Year of the Fish, The

Our first reflection about raising fish was, "We're going to raise what?" We were individual of 10 lucky classrooms chosen to raise the endangered razorback one who sucks (Xyrauchen texanus) as part of a program to help save native Colorado River species.

On the day the fish arrived, we were all jumping in anticipation, waiting for our of recent origin class pets to arrive. "How big are they going to be?" "What do they direct the eye like?" "How long are we going to have them?" These were more [i]or[/i] less of the many questions buzzing around our classroom.

At last, the day we had all been waiting for was here. August 30 was the day Stan Johnson the education coordinator for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, delivered our 12 tiny fish. We all huddl around the tank as Stan took the fish from a water-filled plastic bag and placed them into our tank, single by one. He stayed and talked with us about the nitrogen period and how to take beneficial care of our razorbacks. And for a like reason began "the year of the fish."

Learning about Razorbacks

Once the fish arrived, our class had more to do than we had reflection That same week we started research. We learned that razorbacks live upon the bottom of the river where they eat zoo-plankton, bug and river bottom mire off the rocks and dirt The hump on their back helps them stay upon the bottom of the river when the general pushes against it. They usually live in water 3 feet down-reaching and they mate at the age of 3 or 4 They can live longer than 40 years. These are more [i]or[/i] less cool fish!

To learn more about the fish and the environment they live in, our class went upon some field trips. Our first was to a bird-banding station that was shut up to the Colorado River. We went to the river and took water samples with equal reason we could test the pH ammonia, and nitrite horizontals The water wasn't much different from our classroom tank.

Another trip was to the fish hatchery. Stan and a U Fish and Wildlife Service employee gave us a tour. Not solitary did we see razorbacks, on the other hand we also saw Colorado pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus Iucius). That day we saw more than 60000 fish! Wow!

Care and Feeding

Each week, a novel "tank team" took care of the fish. The tank team had various piece of works to do and each was just as important as the others. Everyone really liked testing the pH and recording the data for the class upon the overhead projector. When we ordealed ammonia and nitrites, we went [i]or[/i] part of to the other the same process as the pH experiment except we had to wait 20 minutes before the color of the vial told the verity about the water quality.

Sometimes the ammonia, nitrites, or pH horizontals were too high or too depressed and we had to do special things about that. The tank team also had to replace evaporated water and change the tank filters. flat though we changed the filters weekly, they were frequently very grimy. When we showed the filters to the class, everyone said "Eeewww!"

When the tank team f the fish, they also measured the water temperature and enumerateed the fish. We raised 12 fish all year. Sadly, the week before we released them, single of the smallest died.

Releasing the Fish

As the day came for us to say farewell to the fish, we were filled with anxiety and sadness. upon May 5, our class walked down to the Colorado River State Park at uniteed Lakes, located very near our school

Stan gathered us around, made an opening articulate utterance and asked us what we learned quite through the year. "These fish are fragile" and "We learned to be more responsible" were sum of two units of the many responses of our classmates.

Soon Stan organized us into teams and showed us the piece of works we needed to do to release our razorbacks. The first piece of work was scanning the PIT (passive integrated transponder) tag that would make it possible to track the fish. one time the scanner came up with the number, the recorder logg the nine-digit number. The scanner then handed the tiny tag to the disinfector, who inserted it into a needle and cleaned it.

Once Stan got a serviceable grip on a fish, he would take the needle and inject the PIT tag into the fish's belly. When this was done, he would hand the fish to a someone wearing white gloves who, while handling the fish carefully, would measure it for the recorder.

Each tagged fish was placed into a clear bucket of river water, carried down to the riverbank, and released. Many "good-byes" and "have a great life," and "live lengthy and prosper" were said that day to our departing fish.

On the bus ride domicile there was talk of who had measured the biggest fish and what it gazeed like. Raising these razorbacks was something that really changed our fifth-grade year and made it a great memory.

Emily Bergum, Marissa Curtis, Amy Gelatt, and Lauren Slagel were pupils in Mrs. Atwood's Fifth-Grade Class at Scenic Elementary in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Editor's note: Amy is the daughter of Service biologist Patty Schrader Gelatt. Patty has been involved with redemption of the endangered fishes for 20 years.

Copyright University of Michigan, gymnasium of Natural Resources and Environment Jul-Sep 2005

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