Hello everybody,
I would like to determine growth of zebrafish that grow on different diets. I have some fishes in my home aquarium but I found out that weighing a fish can be a problem, since only efficient way that I found is to catch it with net and put it in a jar with a bit of water and measure the difference - the problem is that the rate of error is quite high because you always put some of the water from the net into the jar together with fish. Do anyone knows a more efficient way to weigh individual fishes?
Thanks,
Martin
You can anesthetize zebrafish in 0.04% Tricaine (MS-222).
I would let them swim around in that for a moment, when they are sedated a few moments later they will simply lie still at the bottom of the container. Remove the fish with a net or a spoon, you may want to remove excess water by blotting it slightly for a second or two, place it on a scale or in a weigh boat and measure, then return it immediately to normal water and it should be fine.
I suggest common medicinal clove oil instead of chemicals such as MS-222, for two reasons. one, its a chemical not so familiar for non-research sites such as houses. Two, clove oil is easily availble from pharma. Just take fresh water in a bucket put the fish add drop by drop clove oil till you see them become heavy and sleepy. Take them out and follow what friend Carmen Leitch has suggested. Good Luck
You can anesthetize zebrafish without the use of any chemical, by immersion in cold water (17°C) for less than a minute. As the temperature drops, the fish will swim more slowly and stop swimming. Then you can remove the fish from cold water and follow Carmen Leitch suggestion.
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