Preliminary technical baseline information for the inland culture of juvenile red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, in a freshwater fish hatchery is presented. Three initial stocking densities (d1 = 83, d2 = 167, and d3 = 250 fish/m3) were tested in a semirecirculation system for 575 days using a commercially available feed (48.1% protein, 25% lipids, and 0.13% fiber). Initial and final mean fish weight were 7.11 ± 0.02 g and 287.6 ± 27 g. As carrying capacity appeared to have been reached, only data from Days 1–333 were analyzed. One‐way ANOVA analyses indicated that the survival rate of the smaller density (d1 =40 ± 3.7%) was significantly different from the other two densities (d3 = 21 ± 1.1% and d2 = 23 ± 1.0%), which did not differ between them. Absolute growth rate (0.87 ± 0.02 g/day) was not significantly different between densities (F = 0.23. p = .801). Neither was weight significantly different between treatments. There were significant differences in the feed conversion rate (FCR) between densities (F = 8.54; p = .02). FCR for d1 was significantly lower than for the two other densities, which did not differ from each other. A von Bertalanffy growth model was adjusted (R2 = 0.95), and weight–length relationship presented negative allometric values (b = 2.85, R2 = 0.98).
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