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Embora a ciência da nutrição de peixes esteja longe de estabelecer um padrão geral de exigências nutricionais, a necessidade de desenvolvimento de alimentos de baixo impacto poluente há muito faz parte da agenda das comunidades científica e empresarial internacional da aqüicultura. Não só é absolutamente possível formular alimentos ambientalmente corretos, como é necessário modelar a formulação destes alimentos. Porém, é necessária absoluta acurácia para atender formulações espécie-específicas, considerando-se as interações da biologia e fisiologia nutricional das espécies com os alimentos e com as variações abióticas do meio. O conhecimento disponível sobre as mais de 200 espécies de peixe produzidas comercialmente no mundo é ainda incipiente e os sistemas de produção de peixe, nos diferentes regimes de exploração, estão implantados em todas as condições ecológicas possíveis. Neste cenário, produzir rações ambientalmente corretas é, senão impossível, pelo menos muito difícil e depende da ação coordenada e positiva de produtores, indústria da alimentação, agências regulatórias, e instituições de ensino e pesquisa para definir os parâmetros necessários à consecução deste objetivo.

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Aquatic ecosystems are influenced by the surrounding terrestrial environment. This work studied the influence of vegetation of riparian zones on the feeding patterns of two nektonic characids, Astyanax paranae and Bryconamericus iheringii, in a basin surrounded by an agricultural area. Nine streams within the Corumbataí River basin (São Paulo State, Brazil) with varying proportions of adjacent riparian forest (RF) and pastures were set apart in three arbitrary categories: Riparian Forest (>90% RF), Mixed Coverage (banks covered by 30-60% RF; MC) and Pasture (<29% RF, PA); resident characids were sampled in the dry and rainy seasons and evaluated in regard to composition of diets. Astyanax paranae fed on allochthonous food sources in RF and MC, and on autochthonous food sources on PA streams; B. iheringii fed on autochthonous food sources in RF streams and in mixed resources (detritus and sediment) in PA streams. Selection of food source was related to, and altered by, stream channel structure and composition of substratum. Preservation and restoration of native riparian vegetation is key to preservation of resident characids in small streams of this river basin.

Background Aquaculture is on the rise worldwide, and the use of antibiotics is fostering higher production intensity. However, recent findings suggest that the use of antibiotics comes at the price of increased antibiotic resistance. Yet, the effect of the oral administration of antibiotics on the mobility of microbial resistance genes in the fish gut is not well understood. In the present study, Piaractus mesopotamicus was used as a model to evaluate the effect of the antimicrobial florfenicol on the diversity of the gut microbiome as well as antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) using a metagenomic approach. Results The total relative abundance of ARGs and MGEs significantly increased during the antibiotic exposure. Additionally, phage integrases, transposases, and transposons flanking ARGs accumulated in the gut microbiome of P. mesopotamicus because of the antibiotic exposure. MGEs co-occurring with ARGs showed a significant positive correlation with the total ARGs found. Furthermore, shifts in the gut microbiome towards well-known putative pathogens such as Salmonella , Plesiomonas , and Citrobacter were observed following florfenicol treatment. Mainly Plesiomonas and Citrobacter harbored genes that code for multidrug and phenicol efflux pumps. Moreover, several genes related to RNA processing and modification, cell motility, SOS response, and extracellular structure were enriched due to the antibiotic application. The observed effects were visible during the complete application phase and disappeared at the post-exposure phase. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the oral administration of antibiotics increases the potential for MGE-mediated exchange of ARGs in the gut of fish and could contribute to the enrichment and dispersion of ARGs in aquaculture systems. Importantly, this increase in the potential for ARGs exchange could be an effect of changes in community structure and/or ARG mobilization. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40168-019-0632-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Improper dietary protein and energy levels and their ratio will lead to increased fish production cost. This work evaluated effects of dietary protein : energy ratio on growth and body composition of pacu, Piaractus mesopotamicus. Fingerling pacu (15.5 ± 0.4 g) were fed twice a day for 10 weeks until apparent satiation with diets containing 220, 260, 300, 340 or 380 g kg−1 crude protein (CP) and 10.9, 11.7, 12.6, 13.4 or 14.2 MJ kg−1 digestible energy (DE) in a totally randomized experimental design, 5 × 5 factorial scheme (n = 3). Weight gain, specific growth rate increased and feed conversion ratio (FCR) decreased significantly (P < 0.05) when CP increased from 220 to 271, 268 and 281 g kg−1 respectively. Pacu was able to adjust feed consumption in a wide range of dietary DE concentration. Fish fed 260 CP diets showed best (P < 0.05) protein efficiency ratio and FCR with 11.7–12.6 MJ kg−1; but for the 380 CP‐diets group, significant differences were observed only at 14.2 MJ kg−1 dietary energy level, suggesting that pacu favours protein as energy source. DE was the chief influence on whole body chemical composition. Minimum dietary protein requirement of pacu is 270 g kg−1, with an optimum CP : DE of 22.2 g MJ−1.

Impaired immune system by environmental stressors can lead fishes to be more susceptible to diseases that limit the economic development of aquaculture systems. This study was set out to determine the effect of six levels of mannan oligosaccharides (MOS; ActiveMOS®; Biorigin, Lençois Paulista, São Paulo , Brazil) on the performance index and hematology of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus juveniles. Fish (13.62 g) were randomly distributed into 18 plastic aquaria (300 L; 20 fishes per aquarium) and fed during 45 d with a commercial diet supplemented with 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1% dietary MOS, in a totally randomized design trial (n = 3); biometrical and hematological data were collected and analyzed. There were no significant differences in hematological parameters between fish fed control and MOS supplementation diets, and daily feed consumption (FC) decreased (P < 0.05) with increasing levels of dietary MOS. Dietary MOS did not increase leukocyte count and presented negative effects on FC of Nile tilapia. At 0.4% MOS supplementation, the individual weight gain was higher in absolute values but not different (P > 0.05) compared to control diet.