Raising trout becomes a classroom hit

The mystique of raising trout is intimidating, Richard Landreth said.

Actually raising trout, he assured several Smyth County teachers, is easy.

If you can keep a goldfish alive, you can keep a trout alive, he said. Goldfish flourish in about 75-degree water. Trout like it a good 20 degrees cooler. That's the main difference.

Aside from being easy, the state Trout in the Classroom coordinator said, raising trout is educational. Last year, a fish tank in the classroom helped one Virginia teacher cover 13 of the 14 life-science objectives on the state Standards of Learning, Landreth said. The program, run by the state's Trout Unlimited chapters, will reach about 15,000 students in more than 100 classrooms this year.

Here's how it works. Students get fish eggs in the fall. Landreth said eggs from the Wytheville hatchery, destined for the Smyth County classrooms, would likely be ready in November. Once the classes get their egg shipment, they put them in a basket inside a prepared 55-gallon aquarium. Then, when the fish are 2 to 3 inches long, they are released into the wild. That usually comes in April or May.

Classes work with Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to release the fish. Landreth said the state doesn't want brook trout introduced to some streams or brown trout in others.

Between November and May, students wait and learn. They change the water as needed, checking its purity and making sure everything stays clear and cold.

Trout need clean, cold water -- very clean. If trout can live in the water, Landreth said, he can drink it. He said he sometimes demonstrates the point to classes by dipping a cup into an aquarium and quenching a thirst.

During the school year, students sharing a classroom with trout learn about stream ecology, conservation and biology. They learn to test pH and look out for nitrates, nitrites and ammonia. Ammonia can kill a fish, Landreth said. The best protection, students learn, is good bacteria that eat the ammonia, which comes from the fish waste.

"When the eggs arrive, it's a great time to be there to watch the kids," Landreth said.

The first Virginia Trout in the Classroom program began five years ago in Martinsville. Since then, 30,000 trout have been raised and released.

Two Smyth County schools are joining the others across the state this year. A pair of fourth-grade teachers at Marion Intermediate, Joyce Cullop and Pam Leonard, will share a tank, and the other tank will go into Carolyn Clarke's sixth-grade classroom at Chilhowie Middle School.

Though it may be as easy as Landreth promises to raise a bunch of trout, it's not cheap, at least not for the first year. Startup costs run about $1,200. It gets better in subsequent years, where, barring any major equipment failures, $50 will get you back in business. The money for the Smyth County schools' projects comes from a $40,000 four-year commitment from the American Electric Power Foundation.

Four other Trout in Classroom programs are going into Norton-area schools.

Washington County has a Trout in the Classroom program going already, sort of. Sharon Mutter, a seventh-grade teacher at Wallace Middle School, has a tank up and running with a sign that reads, "Fish coming." Deni Peterson, Learning Landscapes program manager, attended the meeting in Smyth County to learn how to make sure the sign keeps its promise.

The Trout in the Classroom programs are so effective and popular -- a survey over the summer found that 87 percent of the teachers who responded felt it help them meet Standards of Learning requirements -- that Landreth issued a friendly warning.

"Trout in the Classroom programs are worse than rabbits," he said.

As evidence, he presented the Roanoke area, which went from three tanks to 19 in one year. And there is still a waiting list, he said.

Local Trout Unlimited President Eric Sacknoff has seen some of that breeding desire. Already, he said, there are more teachers wanting to take part than there is. Once word got around that the Mountain Empire chapter of Trout Unlimited was sponsoring the classroom program, Sacknoff said his group has been bombarded with calls from teachers as far away as Bristol. Sacknoff's Mountain Empire chapter covers the five-county area of Carroll, Grayson, Smyth, Washington and Wythe.

Mark Sage is a staff writer for the Smyth County News & Messenger in Marion.