Brook Trout Habitat and Our Aquarium Part 1

Brook Trout Habitat and Our Aquarium - Part 1

Basic Needs �Water Today’s class �Shelter �Food �Oxygen �Elimination of waste

Meandering stream

Eggs develop over the winter to hatch in spring So trout eggs need really cold water!

Our Winter Aquarium? The “chiller” and the styro-foam keep the water really cold So the aquarium temperature matches the river

Ideal Brook Trout Habitat: Shelter For adult fish Undercut banks, logs & boulders

Ideal Brook Trout Habitat: Shelter What about baby trout? Why does Mama trout bury eggs in gravel? �To shelter them from predators? �To keep the current from carrying them away? �For some other reason we haven’t thought of?

Let’s do an experiment to see if gravel does protect trout eggs from a predator like the great blue heron

Our experiment Make a prediction Will the heron get more eggs from container A or container B? Container A Uncovered eggs Container B Eggs under gravel

Our Aquarium? �Do we provide shelter? �Could a heron sneak into your school and take the cover off the aquarium?

Your trout eggs have hatched! �Let's take a look at them �When you did your egg observations you made drawing of what you thought the trout would look like when they hatched �Was your prediction correct?