Equipment and Infrastructure at the AZF

By becoming a member of the Adelaide Zebrafish Facility, not only will you gain access to the Zebrafish aquariums but you will also be able to access some of the other facilities located within the Molecular Life Sciences building. 

Aquaria

All the aquaria within the AZF supply water on re-circulating systems.  The water input lines deliver UV-sterilised, Activated-Carbon-treated, mains water to each tank through an independent valve. 

As part of the Facility centralisation and upgrade, 4 Aquatic Habitats  5 Tall Stand Alone units (2 with photoperiod ability) were purchased, with the intention of expanding both the existing brood stock and storage capabilities of the Facility.

The Adelaide Zebrafish Facility is now home to 8 independent aquarium systems, located within two isolated wet rooms.  Of these systems, 3 are dedicated to photoperiod controlled brood stock tanks, 3 house the general and transgenic stock fish and 2 of the systems are used as nursery and grow-out aquaria for the maintenance of the Zebrafish fry.  

• System 1 is a custom in-house built re-circulating photoperiod unit capable of 3 different photoperiods, holding 15 9L tanks.
  
  
• Systems 2 and 5 are 5 Tall Stand Alone Units from Aquatic Habitats both with 5 photoperiods, holding 30 9L tanks each.
  
  
• System 3 is also a custom in-house built re-circulating unit, holding up to 40 9L tanks and 108 1L tanks.
  
  
• System 4 is a  MaxHatch nursery.
  
  
• Systems 6 and 7 are 5 Tall Stand Alone AHAB units, able to hold 24 9L tanks and 20 1L tanks each.
  
  
• System 8 is a 3 Tall Bench Top AHAB unit, designed as a second nursery or grow-out system, holding 10 9L tanks and 10 3L tanks. 

Micro-Injectors

In addition to the wet side of the Facility, the Adelaide Zebrafish Facility also counts 3 micro-injection stations in its resource pool.  These micro-injectors are utilized by the Facility's users to manipulate the developing Zebrafish embryos by injecting very small amounts of organic chemicals (and other solutions of interest). 

Fluorescence Imagery

Although the AZF does not own any fluorescent microscopes, it can organise access to the fluorescent stereo microscope in the cytology room within the adjacent area to the Facility, adding an extra resource for the Zf Users to utilize.

Specialized Microscopy

In the event that a ZF User wishes to employ more sophisticated microscopy techniques, just across the road Adelaide Microscopy has several sophisticated microscopes including Confocal, Electron and Multiphoton microscopes.