The importance of copepods as live feed for larval rearing of the green mandarin fish Synchiropus splendidus

Zeng, Chaoshu, Shao, Luchang, Ricketts, Amanda, and Moorhead, Jonathan (2018) The importance of copepods as live feed for larval rearing of the green mandarin fish Synchiropus splendidus. Aquaculture, 491. pp. 65-71.

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Abstract

The green mandarin fish, Synchiropus splendidus, is a popular marine aquarium species, but currently sourced largely from the wild. To establish a reliable feeding regime for its larvae in captivity, a series of experiments were conducted. In the 1st experiment, newly hatched larvae were fed either unenriched rotifers (ss-type), rotifers enriched with Algamac 3000 or a mixture of commercial enrichments. An unfed control was also set up, which suffered a total mortality by 5 day post-hatching (DPH). All feeding treatments had similar low survival (< 3.3%) by 11 DPH, suggesting rotifer enrichment bore little benefits. In the 2nd experiment, larvae were fed enriched and unenriched rotifers at 10 mL(-1) and a mixed diet of 2 copepods (nauplii and copepodites of Parvocalanus crassirostris) + 8 rotifers mL(-1). The copepods co-feeding with rotifers treatment showed dramatically improved survival (50%) as compared to rotifer feeding only treatments (= 5.6%) by 12 DPH (p < 0.01). The copepods+ rotifers diet also generated significantly larger larvae (p < 0.01). The 3rd experiment aimed at determining the minimum quantity of copepods required for co-feeding with rotifers. Five treatments of copepods provided at 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mL(-1) with rotifers making up the rest of a total of 10 prey mL(-1) were set up. Larval survival to 11 DPH were significantly higher in the 2 copepods + 8 rotifers mL(-1) and 1 copepods+ 9 rotifers mL(-1) treatments (52% and 48%) than other treatments (< 19%) while no significant difference was detected between the two treatments. Larval growth was not significantly different among all copepod feeding treatments, even copepods were provided at only 0.1 mL(-1), and they were all significantly higher than the rotifer feeding only treatment (p < 0.05). Our results demonstrated the importance of copepods as prey for rearing early larval S. splendidus and suggested that they should be co-fed at least 1.0 mL(-1) to ensure good survival.

Item ID: 53653
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1873-5622
Keywords: larviculture, first feeding, Synchiropus splendidus, survival and growth, Rotifers, Copepods
Date Deposited: 16 May 2018 07:35
FoR Codes: 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3005 Fisheries sciences > 300501 Aquaculture @ 100%
SEO Codes: 83 ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND ANIMAL PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 8301 Fisheries - Aquaculture > 830102 Aquaculture Fin Fish (excl. Tuna) @ 100%
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