The consumption rate of tiger prawns (Penaeus monodon) on alive Amphipod-Crustacean

Abstract

Alive amphipod has been considering as potential food for tiger prawn, Penaeus monodon, during growing period in aquaculture pond. The present experiment was aimed at investigating the rate of consumption of tiger prawn juvenile on the adult amphipod crustacean. The consumption rate of tiger prawn was tested at various density levels of amphipod using 2L volume of glass containers. Each container was filled with one liter of sterilized seawater with 30 ppt salinity and included one prawn juvenile. Seven levels of amphipod densities: 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, and 640 ind.L−1 were applied on three ranges of prawn sizes (Total length=TL: 4560mm, 65-80mm, and 85-100mm) as replications. The percentage of amphipod consumed by each prawn during 4 hours of exposure is recorded and presented in tabular and graphical form. The difference effect between treatments was also tested statistically. The results showed that the number of amphipod consumed by each prawn increases significantly (P<0.05) as the density of amphipod increase following the quadratic equation as Y= 3.3843+ 0.9583x-0.0005x2 (R2=0.9934). The optimum density of amphipod based on the equation is 955 ind./L with the maximum consumption at 459.6 ind.prawn−14 hours−1. However, the consumption rate of different sizes of prawns did not show any significant differences (P>0.05). Based on the consumption rate can be concluded that the amphipod-crustacean is suitable as a live food during the grow-out phase of tiger prawn. Nevertheless, more detail about the effect of amphipod on the growth performance of tiger prawn is still needed a more detailed study.