Nonhatching DecapsulatedArtemiaCysts As a Replacement toArtemiaNauplii in Juvenile and Adult Zebrafish Culture

Abstract

Feeding Artemia nauplii as the main nutrition source for zebrafish is a common practice for many research facilities. Culturing live feed can be time-consuming and requires additional equipment to be purchased, maintained, and cleaned. Nonhatching decapsulated Artemia cysts (decaps) are a commercially available product that can be fed directly to fish. Several other ornamental fish species have been successfully cultured using decaps. Replacing Artemia nauplii with decaps could reduce the overall time and costs associated with the operation of a zebrafish facility. The objective of this study was to determine if decaps could be a suitable replacement to Artemia nauplii in juvenile and adult zebrafish culture. Wild-type zebrafish were fed one of three dietary treatments: decaps only, nauplii only, or a standard consisting of nauplii plus a commercially prepared pellet food. Survival, growth (length and weight), and embryo production were analyzed between the treatments. Fish receiving the decap diet demonstrated a significantly higher growth and embryo production when compared to the fish receiving the nauplii-only diet. When comparing the decap fish to the standard fish, no significant difference was found in mean survival, mean weight at 90 days postfertilization, or mean embryo production. It was determined that nonhatching decapsulated Artemia cysts can be used as a suitable replacement to Artemia nauplii in juvenile and adult zebrafish culture.

Intraspinal serotonergic signaling suppresses locomotor activity in larval zebrafish

“…Adult zebrafish were maintained at the University of Minnesota Zebrafish Core Facility using standard practices (Tye et al, 2015). Embryos and larvae were raised at 28.5°C with a 14-h light:10-h dark cycle in embryo water containing 60 µg/mL Instant Ocean (Blacksburg, VA) Sea Salt.…”

The effect of laboratory diet and feeding on growth parameters in zebrafish

“…The four studies that were not included having been initially deemed suitable were excluded because they produced significant publication bias ( n = 1) or were the wrong age for the parameters for which they presented data ( n = 3) 8,17–19 . Four studies were identified which assessed reproduction; however, this was below our threshold for inclusion for statistical comparison and therefore were not included any further in the analysis 20–23 .…”

Management of the welfare of experimental fish

“…En pez cebra se ha demostrado la necesidad de tenerlos en grupos sociales adecuados, tanto en número como en tamaño (más de 10 peces), y descartar el uso de plantas, que serán sólo usadas cuando estén en aislamiento (9). También el uso de alimento vivo como la Artemia es una forma eficaz de mejorar los índices reproductivos, por el alto contenido en ácidos grasos poliinsaturados y estimular su instinto depredador 10 . La dieta natural del pez cebra, originario de Asia 11 , está compuesta básicamente por invertebrados, especialmente en la época monzónica, que es la que prefieren para su reproducción 12 .…”