Regular care and maintenance of a Zebrafish (Danio rerio) laboratory: an introduction

Avdesh Avdesh*, Mengqi Chen, Mathew T. Martin-Iverson, Alinda Mondal, Daniel Ong, Stephanie Rainey-Smith, Kevin Taddei, Michael Lardelli, David M. Groth, Giuseppe Verdile, Ralph N. Martins

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

340 Citations (Scopus)
76 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This protocol describes regular care and maintenance of a zebrafish laboratory. Zebrafish are now gaining popularity in genetics, pharmacological and behavioural research. As a vertebrate, zebrafish share considerable genetic sequence similarity with humans and are being used as an animal model for various human disease conditions. The advantages of zebrafish in comparison to other common vertebrate models include high fecundity, low maintenance cost, transparent embryos, and rapid development. Due to the spur of interest in zebrafish research, the need to establish and maintain a productive zebrafish housing facility is also increasing. Although literature is available for the maintenance of a zebrafish laboratory, a concise video protocol is lacking. This video illustrates the protocol for regular housing, feeding, breeding and raising of zebrafish larvae. This process will help researchers to understand the natural behaviour and optimal conditions of zebrafish husbandry and hence troubleshoot experimental issues that originate from the fish husbandry conditions. This protocol will be of immense help to researchers planning to establish a zebrafish laboratory, and also to graduate students who are intending to use zebrafish as an animal model.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere4196
Pages (from-to)1-8
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Visualized Experiments: JoVE
Issue number69
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2012. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

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