Larval Fish Program

Larval Production and Distribution Program

Building capacity for larval programs across AZA institutions is a way to increase accessibility to aquacultured species. Aquaculture is one method of animal acquisition that is responsible, ethical and sustainable. The Larval Production and Distribution Program is a collaborative breeding model that facilitates the rearing of targeted species at production facilities and distribution of those species to AZA members. This program is supported by the ACSC Sustainability Fund, which provides resources to production facilities, with contributions from receiving institutions invested back into the Fund. The Sustainability Fund will support work across all ACSC working groups.

Benefits of the Program

• Support a collective effort across AZA institutions for sustainable responsible and ethical collections
• Strengthen collection planning
• Traceability and known provenance
• Potential to minimize animal welfare concerns and resources (quarantine and handling stress)
• Share a conservation story with visitors (aquaculture as a sustainable method to acquiring animals)
• Support the Sustainability Fund

2025 Update for the Larval Production and Distribution Program

Lookdown | Inland Silverside | Lumpfish |  Neon Goby 

Marine Fish Egg Catalog

Using photo-documentation and unique egg morphometrics, verified through DNA sequencing, AZA facilities have worked together to build an open-source marine fish catalog for Aquariums to use to identify species spawning on exhibit and direct resources toward focused rearing of priority species. A 2021 AZA Conservation Grant Fund was awarded for this project. The grant period ended in 2023, however, the work to expand the catalog has continued.  

This catalog is a tool to help institutions focus on rearing priority species from habitats. The catalog has albums on each species that include photographs representing a diversity of eggs collected from partner institutions, morphometric measures, and feature descriptions. These data can be used to compare to eggs facilities are collecting, better allowing facilities to understand the breeding patterns and needs of their fishes. To register for the Larval Culture Project site, an institutional email and real name are required.

Access Catalog

Resource Links:

• Egg Catalog Presentation

Coming Soon!

Live Foods Culture Resources

A reliable live foods program is critical to the success for any larval program. Live food cultures vary amongst institutions but these resources were assembled to provide general recommendations and information for commonly cultured live foods items.

Copepod Cultures

• A wide variety of saltwater copepod species are regularly cultured in public aquaria. Copepods are a nutrient rich food source for developing larval fish. Identifying the copepod species that would be most beneficial to a larval program would depend on the size and behavior of the larval fish.

• A Copepod Comparison Chart  was created to help compare and contrast commonly cultured saltwater species.

  • Copepod chart

Rotifer Cultures

• Rotifers are extensively used as a live food source in the aquarium industry for a variety of filter-feeding and planktonic animals. They are relatively easy to culture, have high reproductive rates, and are an optimal size as a first food item for many larval fish and invertebrate species. They can be cultured in a variety of vessels depending on space availability, from 5-gallon buckets to large Kalwall conical tanks and everything in between.
• General rotifer Culture Recommendations

Phytoplankton Cultures

• Phytoplankton cultures are extensively used as a foods source for filter feeding animals and other live foods. Culturing phytoplankton does vary depending on species selected, scale of institutional needs, space and biosecurity.

• General Phytoplankton Guidelines and Troubleshooting

More Resources Coming Soon!