The Aquarium
The zebrafish’s increasingly popular role in research has driven demand for a purpose-built facility at the University of Otago.
The brand new 1200-tank facility uses state-of-the-art infrastructure manufactured by Italian company Tecniplast Aquatic Solutions. The facility incorporates five individual systems: a core of 1100 tanks, made up of a CLS (Central Live Support) system and MLS (Multi-Linking) system; two quarantine systems, totalling 70 tanks; and a toxicology unit of 30 tanks.
Fish are housed in 3.5L and 8L transparent polycarbonate tanks and supported by a reticulated water and filtration unit. Water pressure is equalized automatically to ensure a constant flow. A touchpad electronic system controls each of the five systems and includes pH buffering, temperature control and overall monitoring of the tanks’ environs.
Feeding is currently undertaken by staff three times daily, but there are future plans to install an automatic feeding system – a Tecniplast Aquatic Solutions robotic product called the Tritone.
Tecniplast: the website for the Italian-based company which produces the aquatic system infrastructure installed in the OZF.