# Students keep tank of fish native



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

This project is a good addition to the "Salmon in the classroom" program.

Students keep tank of fish native to state 
Saturday, October 09, 2004, By Matt Vandebunte, The Grand Rapids Press 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1097317209246350.xml

ROCKFORD -- From a distance, the 40-gallon tank at Rockford's Parkside Elementary School looks just like any other aquarium. It looks even less special up close, with neither flashy scales nor exotic plant life to show off. 

In fact, the aquarium is so ordinary the fish inside could be found in many nearby lakes -- and that is exactly what makes the tank in Tim Woznick's fourth-grade classroom unusual. 

Woznick recently received approval from the state Department of Natural Resources to stock the aquarium with species native to Michigan. Instead of buying fish at the store, he and his students have been catching them in the wild. 

"It makes us unique," student Zach Elkins said. 

The tank contains a bluegill, perch, crappie, several varieties of bass and a red-ear sunfish, as well as Petoskey stones. The class needed the state permit because some of the fish are smaller than the minimum keeper-size allowed, and other species are not in season. 

Rockford fourth-graders study several aspects of Michigan, and Woznick said the aquarium is helping them identify native fish and study their eating habits and habitats. 

"It's just a way of connecting the curriculum to everyday life," he said. "They're learning quite a bit just through looking at a fish aquarium." 

Students have watched a pregnant fish make a bed in a corner of the tank to prepare for laying eggs. They also found out a bluegill can be territorial -- and hungry for goldfish. 

"We had to take a couple (bluegills) back because they were dominant and chasing fish out of their area," Woznick said. "We didn't quite realize they would eat the goldfish, but they did." 

Woznick used to keep an aquarium with tropical fish in his classroom, but he said it did not have the same impact on students. Now, the fish tank full of Michigan species rivals the iguana kept in the classroom down the hall. 

"Everybody wants to come into our class after school to look," student Suraya Shosten said.


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