Raising Natives for release as a school project...advice needed.

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twhittle

twhittle

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Feb 8, 2007
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Clarkston, Wa
I have a friend who is an Agriculture teacher here in Wash. St. He is interested in having a setup in of natives (trout, etc) to raise in his class as a project and then release. He is working with the Dept. of Fish and Game and a local hatchery to develop a partnership so that he is not breaching state law. The advice I can't help him with because I have no experience is with the setup. He has the ability to get a 350 gallon setup with a wet/dry filter. What does he need to get going on this? He needs a chiller to cool the water correct? Any other advice on the setup would be appreciated. Once he gets governmental approval on moving forward he will need to use his budget to start purchasing. Either a link explaining this, or any other advice would be great. My experience is limited to cichlids. Thanks.
 
When it comes to trout consider the following:
1) Temp - get the parameters from the hatchery, use a high capacity chiller, preferably a flow through design, not a coil to hang in the water.

2) Oxygen - by keeping the water cool there will be more dissolved oxygen. Supplement this with a QUALITY AIR DIFFUSER, Bar types are best.

3) Current - Intake at one end, return the other. Trout are very prone to orientation with any current present. Have it defined and steady. Have the Bar diffuser at the end with the return.

4) Food - Young trout need ample food, but be warned, the food that most hatcheries use will wreck your hopes to raise the trout to a release size. if you choose to use it be very sparing and dilligent in your feedings. I recommend a programable feeder.

5) Filter - Wet-Dry is good, go big or go home I say. Also supplement this with a dedicated chemical filter with loads of ammonia handling media. Lots of Act. Carb. too.

One final point: If you want to have a quality experience with the children, consider keeping only a dozen or so trout. They grow fast and will pick the hell out of each other. You can release them all at a certain size or, I suggest, you release the bully. The trout will compete with each other for food and a new bully will step up each time the previous one has been released. This makes more room for the rest. If you keep a doz. or so I think you will get about 6months of quality exposure for the children before you are down to 1-2 trout remaining.

If this helps....great.

PS: avoid "feeder fish" stick with hatchery pellets or leafworms/nightcrawlers (chopped)
Respectfully, FireMedic
 
Thank you very much. Very Helpful.
 
aquatic eco systems makes educational systems just for this purpose, check out their website or call and request a catalog.
 
just make sure he is working with your states DNR, etc. It is looked down upon to release a native fish back to the wild, in the native fish keeper community, reason being mainly disease. Check out nanfa.org for some more info and help.
 
He is already working with the authorities and a local hatchery.
 
I raised and released salmon fry at a grade school five years ago. We did it in a 50 gallon acrylic tank with an Eheim canister and a chiller (make sure the chiller is rated for cold water applications). It was a lot of fun, the DFW gives you the eggs, once they are free-swimming fry we released them in the Molalla River.

Great experience, I'd recommend it to anyone with a bit of fishkeeping experience.

P.S. Another teacher was awarded a grant for the equipment, you may want to look into what's out there.
 
Thanks, I will pass that along to him!
 
Dan Feller;1602276; said:
I raised and released salmon fry at a grade school five years ago. We did it in a 50 gallon acrylic tank with an Eheim canister and a chiller (make sure the chiller is rated for cold water applications). It was a lot of fun, the DFW gives you the eggs, once they are free-swimming fry we released them in the Molalla River.

Great experience, I'd recommend it to anyone with a bit of fishkeeping experience.

P.S. Another teacher was awarded a grant for the equipment, you may want to look into what's out there.
Click to expand...

I did that about 5 years ago. I was helping a grade school do a salmon egg program called ASERP (Atlantic Salmon Egg Rearing Program) funded by the Massachusetts DMF. They sent us the eggs, they also gave us a check to buy supplies and stuff. So we got a 33 long, a chiller, an aquaclear a ph probe and an electronic thermometer and we were on our way.

It was fun watching the salmon develop. One kid saved the alevin when the sponge fell off the end of the intake tube and sucked them up. Then, we took them up to the Merrimack River and released them.
 
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