Back in January Green Mountain Conservation Group’s (GMCG) Education Coordinator and I visited a number of classrooms for the introduction visits for this year’s Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program. This program lets students connect to their watershed in their classrooms. They watch in their very own cold water tank as trout eggs, from the Fish and Game hatchery, hatch and grow from sac fry to fingerlings. They learn about trout life cycles, the specific needs of trout in the wild, and the importance of a healthy habitat.
This was an unfamiliar program to me. There is a sister program called Salmon in the Classroom (SIC) which is more common where I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. But when I was in elementary school we raised crawfish (without much success) and mealworms (who had a higher survival rate but were much less interesting). I was genuinely excited to help teach and share such a cool and engaging science project with these students. I helped update the presentation, came up with some fun trout activities, and at one point dropped off a replacement filter when there was a malfunction. GMCG’s role once the program is going is usually to provide some basic education and support where teachers need it.
This has been an exceptionally unusual year.
Two out of three of the teachers who are participating still have access to their classrooms and fish tanks. The third contacted GMCG and on Sunday March 22nd, World Water Day, we adopted one thirty gallon cold water tank containing the far too fragile lives of roughly three hundred tiny trout. As well as a fifty gallon warm water tank full of much hardier golden shiners, a sucker fish, and a crayfish named Larry who seems unconcerned with the state of the world. The larger tank is unrelated to the TIC program but is home to much beloved classroom pets.
I haven’t had a fish tank since I was five and even then I distinctly remember not being allowed to even feed the fish due to an abundance of enthusiasm when it came to fish food. This trout tank is a little more complicated than the twenty year old simplistic perception of what I thought it took to take care of fish. At this point an abundance of food in the tank could kill the fish. They are still very much at the point in their lives where they are learning how to eat and leftover food could cause the nutrient levels to spike. Everything seems to be a balance in this tank. The ammonia, pH, nitrates, and nitrites. Every morning I test the water and make baby step adjustments following the cramped instructions of the pocket sized aquarium test kit. I check the filter to make sure no little fish have gotten trapped and scan the bottom of the tank for any more casualties. We had some loss after the stress of the move from school to office and after a sharp ammonia spike. But I have yet to come in to find my worst fears for these fish realized and a tank unmoving.
So I will continue to try and keep a balance. Checking the tank morning and evening. Spending maybe a little too much time staring at little fish and contemplating the fragility of this piece of the watershed I am trying very hard to hold on to.The world feels like it has ground to a halt but individual lives have not. The three hundred or so tiny lives of juvenile trout have not. I hold the hope that things will get better and that we will be able to handle the different that the future brings. And I hold the hope that these fish will reach the river. Regardless, I am going to do my best.
Ellie is a full-year LRCC member serving with Green Mountain Conservation Group. You can read more about Ellie here!