Also called: Live Feeds Technician, Rotifer & Algae Culturist
Grows tiny living foods like algae, rotifers, brine shrimp and copepods to feed baby fish, seahorses and corals.
Behind the scenes at an aquarium or hatchery, rows of bubbling tubes glow green with algae. The culturist feeds the algae to microscopic rotifers, counts them under a microscope, and harvests just the right amount for newborn fish that are too small to eat anything else. If a culture crashes, babies can starve, so the job never fully stops.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Associate's degree (2-year), about 2 years after high school. Associate or bachelor’s in biology or aquaculture; some aquarium science programs.
Ways in: 2-year college, 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Aquarium Science, Aquaculture, Biology.
Growing about average. Steady at aquariums, hatcheries and fish farms.
Low risk for 10 years. Automated dosing helps, but keeping live cultures healthy needs daily care and microscope checks.
Classes: Biology, Chemistry, Agriculture CTE class.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.