Stickleback Collection and Husbandry

(version 1.0;   01/27/04)

Sticklebacks are abundant fish found in many coastal streams and lakes in the Northern Hemisphere. They are relatively easy to catch in the wild, transport, cross, and raise in the laboratory. We have used several methods for collecting, including:

  1. Placing minnow traps in and around banks and vegetation of lakes and streams.  Traps are particularly convinent because they can be rapidly deployed at a series of sites and then collected at a later time. Fish swim into the narrow opening at either side of the trap and then canıt easily get back out.  Traps are tipically attached to the shore by line and retrieved by hauling in the line after anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days.  This method is simple, reliable, and can easily be done by a single person without any additional equipment and with minimal impact on the environment being sampled.  We used to bait minnow traps with orange cheddar cheese, but have found that fish are interested enough in the shiny metal of the traps that bait seems unnecessary.
  2. Dip netting.  For immediate recovery of fish, it is sometimes convenient to wade into a body of water with a handheld net at the end of a long pole and work the net along the bottom and shore to scoop up fish.  This method allows you to sample fish in different areas immediatelly, but also tends to tear up vegetation and habitat in the process.
  3. Seining.  Two people can also walk along an area with a seine net stretched between them.  Bringing the two ends of the net together at the end of the seine hall corrals toghether fish from the short walk.  This can be an efficient way to collect large numbers of fish quickly, but works best in relatively open areas and with two people working together.

Fish caught by any of these methods can be held in buckets filled with water from the site of collection.  We use battery powered aquarium pumps with airstones to make sure that fish receive adequate aeration during the time they are kept in buckets.  Keep the fish and buckets in the shade or in an air-conditioned car as much as possible during transport. 

Once back in the fish room, sticklebacks are equilibrated to fish room conditions by successive changes of approximately half the volume of water in their transport container with water from the fish facility.  We usually change half the water, wait 30 minutes, exchange half the total volume again, wait 30 minutes, do a third volume change, incubate one last 30 minutes, and then transfer fish to new tanks in the fish room.  Fish thus start in 100% original capture water and move gradually through 50%, 25% and 12.5% ratios of capture water to fish room water on their way to beginning life in the lab.

We have raised sticklebacks in both high-density aquaculture systems with centralized filtration systems orginally designed for zebrafish (Zmod units), or in simple conventional aquaria with individual filter units on each tank.

Packing Sticklebacks for Airline Travel

 

Keep fish in largest containers possible until it is time to leave.

 

Pack fish in 1 gallon (or largest container you have) containers full of water.

 

Cool the fish to 8 °C as fast as possible by immersing containers in ice. 

 

Keep them bubbling for as long as possible.  Pack ziploc bags with ice around the tops of the bottles.  Try to avoid direct contact between water and ice packs (avoid over-cooling).

 

When youıre ready to get on the plane:

 

·      Crunch in the sides of the containers (to allow space for the air to expand in the low-pressure enviroment of the plane)

·      Put on the caps and duct tape them in place (even if they are skrew on caps).

Wish your fish ³Bon voyage!²