance North in Roswell. Each school was only able to take 250 eggs because that’s the maximum amount that will survive in the 55-gallon tank we have at school. Including any more would cause waste to build up and kill many fish at once. We felt badly that we couldn’t keep all of the eggs, and instead of throwing them out, our history teacher, Allen, was kind enough to deposit them down at the shoals on the Chattahoochee during one of his many paddling visits to the river. We hoped the eggs might either develop on their own, or at least, feed another organism in the ecosystem.

Our trout are still in egg form and must stay in the dark to mimic their regular habitat. It is likely they will hatch in the next two weeks. None of our eggs have died, so it appears that we are doing our regular water changes properly.

The sealant is coming loose on the 55 gallon tank that we have. The Trout Unlimited contacts, Kevin and Ed, have promised to get us another one in about a week or two. It is better that we hit this obstacle early on, before the trout have hatched and are swimming around the tank. It is much easier to collect and store eggs while we are changing the water. Hopefully, we will have a limited number of deaths during this time, and plan to keep the eggs and any young fry in a cooler of water on ice while the transfer of tanks takes place. As long as the water stays around 55 degrees, they should be okay.

Students are still volunteering to participate in the daily routine of the Trout in the Classroom program. Meredith has interviewed, selected, and trained Jared Schwartz to be the head supervisor of the program and design a maintenance and feeding program that will ensure a productive yield of healthy trout this year! Please look forward to more updates from the Trout Log!

Until then, I’m gone fishin’,

Diego Cervantes