A Closer Look at the Madin Lab Aquaria

When José Ricardo Paula joined the Madin Lab as a postdoc, one of his big challenges—alongside Zack Rago—was to design a system flexible enough to explore a wide range of behavioral ecology questions, while still offering the fine-scale control needed for cognitive experiments. The result? The Madin Lab Aquaria: a highly adaptable, state-of-the-art facility for experimental marine ecology.

The system was originally conceived with one species in mind—the Hawaiian cleaner wrasse (Labroides phthirophagus), a charismatic reef fish with a complex social life. But while cleaner fish cognition inspired the blueprint, the final system is a versatile platform for almost any aquarium-based experiment, from behavioral assays to physiological trials.

Housed in a separate building to minimize disturbance, the aquaria operate on a flow-through open system. Water first passes through a degassing unit before being distributed to tanks of various sizes. At its core are two rack units, each with 3 shelves. Each shelf typically holds six 50L tanks—36 tanks in total—all with individual lighting and water supply. Yet, this configuration can be easily modified.

What makes this setup especially powerful is the integrated Profilux aquarium computer system. This enables constant remote monitoring of key parameters, including temperature, pH, oxygen, conductivity, and redox potential, as well as precise control and manipulation of these variables. Want to simulate a hypoxic night-time event? Or test how fish respond to subtle changes in temperature or light spectrum? It’s all possible.

Beyond the racks, the room can be quickly reconfigured to support larger behavioral arenas, respirometry chambers, or cognitive testing setups. Whether you’re studying mutualisms, mate choice, or metabolic response to stress, this facility is designed to deliver both precision and flexibility.

Stay tuned to see how this system continues to support cutting-edge research on marine behavioural ecology.