Wow, are these trout growing fast!  It seems like they get bigger every time we look at them.  Most of the fry are in the 3-5 cm range, with a few lunkers to boot.  They are starting to lose their parr marks and the pectoral fins have developed the classic orange and white identification stripe.  The estimated population has remained steady at 270 trout.  The trout seem very happy.  The Nitrate levels have gone way up to 80 PPM.  The Nitrate test kit has always seemed unreliable, as the dark red colors on the match card are tough to read ...

 Since the December 8th update, we have lost 80 fish.  We have been losing on average, 10 a day.  Our highest total of deaths of fish was 17 fish in one day.  We are trying to figure out what the problem is in the water that is causing the fish to die. One remedy that we tried was adding aquarium salt, and it seems to have worked.  Since we added aquarium salt, we have had three days that nine or less fish have died. To also help the trout, we have been trying to lower our pH.  We first ...

So by now we hope that some of you have checked out the trout cam (Montgomery School Trout Cam).  Today was a great day for our trout.  We lowered the breeding net and our swim-up fry have swam out.  We estimated that about 1/4 of our trout have gone into the big tank. Along with our perfectly healthy fish we have some oddities like our trout with a head growing out of its stomach, Slingshot the Two trouts attached at the tail, and spinner - the trout who can only swim in circles. Still we are celebrating how ...

The Trout Cam is BACK!!!! Anyone can visit our trout and see how they are doing, at any time. Usually the lights are off on nights, so the best times to view the Trout are Mondays-Fridays 8 AM - 6 PM. Watch with us as the trout grow up!

Most of the trout have absorbed their sacs, and are well on their way to being "Swim-up Fry."  The curious thing is that they have not started to "swim up."  Our assertion is that because we have not regularly removed the top insulation, the swim-up fry are not well adjusted ...

Ammonia levels in the tank have started to rise as more and more eyed eggs hatch into Sac-Fry. So far we have removed 20 dead trout/eggs bringing our total down to 407. Overall the Sac-Fry seem to be healthy looking and active when disturbed (light or probing for removals). Last year we had approximately 45 Sac-Fry who hatched with deformities (curved spines, angles spines, and 2 with two-heads). So far we have not seen any deformities, but we are keeping the light out and only searching quickly for dead eggs/trout. We have started our unit on Water, Water Quality, and ...

The 6^th Grade students at Montgomery School are continuing their studies of how human activities affect our watersheds this year. Our goal is to learn how to be better stewards of the watersheds on our planet, and create solutions and habits that we can all do to help preserve and improve the quality of our freshwater streams and rivers.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about the brook trout and how they survive in the wild. This year we are going to raise them again and so far our numbers are much better then last year. 

We are in our second year of the Trout In the Classroom (TIC) project and we have loved every minute.  Our TIC program started through a partnership with our local Trout Unlimited Chapter, Valley Forge Trout Unlimited.  The Trout in the Classroom program was integrated into our new Environmental Education Initiative that seeks to educate our students about current environmental issues, develop an appreciation for natural world, and encourage our students to become effective members of society who are ready and willing to promote changes to ensure a more sustainable existence on Earth.  The TIC Program became an invaluable experiential ...