Live Artemia Research Articles

International study on Artemia XXIV. Cold storage of live Artemia nauplii from various geographical sources: Potentials and limits in aquaculture

Freshly-hatched Artemia nauplii from various geographical sources survived storage in a refrigerator (2–4°C) at densities of 2000 per ml and above. Except for Artemia from Chaplin Lake and Buenos Aires, naupliar viability was very high even after 48 h storage, and did not decrease significantly after a 24 h post-storage transfer to 25°C. Neither the naupliar dry weight nor biochemical composition changed significantly during refrigeration for most strains tested. Comparative culture-tests with stored and freshly-hatched nauplii as food for juvenile marine mysids Mysidopsis bahia M. and larval carp Cyprinus carpio L. revealed similar production performances.

Rearing whitefish ( Coregonus lavaretus) with frozen zooplankton by means of a new feeding apparatus

An apparatus with dispensing system permitting continuous or intermittent supply of frozen plankton to fish fry has been developed. The advantage of this system is that thawed zooplankton can be offered in a continuous stream of water and thus can be eaten within a few seconds of thawing. In this way leaching effects are minimized. With this system larvae of Coregonus lavaretus were reared beyond metamorphosis to an average weight of 70–80 mg on both sieved (100–500 μm) and unsieved fractions of shock-frozen or slowly frozen zooplankton. Mortality was low and rates of growth comparable to those of fry fed with live Artemia salina nauplii.

High density flow-through culturing of brine shrimp Artemia on inert feeds — Preliminary results with a modified culture system

A modified filter system is described for the intensive culturing of Artemia in a continuously renewed medium. Extrapolated to a 1 m 3 tank, 25 kg live weight Artemia could be produced over a culture period of two weeks on a diet of micronized and defatted rice bran using the salt enriched effluent of an abandoned geothermal well as a culture medium.

CULTURE TRIALS WITH ATLANTIC STURGEON, Acipenser oxyrhynchus, IN THE USA1

AbstractIn South Carolina, a joint state‐federal program was initiated in 1977 to develop spawning and rearing techniques for Atlantic sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrhynchus, and to investigate its culture potential. Good progress has been made in developing the hatchery technology. Brood stock collection sites and techniques have been established and suitable transportation and holding procedures demonstrated for these large fish (˜ 40–100 kg). Homospecific hypophyseal injections were employed successfully to induce two spawnings. The artificially fertilized eggs, incubated in MacDonald hatching jars, hatched in about 120 hours at 17–18°C. Yolk sac was abosrbed by day 10 and the fry were weaned on a diet consisting of beef liver and salmon mash supplemented with live Artemia. During the second trial, fish hatched at 7.8 mm mean total length obtained a size of 176.7 mm in 204 days.Several pond culture studies were undertaken with juvenile sturgeon. Although most fish eventually died (due to poor environmental conditions) some wild‐caught juveniles were successfully maintained under pond conditions for about 20 months and one brood female survived for 15 months. Pond‐held fish were fed trout chow supplemented with pieces of beef liver. Feeding activity could be observed at night along dike areas.

CONSUMPTION OF FROZEN AND LIVE Artemia BY PROTOZOEA OF Penaeus setiferus

AbstractThe role of an animal component in the diet of protozoeal penaeid shrimp larvae is not known. Short‐term experiments were performed on the larvae of Penaeus setiferus (L.) to determine the ability of each protozoeal substage to consume frozen and live Artemia nauplii. Significant consumption of frozen Artemia took place during the protozoea 2 and 3 substages at rates of 1.0 and 1.6 Artemia nauplii/penaeid larva/hour respectively. Consumption of live Artemia occurred in the protozoea 3 substage, at a rate of 0.7 Artemia nauplii/penaeid larva/hour. Data suggesting that there is a beneficial role of an animal component in the diet of protozoeal penaeid shrimp larvae are discussed.

