Development of enriched Artemia and Moina in larviculture of fish and crustaceans: a review

Abstract

Inconsistencies in the nutritional values of live food such as Artemia and Moina are well-known issues. The enrichment of live food is necessary to obtain the optimum nutrients needed for the growth, survival, and immune competence of fish and crustaceans' larvae. The enhanced growth and survival of fish and crustaceans' larvae are vital to continuous aquaculture production. However, enriched live food could be species-specific as various aquatic larval species may respond differently to the enrichment diets. The enrichment of Artemia and Moina as the "bags of nutrients" has been widely studied and involved various enrichment diets such as commercial diets containing essential fatty acids, highly unsaturated fatty acids, and vitamin C. The use of natural enrichment diets such as yeast, microalgae, and herbal extract, including the common name Chinese chaste tree leaf (Vitex negundo), is becoming popular in aquaculture nutritional development. These natural enrichment diets are more economical and environmentally friendly than commercial diets. The compositions of Artemia and Moina are both affected by the enrichment diets that they consumed, hence directly affecting the growth of the larvae that fed on them. Hence, this review highlights the development of enriched Artemia and Moina and their effects on the growth performance and the immune competence of fish and crustaceans' larvae.

Effects of mono and mix diets on growth of Artemia and its application as dietary sources of Pterophyllum scalare (Angelfish)

“…Artemia was formerly categorized as a micro-crustacea for marine and fresh water. Hence, this zooplankton was low in HUFA so it is more suitable for feeding to freshwater fish [32]. From the previous study showed that new Artemia cyst were suitable food that might improve the growth and survival [33].…”

“…Live food was needed for early life stages of aquatic animal. By enrichment, it can increase the additional positive impacts on larval development and survival rate of larvae [32]. According to [37] Acipenser gueldenstaedtii larvae fed with Artemia enriched with lipid enrichment had improved growth in terms of growth performance of larvae.…”

Trends and New Developments in Artemia Research

“…Naturally, the Great Salt Lake in the USA was the first available natural habitat for the Artemia . However, because of their increasing demand for marine fish and crustacean larviculture [ 2 ], many inland salt lakes have emerged, such as in Bohai Bay, China, southern Siberia, Kazakhstan, and seasonal solar saltworks in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. With the help of the European Union budget through the WorldFish organization, new efforts emerged for the potential sustainable production of Artemia in the area at Cox’s Bazar District, located in the southeast coastal zone of Bangladesh, through their available solar salt farm technology [ 3 ].…”