Progress Report FISH

I attended the 2nd Annual Aquaponics Association Conference last weekend in Denver and learned some new things about my hobby. One of the sections addressed the care and feeding of rainbow trout. Today Spring Lake Trout Fishery delivered more than 60 trout ranging in size from 2 inches to more than 4 inches. They are slender little things but they will grow large and fat if they survive. Fortunately my water temperature is in the right range, which is likely a bit too cold for my tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberry vines and probably explains why only the bed of mint is truly thriving. I redesigned my grow trays, making them hold more water in keeping with the idea that they are semi-deep water culture instead of being NFT. I purchased seed for growing winter crops that the trout lecturer indicated were successful crops to use with trout. A raccoon or some similar pest got into my greenhouse a couple of weeks ago on the night when my latest grandson was born. All but two inches of the fish tank were emptied. Fortunately the gold fish I already had in the tank survived. At this point the gold fish are fat and doing well, but the Spring Lake man indicated that as the trout grow larger they will probably eat the gold fish.