Controlled propagation of the African catfish, Clarias lazera (C. & V.) : III. Feeding and growth of fry

The suitability of some common, natural and artificial feedstuffs for the rearing of fry of Clarias lazera (C. & V.) was investigated in 2 experiments. It was found that a dry trout starter, an experimental dry feed and dried inactive yeast were not suitable feeds for rearing C. lazera fry. Neither could ground Clarias fingerlings or frozen zooplankton be used. By contrast, frozen Artemia and especially live Artemia and live zooplankton gave good results. After 4 weeks the fish thus fed had attained an average weight of 0.3 to 1 g and survival ranged from 50 to 96%. Feeding in excess of satiation and feeding 24 h/day gave the fastest growth, although the differences in comparison with feeding Artemia or live zooplankton to satiation 4 times per day were not significant. The specific growth rate (% body weight) of these fish decreased from 68% at the start of the experiment to 9% after 28 days.

A successful purified diet for the culture of juvenile lobsters: The effect of lecithin

A purified diet that provides excellent survival (≥ 85%) and good growth of juvenile lobsters ( Homarus americanus and H. americanus × H. gammarus hybrids) through 120 days is presented. When various natural foods (frozen shrimp tails, frozen mussel, frozen liver, and live Artemia salina) are substituted for the purified diet every fourth day, the Artemia supplement produces significantly greater increases in wet weight after 90 days of growth than the other supplements. The inclusion of soy lecithin in the purified diet is critical. Its absence reduces survival dramatically (55% survival within 30 days). Investigations reveal that different forms of lecithin have variable effectiveness and that choline, a significant constituent of lecithin, is probably not the active component. An optimal vitamin mix level for this artificial diet has been determined. The artificial diet has practical application for crustacean aquaculture.

Ontogeny of feeding behaviour in hatchery-reared rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson

Development of feeding behaviour in young rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri, from "swim-up" to day 57 after hatch at 8.5 °C is described relative to food type (live Artemia salina or dry trout ration) and water flow (current or no current). Earliest signs of feeding behaviour appear during the process of swim-up at days 27 to 29, with the movement of the eyes to fixate particles and the beginning of a snap response which intensifies within 2 days. Initially the alevins are nonselective between food and inert targets, but by about day 25 at the test temperature they have become able to discriminate food from nonfood items, and show a marked increase in exogenous feeding activity. The timing, which will differ at different rearing temperatures, coincides approximately with final absorption of the visible yolk sac and follows disappearance of the oesophageal plug by about 10 days. This would seem to be the best time to initiate artificial feeding of hatchery-reared alevins, with the fish showing a preference for ingestion of live food (shrimp nauplii) over dry rations. Despite evident behavioural differences in current and no-current conditions this factor had little effect on timing or ultimate success of first feeding. Failure of some alevins to begin feeding, or feed adequately for survival, is associated with the agonistic behaviour of more aggressive siblings.

COMPARISON OF FEEDS FOR LARVAL STAGES OF THE GIANT PRAWN (Macrobrachium rosenbergii)

AbstractFreeze‐dried ground oyster meat, freeze‐dried catfish tissue or a commercial trout fry feed were fed with and without supplemental live Artemia nauplii to duplicate groups of 2,000 Macrobrachiun rosenbergii larvae stocked in 60‐liter rectangular fiberglass tanks. The least time to metamorphosis (37 days) and the highest survival rate (78%) were achieved by feeding freeze‐dried oyster with supplemental live Artemia Performances of larvae fed freeze‐dried catfish tissue or trout fry feed with live Artemia were also satisfactory with 59% and 51%, respectively, of larvae metamorphosing within 37 days. On the contrary, survival and development of larvae fed oyster meat or trout feed without live Artemia were extremely poor with less than 2% of the larvae metamorphosing in 50 days.

