Setting Up Our Salmon Tank

Click on the coho above!

Mid-March 

Salmon Information

Salmon in the Classroom - How Do I Do it?
(thanks to Renton School District for use of their site)

Where do salmon go in the ocean?

        Coho

       Chinook

                                     Pink                     

All pictures are courtesy of The Salmon Site

For Washington State schools, you may check out the WILD Salmon Education Trunk

Salmon in the Classroom
at 
Forks Middle School

Click here for pictures and writings about "our fish"!

The Beginning - 200 eyed eggs arrived in January

Students raise coho salmon at Forks Middle School, in conjunction with their Water Quality Studies.  A tank and equipment were purchased with part of two grants we received from the Washington Education Association and Trout Unlimited. Students also use PALM handheld computers to collect data on the tank and in the field in order to precisely monitor the water quality parameters that are so important to salmon survival.  We raise around 200 eyed coho salmon eggs from the Sol Duc Hatchery, a state-run Dept. of Fish and Wildlife facility. The eggs are placed in our 55-gallon aquarium on an egg tray attached close to the top of the tank, which allow students to see them easily and keep track of what was going on.   The tank is kept dark, with dark paper on the sides and covering the top so as not to stress out the growing embryos.   The sac fry will hide  in the large rocks on the tank bottom, and it really will not look like there are 200 fry hiding out there!  The sac fry hatch out in late January and are clumsy, moving around awkwardly, but  mostly just laying on the bottom.   In late February and early March, the sac fry will  just about be done eating from their yolk sacs, and will start to swim!  This is always very exciting!  It is important to not feed them until they have used up their entire supply of food in their sac; when they  have completely "buttoned up" their bellies they will be ready to eat.  So in early March we start teasing them with food.   We release our coho in Mill Creek in April.  We wish to thank once again the Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition for their assistance in helping us develop a curriculum that combines the outdoor study of watersheds and the raising of salmon with interesting reading, writing, and science activities in the classroom.

Questions?  Email Sherry Schaaf at sschaaf@mail.wavcc.org

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