BCS Students Raise Trout In Classroom

On a sunny afternoon at the Brookfield Town Park, Brookfield seventh graders said goodbye to 170 of their classmates.

Off into the water swam 170 brook trout, hitting the natural environment after growing up since an egg in Science teacher Nikolaus Reff’s room.

As part of Trout Unlimited’s Trout in the Classroom project, Reff’s seventh graders nurtured the fish through their first seven months of life until big enough to go out on their own.

In fact, the kids did so well that 170 of the 200 eggs they received survived to swim off in the park.

That survival rate, said Trout Unlimited’s Bill Jackson, is unheard of.

Students worked on keeping the trout fed and alive in the classroom’s 55-gallon aquarium.

They checked the water’s PH level every day and fed the trout provided DEC- approved food.

Water tests followed the chemistry of the water, including the nitrogen cycle.

The aquarium and water temperature had to be set correctly before the eggs arrived and went in.

Reff said 56 degrees—close to the temperature of a natural ...