KEEPING OF LABORATORY ANIMAL FOR RESEARCH WORK

Good day to you great steemians, thanks for taking your precious time to read my last post.

This is another episode on the rearing of animals for laboratory use, I shall also explain the housing setting-up methods for these animals. Animals used for laboratory research purposes or investigation are reared and kept in animal house. This animal house is usually built separately away from the school laboratory in which different varieties or species of animals are breed.

To put an animal house in place, animal housing standards and animal care procedures and routine must be duly followed. Animals are been used for demonstration/experiments or research purpose in the laboratory includes: Mice, Rats, Rabbits, etc. All these animals must be regularly feed with suitable or good food, water, and weather condition must be regulated for all animals to make them a conducive and enabling environment to grow.

The housing conditions, the type of feeds, the kind of weather condition to expose them to e.t.c involved in rearing theses animals are most times conditional, that is, all these parameters are varied based on the desired direction of the research work and what the researcher stands to achieve.
Therefore, the care of animals breed for research or biomedical purposes must be handled by a trained veterinarian.

How to set-up a tropical aquarium and it's management? What are the various types of aquarium tanks available for use? How to care for the living organism and plants in an aquarium? What kind of construction material is suitable for constructing aquarium thanks? are some of the questions to be answered in setting up an aquarium.

CC BY-SA 2.5, Aquarium

SETTING-UP AND MANAGEMENT OF TROPICAL AQUARIUM.
The aquarium is one of the most economical and useful means of maintaining a large number of living plants and animals in a semi-natural way in the laboratory. Algea, Aquatic snails, Protista, planaria, insects, crustaceans, Amphibia and Fish can all be kept in a suitable freshwater aquarium.

Aquarium tanks come in various types and sizes but common aquarium tank types include; Moulded Glass Tanks, Transparent Plastic Tanks, and Metal- Frames Rectangular Tanks.

Aquarium accessories include; Aerators, Canopies, Diffuser Stones, Filter, Gravel and Stones, Heaters, Scrapers, Siphons, thermometer, lights, nets. Aerators are installed in an aquarium to enhance gas exchange and circulation within and outside the environment. Canopies are used or preventing water loss, entry of dust, or unwanted interference with the tanks. It also provides an anchor point for aquarium light.

Diffuser Stones function for the breaking up of the bubbles of air to permit more efficient gas exchange in the aquarium. Filter removes waste products and unwanted foreign materials which might otherwise cause injuries to the inhabitants of the aquarium. Gravel and Stones act as an anchorage for rooted plants, they allow for the effective removal of detritus, and harbor bacteria which will decompose the falling detritus and add to the appearance of the aquarium.

Heaters are for regulating the temperature of aquarium water to provide a conducive and enabling environment for the aquarium habitat to grow. Scrapers are sharp and flat metal objects with wooden handles used for scraping algae from the sides of the tanks. Siphons are water outlet through which water contents of the aquarium are removed. Thermometers are used for measuring the hotness and coldness of the water so that necessary control is made. Lighting system is included in aquarium designs for adequate illumination. Nets are used for transferring of animals such as fish from one tank to another.

Before setting up the aquarium, the tank must be washed with coarse sand and cold or warm water. The aquarium should be rightly positioned and the bottom of the tank should be covered with a 2-4 layers of aquarium gravel which has been previously washed in boiling water.

Before water is added to the aquarium tank, place a large sheet of paper over the gravel and adds sand. Then add water to the tank so that it is half filled. Untreated water such as well water should be used instead of tap water to avoid chlorine which is injurious to aquarium stock. Plants should be added first, before fish and other animals are introduced later.

Tropical tanks should have a daytime temperature of about 25 percent fluctuation between 21 degree Celsius and 27 degree Celsius.

By Paul Hermans - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Tunnel aquarium

CARE OF AN AQUARIUM LIVES
Once an aquarium is set up, the provision of suitable food for the plants and animals is of great importance. Various brands of fish food are available in flakes (such as Tetramin) and powdered forms. If algae population is becoming too great, use scrapper for remover. Dead plants and animals should also be removed as soon as they are spotted. The faeces from the fish, snails and other animals on the gravel should be removed time to time with a dip tube or sediment remover.

By Kurt Stüber, CC BY-SA 3.0,

Some suitable plants for a tropical Aquarium include; Guppy (lebistes reticulatus), Zebrafish (Brachydania terio), Egyptian mouth breeder (Haplochromine multicolour), Siamese fighting fish (Belta splendens), Swordtail (Xiphophorus spp).

By Rama - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, Lab mouse

REARING OF SMALL MAMMALS IN THE LABORATORY

A number of species of small mammals are available for research or demonstration use. Some of them are; Mouse, Rat, Guine-pig, Rabbit and Syrian hamster, to mention but few. Wild rodents should not be rear in animal house under any circumstances because they could be infected with diseases transmissible to man and to other animals.

There are various designs of cage available for laboratory animals. The size and type of cage to choose depend on the species of animals and the numbers of animal to be kept. Materials such as Wood, chipboard, plastic, metal nets and other similar materials may be used for cage construction. But they should be painted with polyurethane varnish. Cages constructed entirely from metal e.g. Aluminum are suitable for guinea-pigs and Rabbits.

A variety of plastic is commonly used from the construction of the base boxes of smaller species. Litter and nesting materials should be provided for all the animals. The litter is placed on the floor of the cage to absorb urine and water from the faecal pellets. Softwood, sawdust or peat in granular form make ideal litter materials.

Conclusion:
Rearing of animals for laboratory use in animal house is a cool idea for a good research work because any animal that will be used for research must be well known. The date of birth, the type of feed, source of water being given, the specie of the animal etc must be ascertained. Due to the fact that most of these mentioned animals have the same metabolic system, therefore they are used in research like to test the effect of drugs before it can be recommended for human consumption.

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