PgmNr Z6132: Optimization of Larval Zebrafish Husbandry: Getting More with Less.

Authors:
David Zitser; Nastassja Carusetta; Anish Bhandari; Robert Nissen


Institutes
California State University of Los Angeles, Tarzana, CA.


Abstract:

The zebrafish Danio Rerio is a well-established model organism used to study normal development as well as disease states. While the use of dry feeds in zebrafish husbandry has grown substantially over the past decade, further optimization of the care and feeding of zebrafish breeding colonies may save significant time and resources. Thus, we sought to optimize larval care towards maximizing survival rate while also minimizing the amount of hands-on care required to achieve a still acceptably high survival rate. Many factors potentially affect larval survival rate. We sought to optimize food amount, feeding frequency, and water change frequency during the first 21 days of life. First, we optimized the quantity of 100-micron Golden Pearl (GP100) to be fed per tank of 30 larval zebrafish in one liter of fish system water. Second, we optimized the frequency of feedings and found that less frequent feeding may outperform daily feedings while simultaneously reducing the need for frequent water changes. Together, these changes yielded an average 81% larval survival rate (at 21dpf) with only 3 feedings per week and only a single water change per week, at which point the animals entered the adult colony and adult feeding regimen. These results may yield substantial savings of time and resources for breeding colonies.