Captive growth analysis of Siberian sturgeon juveniles (Acipenser baerii J. F. Brandt, 1869) fed on a commercial fodder and its importance to a sustainable development of the aquaculture sector

Abstract

Sturgeon aquaculture is an important continuously developing sector within freshwater aquaculture and its sustainability is one of the most pressing matters nowadays. Thus, the urge to apprehend the mechanics of sturgeon growth in captivity as well as in nature is of immediate importance, considering the increase in customers’ requests for captive-grown sturgeon meat, caviar, and adjacent by-products. The present study evaluates several canonical growth indices in a controlled, indoor environment that included fluctuations in temperature, dissolved oxygen saturation, and ponderal density (g/L), known to affect sturgeon growth performance. Over the 91 days of evaluation, no significant correlation was found between the weight gain and the ponderal density, dissolved oxygen values, and temperature, among the 4 tanks used in the experiment setup, indicating, along with the lack of significant variance for the RCI per tank, that the growth observed is correlated only with the fodder fed to the fish.