The Kids are Running the Show!

November 1, 2016
We are using our Google Sheet to keep data (click here to see the real data) and we are humming!  Our ammonia looks great in both tanks and our pH is coming down nicely in the trout tank.  Our chemicals are looking good and the fish are doing well.  Many of the trout are losing their yolk sacs and looking bigger and darker.  They are even swimming around more.  We learned a valuable lesson today.  Sometimes if the reading looks like it doesn't make sense, you should retest to see if both results look the same.  Today we did that with our tropical tank and the tests confirmed that the water is excellent!  The ammonia went way down and looks great.

  

October 25th Update

The trout are getting bigger and more active every day! This enlarged picture of an alevin was taken last week and they are already looking larger and a little darker:

This picture is from today:

We are noticing some cloudiness in the tropical tank and our ammonia level is a little bit higher than we want, so were are going to add some "Nite Out" for the ammonia and keep an eye on it.  We are also going to cover the side of the tank just in case sunlight from the window is adding to the cloudiness.  Our pH in the trout tank was a little high, so we are adding some pH stabilizer.  While the trout are moving around a bit more, they are still mostly just laying around.  We found out that it is because in nature, they'd be hiding under the gravel to avoid predators and sunlight.  They think it is normal to just lay around...  Here is a video of our findings:

They are Hatching, They are Hatching!

10/20/16

Each morning, students test the pH and Ammonia in both tanks, as well as make observations about the temperature, the growth of the fish and even how they behave.  

As our trout eggs continue to hatch, we are seeing them swim and wiggle more and more.  They still have the eggs attached to their stomachs, called "yolk sacs."  Trout that have just hatched are called Alevins.

Our Tropical Tank

10/19/16
This year, we added a tropical tank to our project!  The tropical tank will provide a really nice contrast to our trout tank.  In our earlier post we described our trout (where they are from and more), but here is some interesting information about the Amazon River and why it is such a unique place for fish:

Facts about the Amazon River:

The Amazon has been described as is the greatest river in the world. Rich in history and surrounded by a wealth of mystery. Scientists, even today, have discovered only a small percentage of the millions of species of plants and animals that live in the rain forests in the Amazon River basin.     Located in South America right at the equator, the Amazon River drains the entire northern half of the South American continent. All the tropical rains that drain into the great rain forests of the Amazon are carried to the ocean through the thousands of tributaries (smaller rivers) which feed the Amazon.     More water flows into the ocean from the Amazon River than the combined output of the Mississippi, the Nile, and the Yangtze rivers. Of all the river waters flowing into the world's oceans, one fifth of that water comes from the Amazon.
An Amazing Discovery  Seven years after the Spanish Explorer, Vincente Pinzon, had sailed with Christopher Columbus, Pinzon put together his own expedition to explore the east coast of South America. His ship was 200 miles off the coast, when a strange phenomenon occurred.    In what seemed to be the middle of the ocean, the sailors dropped a bucket overboard and were greatly surprised that they were floating in fresh water. They were 200 miles from the Gulf of the Amazon and could see no land. They turned west and sailed toward the coast of South America to discover the huge mouth of the Amazon River.  This means that fish could live in fresh water, but look a lot like salt water fish!

Did You Know? (Some basic facts about our project)

We have very different kinds of fish in our two tanks.  Our trout come from North America and generally live in the Western United States and Canada.  They like COLD water and we have to use a chiller to keep the water around 54 degrees Fahrenheit.  They came as eggs, but some are starting to hatch.  Once they hatch, they keep their egg attached to their stomachs so that they can eat.  They are called alevins and the egg becomes known as their 'yolk sac.'  

            





Our Bear Tavern trout eggs on October 18, 2016:

 

Let the Adventure Begin!

     

On October 13, 2016 our trout eggs arrived!  This year, we'll be raising Rainbow Trout in our main hallway in a 55 gallon fish tank.  This will be our second year raising trout, but we were able to expand our project this year to include a 55 gallon Amazon-themed tropical fish tank as well.  We'll be comparing and contrasting the different tanks.  There are many obvious differences that include the temperature in which they need to live, the foods they eat, the areas that they live in the wild and how they look.  We look forward to looking for similarities and making some great comparisons.

Each day, students will:

• Collect data including
• pH & ammonia levels of both tanks
• temperature of both tanks
• estimations or exact counts of the number of fish and/or eggs in each tank
• general observations
• Feed the fish
• Make connections & observations
• Generate, research and answer questions about the tanks
• Brainstorm ways to share our discoveries within the school and across the community

Our goal with this blog is to keep everyone informed as we explore and learn new things.  We want to connect the world through water and find the commonalities and differences between different living things and areas of the world.  We'll learn about trout and all different species of tropical fish (mostly tetras, mollys and plattys) that are native to the Amazon River Basin as well as water chemistry, science (we've already talked about condensation and why the trout tank with really cold water has water on the outside that looks like sweat while the tropical tank that is heated on the inside does not), and a lot more.

We feel that learning should be hands on and real and we cannot think of a better way to learn that to study real fish!  Plus having fun always makes learning better, and these tanks are awesome!!!  We hope you enjoy our adventures.