Larval Rearing Methods for Small-scale Production of Healthy Zebrafish

Raising larvae of Danio rerio Hamilton (zebrafish) is a challenging task that requires skill and a significant daily time investment. We have developed a simple nursery and a husbandry regimen that streamlines procedures and is feasible for small laboratories to carry out in the absence of support staff. The nursery is inexpensive to build and easy to maintain. The regimen uses a simple benchtop nursery that houses up to 300 larvae. Feeding is simplified by using defined volumes of microencapsulated feeds with only 1 type of live prey as a dietary supplement, Artemia franciscana Leach (brine shrimp). Tests of the regimen using wild-type lines showed that it supports timely entry into the metamorphic period and supports survival rates of at least 75%. Further, inexperienced users were able to raise larvae successfully. Here, we describe how to assemble the nursery and how to carry out the feeding and care regimen.