Release Day: Empty Tank Syndrome

Greetings students, families, and friends!

The day arrived! Our 40+ brook trout were released into the White River on Saturday May 30th, 2020! What a FANTASTIC experience it has been!! These trout started at egg stage, then fry stage, and finally, fingerlings (juvenile stage). Last year, are biggest issue was the water filter, and we remedied that problem with using one of the feeder baskets to as a barrier around the water filter. Yes, this caused the the filter not to siphon as clearly, but that was a risk I was willing to take!

Some of the challenges we came across this year:

1) Early on in the egg stage, one of the feeder baskets tipped, and released half the eggs into the large tank. We were able to rescue the majority of the eggs, but we still last a couple.

2) Trout travel. When schools closed due to COVID 19, I moved the trout from the classroom to my apartment. The trout were in their fry stage, and still fragile. The stress of the travel probably caused a variety of issues (pre-mature development, lost of frys, and overall just shock).

Release day!

We released 40+ juvenile brook trout into the White River at Gaysville Bridge. We found a GREAT little calm river pool on the side. This pool was filled with hundreds of other fish in the same juvenile stage, some tad poles, and LOTS of algae to feed on. First, we added some of the fresh river water to the tank water in the container (to help with the transition). Then we let the container of trout adjust to the water temperature a little bit. This calm section of the river was shallow and warmer than the tank water. THEN OFF THEY WENT!

(Future note- before trout capture- lower the tank water to about 50% to help! It took me over 20 minutes to capture the trout!).

HUGE thank yous to :

Rudi and the White River Partnership

VT Trout in the Classroom

Trout Unlimited

4/5/6 Students at SCS

Ms. Kaitlyn

Ms. Stetson

Assistant Jack

Until next time,

I trout it was a HUGE success for Trout in the Classroom SCS 2020!

Stay cool this summer!