From the Brunnenstube to the hatchery
.... after the renovation
After the extensive renovation work in 2008, during which the dilapidated floor and ceiling were renewed, in the following years the complete water supply, water enrichment, and filtering and the entire electrical installation were brought up to date, the hatchery is equipped with additional breeding channels, holding tanks and one unique, experimental electrostatic hatcher ready for the future.
Time travel to 2006 - functional but shaky. In the meantime getting old and the growing number of eggs no longer growing, it was time to change something. Extensive work was required to ensure that our water attendants were able to offer a better and safer workplace for the complex and time-consuming brood care. The wooden planks were dangerously slippery and sometimes fragile - light was only donated by a weak, outdated neon tube in the dark winter months. For the breeding season 2007/2008 this should be a thing of the past. After many hours of voluntary work and with the help of donations from the RWE, the "new" hatchery was handed over to the water body on time.
Before the breeding ground of our "Eifeler brown trout" had moved to the hatchery in the early 90s, there was the Brunnenstube.
The Brunnenstube is located about 2 km from today's hatchery. The spring water collected here used to supply drinking water. However, since the line dates from before World War I and therefore no longer meets today's drinking water production standards, it was made available to the association. So it happened that the first offspring were bred in this 1.2 m wide, 3 m deep and 2.4 m high shaft in 2 breeding channels.
About 7 rungs of a rusty ladder were used to get into the shaft, to sort out dead eggs in the light of a flashlight and later to take care of the seedlings. The Brunnenstube is a bit "off the beaten path" so that it was actually not reasonable to do the brood service alone in winter, at a time when the cell phone was still a dream of the future. The logical consequence - the hatchery - which made life a lot easier at the time, is now a presentable hatchery.
Unfortunately, we do not have any pictures from this period. The photos of the Brunnenstube shown here date from 2015. At that time there was a decline in the water supply in the hatchery, which was due to the leaking pipework in the Brunnenstube. This dates from the early 90s and can be seen in the pictures.
Below again the plant in the brood house 2017 in direct comparison to the Brunnenstube - It clearly shows the long way we have taken since the beginning of the project. A path that we can rightly be proud of.
Here the hatchery in 1994. It shows Erhard Nieder and Klaus Abels fishing off the seedlings. These were placed in the fountain room for the last time in 1993 and later (spring 94) transported to the incubator. It was then completely finished in 1995 with the completion of the plastering work. For the next 13 years, the system served the association well and paved the way for more than 2 million small brown trout to escape. Today, 14 years after the renovation, we are already over 4 million and there is still no end in sight.