Trout in the Classroom

Posts about ongoing and past TFF sponsored Trout in the Classroom programs.
Matt Blyth is the current TFF member to lead these activities.

Reminder! Help needed for the Trout in the Classroom project!

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Reposting this as so far I have not had any response!

Folks! Our 2023 Trout in the Classroom project will kick off on February 2nd when we are able to pick up our eggs from GRTU. Unfortunately this year I am unavailable on the pick up date and so I am looking for a few TFF volunteers who can help with getting the eggs from Sattler, TX to the schools here in Houston. I need people who can help with the following:

  • Someone who can drive from Houston to Sattler, TX on the morning of Feb 2nd, meet the GRTU representative to pick up our eggs and then drive back to Katy HS in the early afternoon.
  • Then we need the following runners who can all meet at Katy HS when the eggs arrive and transport them to the following schools:
  • a) Egg transport from Katy HS to Pasadena HS on the afternoon of the 2nd
  • b) Egg transport from Katy HS to Westbury HS on the afternoon of the 2nd
  • c) Egg transport from Katy HS to Memorial Private School (Dairy Ashford and Memorial area) on the afternoon of the 2nd
  • d) Potentially someone to go from Katy HS to Rosenberg also – TBC

Please contact me at 832 444 4206 if you are able to help! Thanks! Matt Blyth

Trout in the Classroom Update

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The TFF supported trout tanks are doing well, with the rainbow fry now sporting par marks and feeding ravenously! We have had an odd year this year, with some tanks doing very well and others crashing, leaking or fish mysteriously dying. However overall we still have a healthy group of several hundred fish and we are a month away from when we will release the fish into the TU section of the Guadalupe. Our release is planned for Saturday May 14th in Sattler, TX. If anyone from the club would like to join us, you are more than welcome. Send me a message for the details!

Matt Blyth (8324444206)

2022 TFF Trout In The Classroom Project

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Sorry this is a bit belated, but during the last few weeks we have kicked off the 2022 TFF sponsored Trout In The Classroom project! We have 14 tanks running in 10 high schools all across the Houston area. Rainbow trout eggs were supplied by GRTU and all have now hatched and are now in the alevin (yolk sac stage) as you can see in the pictures. The plan, as in previous years, is for the students to raise the fish up until they are 2-3in long (usually by mid-May) when they will be released into the TU managed section of the Guadalupe. This is the tenth year that TFF has been taking part in this program, in partnership with GRTU. GRTU also supports 12 tanks running in the San Antonio/Hill Country area and we are part of 1000’s of similar tanks in classrooms all across the country. This year’s schools are as follows:

  1. Katy HS (3 tanks)
  2. Paetow HS (2 tanks)
  3. Morton Ranch HS (2 tanks)
  4. Westbury HS
  5. Memorial Private HS
  6. Fulshear HS
  7. Foster HS
  8. Lamar Consolidated HS
  9. Lamar Alternate Learning Center
  10. George Ranch HS

I will try to keep everyone up to date with pictures as the program progresses. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a shout at 832 444 4206! Matt.

Help needed to distribute trout eggs!

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The 2022 TFF Trout in the Classroom project kicks off this week, with the eggs arriving on Thursday January 13th. To help get the eggs to all the schools on time, I am in need of two volunteers! Both would need to be able to meet me at Katy HS at around 2:30-3:00pm on the 13th, with one then going to Memorial HS (at Dairy Ashford and Memorial) and the other going to Westbury HS (close to the beltway and highway 90). A small cooler will be needed to transport the eggs. If you can help, please give me a shout on 832 444 4206. Matt Blyth.

Trout in the Classroom Fish Release

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Hi – I have released I forgot to update everyone on the release of the trout from the club Trout in the Classroom project!! Sorry about that!

So here goes! As the project has been much reduced this year due to most schools having limits on live animals due to concerns about in class room disinfectant spraying, we only had two schools participating. On Saturday May 9th we met our local TU representatives on the Guadalupe River near Sattler, TX to release our remaining fry into the river before the summer break. We released around 100, 2-3inch long baby rainbows into the river at the same spot as we have been using for previous releases. There was no word on if the fish remained socially distanced once in the river. All went well and looking forward I hope we can get back to our much larger program as we ran in years past when we had 14 tanks and were releasing over 1000 fish!

I will post details of the 2022 program when we start organizing it in the fall of this year. Meanwhile if you would like to get involved or have suggestions on schools who would like to participate please let me know! Matt – 832 444 4206.

Trout in the Classroom Update

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Apologies for the lack of updates lately – the club trout tanks are still moving along. We managed to survive snow-mageddon without any loses, as we had the very good luck to have power throughout the whole week at both schools! However spring break looks like it managed to cut our numbers down a bit with some heavy loses at one of the schools. We still have healthy baby trout, growing on at both schools and are planning on a release date sometime in May, before the weather gets too hot and the Guadalupe tube hatch starts in full force. I will post details of the release when I have them and all club members are welcome to come out and join us. If you have any questions about the program, feel free to give me a shout. Matt Blyth, 832 444 4206

2021 Trout in the Classroom project begins!

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The TFF sponsored Trout in the Classroom project has started in the Houston area with the arrival of our trout eggs from GRTU. In a normally year we have approximately 14-15 tanks running in various high school science classrooms all over the Houston area. However thanks to covid-19, many schools currently have bans on live animals in the classrooms due to disinfectant spraying, or requirements that they can be rapidly rehomed if needed. This has meant we have only one of last year’s schools participating in 2021 – Westbury HS. However we also gained one new classroom at the Memorial Private High School, near Dairy Ashford and Memorial Drive, to give us two tanks running. The upside is we got a lot of trout eggs for these two tanks and so hopefully we have a bunch of young fish to release into the Guad in early May. As usual, if anyone has questions about the program or would like to help out, please give me a shout on 832 444 4206. Thanks! Matt

Trout In the Classroom Update

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Due to the ongoing school closures thanks to COVID-19, we made the decision to release all the trout from the Trout in the Classroom project early this year. Many of the schools are on complete lockdown, with teachers not allowed in to check or feed on the fish, others were being completely disinfected internally. With some begging and pleading we managed to get as many tanks out as we could and then over the last few days we have been releasing the fish on the usual section of the Guad, near Canyon Lake.  Hopefully next year we are able to run the program as long as we usually do! Thank you to all the teachers for taking part, the club for helping to fund the new tanks, to Ralph Havis for volunteering to help this year and to Ron and TU for their continued support and of course for the eggs!

We will be back next year!

Matt

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Trout in the Classroom Update

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Folks

Our TFF trout in the classroom tanks continue to do well, and all the fish survived spring break with no issues. However COVID-19 has meant that we are looking at multiple weeks of school closures now, and many of the teachers have limited to no access to their classrooms during this time. In addition many of the schools are being disinfected by cleaning crews that likely will disinfect everything they see, including fish tanks.

As such we are looking at getting the fish released as early as possible this year. TU is working on permits and possible dates and as soon as we have something locked in I will update everyone here.

Matt

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