Facilities

Most of our research facilities include temperature control units for each system, circular tanks, a settlement tank, a sump tank, a biofiltration tank, a particle filter, and an inline ultra-violet (UV) light. The facilities include overhead lighting and workstations that have a light table and sink. Systems with 5-foot tanks are capable of recirculating temperature-controlled water or run ambient treated water in flow-through mode.

Refuge Facilities

Refuge Egg and Live Prey

The Refuge Egg and Live prey facility is where live prey (rotifers and artemia) are cultured and harvested daily to feed the larval and juvenile fish. It also includes a temperature-controlled recirculating egg incubation system and egg bath to hold embryos.

Refuge Larval Facility

The Refuge Larval Facility includes two separate temperature-controlled systems that each hold up to 20 tanks. Each system uses 133L tanks. This is where the refuge population larvae are held and reared each year. 

Refuge Juvenile Facility

The Refuge Juvenile Facility is composed of two separate temperature-controlled systems, one with 20 tanks, and the other with 16 tanks. All tanks for these systems are 400L tanks and are where the refuge population is reared during their juvenile stage of life. 

Refuge Rearing Facility

The Refuge Rearing Facility is an indoor space with three separate temperature-controlled systems with eleven 5-foot tanks per system. This facility has the ability to alter light settings and exposure to light from the outside as needed throughout the sub-adult to adult life stages of the delta smelt. The sub-adult to adult stages of the refuge population are reared in this facility.

Refuge Adult Facility

The Refuge Adult Facility is an outdoor shaded area with two separate temperature-controlled systems with twelve 5-foot tanks per system. These systems are where the refuge population is transferred and consolidated for tagging and spawning purposes.

 

 

Research Facilities

Research Incubation Facility

The research incubation facility includes three separate temperature-controlled systems with six columns per system. Included within each system is an egg bath. These systems are set up independently and would work well for doing side-by-side studies.

 

Research Larval Facility

Our research larval facility includes two systems with 10 tanks per system. Both systems are capable of handling 70L tanks and 133L tanks, depending on fish density.

 

Experimental Larval Facility

The experimental facility includes four systems with four tanks per system. Each system can use 70L or 133L tanks. Each system is independent of one another and they are perfect for doing side-by-side studies. The systems can be separated by black tarps in order to control the amount of light reaching the tanks.  The tanks and tank stands are removable which offers extra space in the facility.

 

Experimental Juvenile

The experimental juvenile facility includes four systems and each system has four 400L tanks. This is another excellent facility for doing side-by-side studies with larger tanks.

 

Research Adult Facility

The adult building has four independent recirculating systems and each system has three five-foot tanks. This facility is also great for doing side-by-side studies. In addition, the building has programmable vibratory feeders for each row of tanks.

 

Outdoor Research Systems

The Outdoor Research facility is comprised of three outdoor systems. The first system is the brood-line which is comprised of eleven 5-foot tanks. This is a multi-purpose system that can be used as an overflow when there is an excess of fish, and also for experiments. The system also has programmable vibratory feeders for each tank. Second is the 8-foot system, which has three 8-foot tanks. It does not have programmable feeders, but instead has belt feeders that have to be re-filled every morning. This system is used for holding large amounts of matured fish. The last system is the 20-foot system which includes four 20-foot tanks. These tanks are mainly used for holding large amounts of matured fish and also use belt feeders.

 

Additional Research Systems

The snail system is used to culture ramshorn snails that are used to aid in fish cultures. The system contains 20 five-gallon buckets with dividers in each bucket to increase surface area and maximize the number of snails per bucket.

The living stream system is an interesting and unique system; it’s a recirculating, temperature-controlled system that creates a current. It has a small window on the side for observing or recording fish as they swim against the current.

The 5′ recirculating snail system is used to hold snails that will be used in fish culture at controlled temperatures. 

The Tray Systems are two identical recirculating temperature-controlled systems with sixteen 20L tanks per system. These systems are great for side-by-side comparison studies and are currently being used to rear both delta and longfin smelt in their larval life stage.

The mysid system is used for culturing mysids to be able to use them as live prey for adult fish.

The artemia system is used for culturing artemia that will also be used as live prey for adult fish.

 

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