Zebrafish: Housing and husbandry recommendations.

Peter Aleström,Frederic Sohm,Paul J Midtlyng,Susan Warner,Stefan Schulte-Merker,Livia D’Angelo,Daniel F Schorderet

doi:10.1177/0023677219869037

Abstract

This article provides recommendations for the care of laboratory zebrafish (Danio rerio) as part of the further implementation of Annex A to the European Convention on the protection of vertebrate animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes, EU Commission Recommendation 2007/526/EC and the fulfilment of Article 33 of EU Directive 2010/63, both concerning the housing and care of experimental animals. The recommendations provide guidance on best practices and ranges of husbandry parameters within which zebrafish welfare, as well as reproducibility of experimental procedures, are assured.Husbandry procedures found today in zebrafish facilities are numerous. While the vast majority of these practices are perfectly acceptable in terms of zebrafish physiology and welfare, the reproducibility of experimental results could be improved by further standardisation of husbandry procedures and exchange of husbandry information between laboratories. Standardisation protocols providing ranges of husbandry parameters are likely to be more successful and appropriate than the implementation of a set of fixed guidance values neglecting the empirically successful daily routines of many facilities and will better reflect the wide range of environmental parameters that characterise the natural habitats occupied by zebrafish.A joint working group on zebrafish housing and husbandry recommendations, with members of the European Society for Fish Models in Biology and Medicine (EUFishBioMed) and of the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA) has been given a mandate to provide guidelines based on a FELASA list of parameters, ‘Terms of Reference’.

Highlights

In Europe, the tightly interconnected zebrafish scientific community consists of more than 350 laboratories that would benefit from guidelines for standardised husbandry conditions at the European/international level.[5,6]
The guidelines provided here are meant to constitute a framework for European zebrafish research groups, and a basis and reference point for future welfare relevant studies
The purpose of these guidelines is to set a standard for zebrafish husbandry and to provide a basis for facility heads, husbandry personnel, veterinarians and other stakeholders to discuss further improvements in zebrafish husbandry

Summary

Introduction

The guidelines provided here address and suggest recommendations for: transportation and reception, safe introduction into facilities, housing systems and environmental conditions (temperature, dark–light cycle, water quality, stocking density, environmental enrichment, feeding), breeding, identification and nomenclature as well as sanitisation of equipment. ‘Materials and Methods’ sections in publications should include sufficient detail of general husbandry parameters, including a description of the health monitoring, water chemistry, housing systems, fish stocking density, water temperature, dark–light cycle, fish feed and feeding frequency.

Results

Conclusion