C5: FISH HUSBANDRY – DRIES KNAPEN
FISH FACILITITY DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
❖ Indoors, outdoors, mesocosm
o Indoors for small fish
o outdoors for larger fish or small fish that need to be kept under certain ecological parameters →
combined with other fish, plants,…
o Mesocosm = hybrid situation where for example you have natural light/dark cycles or an open roof,
green house,…
❖ Size, number of tanks, volume
o stacked tanks → Lighting is important: what is the intensity? How is the lighting positioned when
looking at the tanks? You do not want the bottom tanks to receive less light than at the top
❖ Water type and water supply
o water always runs downhill, but for a facility it is not always the case → if your lab is on the 3th floor,
you need strong pumps or waterproof environments
❖ Water drainage
o Some fish facilities are built in basements → you need pumps to get rid of the water !
❖ Wastewater treatment ~ toxicants
o Sometimes water needs to be treated before entering the sewage if you worked with toxic elements
o costs a lot if it is not available in the current infrastructure
❖ GMOs
o You need permission to work with GMO → this should not get out in the environment, you need
regulations on how to get rid of it
o GMO = fluorescent models, disease models,…. You can also feed the animals food with GMO in it →
this leftover food in the water needs management
❖ Invasive species
o fish can escape and end up in the natural environment → some of them survive and invade the
other species. The risk is usually fertilized eggs in the water that goes to the sewage and hatch
o For zebrafish there is not a high risk of the fish surviving in our natural environment
INDOOR ZEBRAFISH / SMALL FISH FACILITY
Lighting
❖ Serves two roles: ensure health and welfare of the animals, and ensure safety of personnel
❖ Light intensity: max. 300 lux (algal growth, impaired fish vision)
❖ Light source: LED, fluorescent lamps
❖ Light colour: impact on zebrafish growth, development and behavior due to red-light inclusion
❖ Light cycle
o Most zebrafish rooms have a 14:10 lights on:off cycle
o Dimmers to provide a slow on and a slow off of lights to model dawn and dusk
o Matching light cycle in incubators, housing of embryos and larvae
o Personnel working hours: gradually change to/from daylight saving time
❖ light color and zebrafish survival
o The temperature of the light also has an effect on the fish ~ temperature is dependent on the
color/wavelength
o Fish perform much better in cold light than warm light
1
FISH FACILITITY DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
❖ Indoors, outdoors, mesocosm
o Indoors for small fish
o outdoors for larger fish or small fish that need to be kept under certain ecological parameters →
combined with other fish, plants,…
o Mesocosm = hybrid situation where for example you have natural light/dark cycles or an open roof,
green house,…
❖ Size, number of tanks, volume
o stacked tanks → Lighting is important: what is the intensity? How is the lighting positioned when
looking at the tanks? You do not want the bottom tanks to receive less light than at the top
❖ Water type and water supply
o water always runs downhill, but for a facility it is not always the case → if your lab is on the 3th floor,
you need strong pumps or waterproof environments
❖ Water drainage
o Some fish facilities are built in basements → you need pumps to get rid of the water !
❖ Wastewater treatment ~ toxicants
o Sometimes water needs to be treated before entering the sewage if you worked with toxic elements
o costs a lot if it is not available in the current infrastructure
❖ GMOs
o You need permission to work with GMO → this should not get out in the environment, you need
regulations on how to get rid of it
o GMO = fluorescent models, disease models,…. You can also feed the animals food with GMO in it →
this leftover food in the water needs management
❖ Invasive species
o fish can escape and end up in the natural environment → some of them survive and invade the
other species. The risk is usually fertilized eggs in the water that goes to the sewage and hatch
o For zebrafish there is not a high risk of the fish surviving in our natural environment
INDOOR ZEBRAFISH / SMALL FISH FACILITY
Lighting
❖ Serves two roles: ensure health and welfare of the animals, and ensure safety of personnel
❖ Light intensity: max. 300 lux (algal growth, impaired fish vision)
❖ Light source: LED, fluorescent lamps
❖ Light colour: impact on zebrafish growth, development and behavior due to red-light inclusion
❖ Light cycle
o Most zebrafish rooms have a 14:10 lights on:off cycle
o Dimmers to provide a slow on and a slow off of lights to model dawn and dusk
o Matching light cycle in incubators, housing of embryos and larvae
o Personnel working hours: gradually change to/from daylight saving time
❖ light color and zebrafish survival
o The temperature of the light also has an effect on the fish ~ temperature is dependent on the
color/wavelength
o Fish perform much better in cold light than warm light
1