COMPARATIVE EFFECTS OF LIVE AND ARTIFICIAL DIETS ON GROWTH AND SURVIVAL OF JUVENILE ATLANTIC SILVERSIDE, Menidia menidia

AbstractJuvenile Atlantic silversides (Menidia menidia) were fed a live diet of 3‐day‐old brine shrimp nauplii (Artemia salina). Growth and survival of those fish is compared with that of fish fed various artificial diets, those fed live food and an artificial diet on alternate days, and one group not fed.Survival on the live Artemia diet was 93% of the original 150 fish after 24 days. Artificial diets gave survival ranging from 43% to 79% during the same period. Fish fed live and artificial diets had 88% survival. The unfed group had 10% survival after 9 days and all died after 16 days of starvation.Growth was best on the live diet and only slightly less, but significantly different, on the combination diet. Growth was significantly less on all the artificial diets.No artificial diet yet tested, including the World Mariculture Society Nutrition Task Force invertebrate reference diet (preliminary), has provided survival and growth of Atlantic silversides equivalent to that of fish fed live brine shrimp nauplii. Relative success of the combination diet demonstrates partial nutritional requirements can be derived from an artificial (non‐living) food source and indicates progress toward adequate artificial diets for marine fishes.

Methods of weaning juvenile hatchery reared sole ( Solea solea (L.)) from live food to prepared diets

Dover sole ( Solea solea (L.)) of 1.3–2.8 cm in length (18–190 mg) were weaned from live Artemia salina nauplii to prepared diest ranging from extruded pastes to dry powders. A variety of techniques was used, including the abrupt change to the new diet, the use of a series of intermediary diets, and the addition of limited quantities of live Artemia during the early stages of weaning. Survival rates of 41–76% were achieved and growth averaged from 0.04 to 0.33 mm/day.

Brine Shrimp (Artemia salina) Consumption By The Larval Stages Of The American Lobster (Homarus Americanus) In Relation To Food Density And Water Temperature1

ABSTRACTCulture of Homarus americanus larval stages commonly involves use of live or frozen adult Artemia salina as the standard food. Our previous studies demonstrated that live brine shrimp are taken more readily than the frozen product by lobster larvae, and that maintenance and feeding problems are reduced by using live Artemia. This study was conducted to determine optimum daily feeding level of live adult Artemia required by larval stages of Homarus at ambient and elevated temperatures. This was done by offering a series of standard rations to individually held larvae and observing the influence of these rations on growth and survival. Results indicate that feeding levels in excess of four brine shrimp per day at ambient San Diego ocean temperatures (15–16 C) and eight brine shrimp per day at an elevated temperature of 19 C are required for optimal production. Larvae fed at these levels achieved fourth stage in the shortest time, had the highest survival, grew to larger size and were most efficient in utilizing the available food.

Effects of Light on Schooling and Feeding of Jack Mackerel,Trachurus symmetricus

Schools of six jack mackerel each were photographed with infrared film at eight levels of luminance and also in darkness. Three indices were used to measure the behavior of the school from motion pictures. Two of the indices, mean distance to nearest neighbor and mean separation distance, were measures of the distances between individuals in a school; the other, mean angular deviation, was a measure of differences in orientation between individuals. A value for each index was calculated for each motion picture frame.From 12.1 to 6 × 10−6 ft-L no differences existed in the angular deviation of the school or in the distances between fish. At 6 × 10−7 ft-L the intervals between fish were much larger than at higher levels of brightness and groups showed little uniformity in their orientation. Below 6 × 10−7 ft-L (darkness) schools were dispersed and the distributions of values of angular deviation were random.The ability of jack mackerel to feed on live adult Artemia was also tested at eight levels of luminance and in darkness. The number of Artemia eaten at 6 × 10−5 ft-L was about half of that eaten at the normal daytime level of 12.1 ft-L. Few Artemia were eaten at 6 × 10−7 ft-L and none in darkness.Comparison of these data with measurements of light in the sea indicated that jack mackerel probably would be able to maintain schools near the surface on a moonless starlit night and that they probably could feed effectively near the surface on a full moonlight night.