Mommy, where to babies come from?

Well, if it’s a fish in our area there’s a good chance it came from here.  Our local MT Fish Wildlife & Parks Hatchery Station.

These big tubes are where the eggs are placed right after they are fertilized. 

Our field trip was  about a week too late as the containers of fry had already been moved to the next size tank.

 

Here are a few fingerlings the kids got to see.  This was the only tank in the whole building that still had any fish in it.  The rest were all outside already.

We braved the weather and headed outside .  There were many rows here that still had fish in them, getting bigger and stronger.  Despite the fact they don’t feed the fish (except for one breed of fish).  

From here they are moved into the bigger ponds that average from 1 – 3 acres in size.  I’ll head back there one of these days and snap a picture of the ponds while they’re full of water and fish.  It won’t be long and they’ll be heading out to the lake and the river…. several million babies!