Survival of Postlarval Macrobrachium rosenbergii at Two Temperatures

Abstract

Postlarvae of the giant Malaysian prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii were reared for a 120‐d period under laboratory conditions at 20°C and 33°C to calculate survival. Ninety‐six 50‐d‐old postlarvae were stocked in eight 70‐L aquaria. A balanced commercial feed containing 40% protein was supplied daily at 20% to 9% of body weight during the first 2 months and at 5% to 3% of body weight during the final 2 months. Live brine shrimp Artemia franciscana were also provided as a supplemental food (10 organisms/L). Survival was 81% at 33°C and 67% at 20°C. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001) throughout the study period. Basic knowledge of rearing requirements under artificial conditions will be important for the production of juveniles as stock for large‐scale prawn culture.

Variation of dietary protein/lipid levels used in postlarvae of freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii cultured in a biofloc system

“…In general, the prawn's survival was low compared with the results obtained by other research with similar initial age prawns (Balazs & Ross1976, Goda 2008; it could be caused by low temperature on some days of our bioassay. Ortega-Salas & Arana-Magallón (2006) reported that the survival of 50 days old prawns was 81% at 33°C and 67% at 20°C after two months of culture. There were no differences in prawn's survival rate between treatments and control, which is remarkable considering that we used diets with low P and L levels, but biofloc contributed to cover nutrient requirements.…”