Growth of Larval Tiger Puffer Takifugu rubripes Fed Diaphanosoma celebensis

Abstract

Several of our recent studies have focused on mass production of the marine Cladoceran Diaphanosoma celebensis, which can serve as a feed substitute for Artemia nauplii in the culture of larval marine fish. We compared the growth and survival rates of tiger puffer Takifugu rubripes fed D. celebensis with those fed Artemia. The group fed D. celebensis showed an increase in growth from 0.10 g to 1.78 g, while the group fed enriched Artemia had a growth from 0.10 g to 0.92 g. The survival rate of fish fed D. celebensis was 86.7% while that of fish fed enriched Artemia was 51.1%, indicating that the former group was superior to the latter both in growth and survival rate. Fatty acid analysis revealed that D. celebensis fed Nannochloropsis oculata and Schizochytrium sp. had an eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) content of 16.42% and a docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content of 3.93%. Meanwhile, juvenile tiger puffer fed D. celebensis had an EPA content of 9.12% and a DHA content of 10.69%. Juvenile tiger puffer fed D. celebensis had a similar n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acid content to that of tiger puffer fed enriched Artemia which had an EPA content of 5.82% and a DHA content of 15.90%, indicating that no additional enrichment was required.