By Cyndi Camp, Doc Fritchey Chapter – Trout Unlimited

In November, the Cathedral School’s 8th grade class in downtown Harrisburg received its shipment of trout eggs for its much anticipated Trout in the classroom adventure.

Thanks to Dave Cross, liaison for St. Margaret Mary School’s Trout in the Classroom program last year, and his son, the 55 gallon, 4 foot long aquarium, its assorted pumps, filters and chiller were up and running well in advance.

Maureen Mahnken, the participating teacher, called in a bit of a panic because the eggs were in water in a plastic bag, and she didn’t know what to do next. I asked her to float the bag in the aquarium, and when I arrived shortly after school let out, was met by Maureen and three very enthusiastic students named Mercedes, Leeamsy and Jade. They stayed after class to be involved in the first step of their project.

We released the eggs into a “breeder net” and were supposed to count them—a clearly impossible task. Maureen and the girls estimated 350 eggs, 41 of which were dead on arrival.

Over the next several days, a few dozen or so more eggs died, and in the meantime, others started to hatch. Within a week, all had hatched and the fry started to “button up,” absorbing their yolk sacs.

On December 14, Frank Viozzi and I went to visit the class and watched the students release their “babies,” as they called them, into the enormous volume of water. All headed right to the gravel on the bottom and tucked in.

Frank took many photos of the students as they surrounded the tank and jockeyed for position to see and participate.

Our instructions are to give only tiny amounts of food, spread over 2-3 feedings a day, after the fry begin to swim to the surface. As of December 21, six fry were up looking for food and gobbled it quickly. I’m totally amazed that such tiny creatures can swim up that huge column of water, but there they are, and more will follow in the next few days.

Maureen reports that all 14 students in the class are now actively interested and involved in the care of their charges. They test water quality, remove and replace three gallons of water and check for dead fry daily. They are keeping journals, learning about watersheds and the nitrogen cycle and are taking responsibility for the trout entrusted to them.

So far, there appear to be no further deaths. The students are fearful that the tank will not support the large number of fish they currently have. According to Trout in the Classroom project teachers from previous years and Fish and Boat Commission sources, we can expect significant losses over the coming months. Nevertheless, things are going very well at this time.

The class sent a computer-generated thank you card to the Doc Fritchey Chapter.

These are really neat kids, and it’s my privilege to get to know them.

Visit the Doc Fritchey Chapter – Trout Unlimited website and the Trout in the Classroom webpage for more information. Reprinted from the January issue of Hatches.

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