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Guidance

Zebrafish welfare

Guidance, information and recommendations for those working with zebrafish.

Refining housing and husbandry

Expert reports have been compiled to provide guidance on the following aspects of zebrafish care within a research environment [1,2]:

  • Housing and husbandry (see [2] Table 1 for summary).
  • Transportation and reception.
  • Breeding and identification.

See [3] for a review into the physical and social factors that contribute to zebrafish welfare, and how understanding the natural history of zebrafish can inform welfare refinements and improvements in experimental science.  

See See [4] for the FELASA working group report giving recommendations for monitoring and reporting of laboratory fish diseases and health status.

See [5] for a review of the evidence and challenges related to environmental enrichment and laboratory zebrafish and [6] for a systematic review a systematic review of the impact of environmental enrichment in zebrafish.

Refining procedures

See Chapter 5 of [1] for guidance and recommendations on a range of scientific procedures involving zebrafish. See the below publications for information on other potential refinements:

  • A protocol for skin swabbing to collect DNA for zebrafish genotyping [7].
  • Pain management in zebrafish : Report from a FELASA Working Group [8]
  • Discussions on analgesia, anaesthesia, and euthanasia in zebrafish [9,10].
  • An investigation of suitable protocols for repeated anaesthesia of juvenile zebrafish [11].

Community and databases

Zebrafish in Tech3Rs

Tech3Rs is our regular newsletter providing animal technicians with the latest news from the NC3Rs. Each issue features updates on recent advances in the 3Rs and highlights new resources, research and events that we think will be of interest to animal technicians, including information relevant for those working with zebrafish.

Additional resources

References

  1. RSPCA (2011). Guidance on the housing and care of zebrafish Danio rerio.
  2. Aleström P et al. (2019). Zebrafish: housing and husbandry recommendations. Laboratory Animals 54(3): 213-224. doi: 10.1177/0023677219869037
  3. Lee CJ et al. (2022). Improving zebrafish laboratory welfare and scientific research through understanding their natural history. Biological Reviews. doi: 10.1111/brv.12831
  4. Mocho JP et al. (2022). FELASA-AALAS recommendations for monitoring and reporting of laboratory fish diseases and health status, with an emphasis on zebrafish (Danio rerio). Comparative Medicine 72(3):127-148. doi: 10.30802/AALAS-CM-22-000034
  5. Stevens CH et al. (2021). Enrichment for laboratory zebrafish—a review of the evidence and the challenges. Animals 11(3): 698. doi: 10.3390/ani11030698
  6. Gallas-Lopes M et al. (2023). A systematic review of the impact of environmental enrichment in zebrafish. Lab Animal 52(12): 332-343. doi:10.1038/s41684-023-01288-w
  7. Tilley C et al. (2021). Skin swabbing protocol to collect DNA samples from small-bodied fish species. F1000Research 10(1064): doi: 10.12688/f1000research.73115.1
  8. Sneddon LU et al. (2023). Pain management in zebrafish: Report from a FELASA Working Group. Laboratory Animals  p.00236772231198733. doi:10.1177/00236772231198733
  9. Collymore C (2020). Anesthesia, analgesia, and euthanasia of the laboratory zebrafish. In: The Zebrafish in Biomedical Research. Academic Press.
  10. Köhler A et al. (2022). Analgesia, anesthesia, and euthanasia in zebrafish. In: Laboratory Fish in Biomedical Research. Academic Press.
  11. Owen JP and Kelsh RN (2021). A suitable anaesthetic protocol for metamorphic zebrafish. PloS one 16(3), e0246504. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246504