Collection of zebrafish eggs

After fish have laid eggs, we have the aduls fish in the reproduction aquarium (the one with a net in the bottom, in Spanish “paridera”), and the eggs have fallen below, on the outer aquarium.

1- Remove the fish with a net, and put them in another aquarium.

2- Remove the reproduction aquarium. For washing, I think they just use tap water and they let it dry.

3- Pass the water of the aquarium through a strainer (“colador”) (vamos, que la colamos). The strainer is a normal small one, baught in a “chino”. The water is thrown away, the eggs remain in the strainer.

            

4- Fill a petri dish with aquarium water (this may be done with the same aquarium, just after the fish have been removed).

5- Reverse the strainer (forcing the net if it is a rigid one), and submerge it in the petri dish. In this way, the eggs detach from the strainer and go into the water.

Then, we go to the lab.

6- Fill another petri dish with E3 medium. This petri dish should be a new one.

7- Cut the tip of a plastic pipette, so that it gets a bit wider.

8- With the plastic pipette, and under a disection microscope, take the eggs from the petri dish with water and put them in the one with E3 medium. Take care not to take too much dirt from the first petri.

9- Store the eggs at 28ºC.