Fecundity, growth, and survival of the angelfish Pterophyllum scalare (Perciformes: Cichlidae) under laboratory conditions

Abstract

The freshwater angelfishes (Pterophyllum) are South American cichlids that have become very popular among aquarists, yet scarce information on their culture and aquarium husbandry exists. We studied Pterophyllum scalare to analyze dietary effects on fecundity, growth, and survival of eggs and larvae during 135 days. Three diets were used: A) decapsulated cysts of Artemia, B) commercial dry fish food, and C) a mix diet of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis and the cladoceran Daphnia magna. The initial larval density was 100 organisms in each 40L aquarium. With diet A, larvae reached a maximum weight of 3.80g, a total length of 6.3 cm, and a height of 5.8cm; with diet B: 2.80g, 4.81cm, and 4.79cm, and with diet C: 3.00g, 5.15cm, and 5.10cm, respectively. Significant differences were observed between diet A, and diet B and C, but no significantly differences were observed between diets B and C. Fecundity varied from 234 to 1 082 eggs in 20 and 50g females, respectively. Egg survival ranged from 87.4% up to 100%, and larvae survival (80 larvae/40L aquarium) from 50% to 66.3% using diet B and A, respectively. Live food was better for growing fish than the commercial balanced food diet. Fecundity and survival are important factors in planning a good production of angelfish. Rev.

Survival and growth of early life stages of leaf fish (Monocirrhus polyacanthus , Heckel 1840) cultured under different stocking densities and live food densities

“…Certainly, larvae of many species can be cultured on Artemia sp. (Luna‐Figueroa and Gómez, ; Schütz et al., ; Ortega‐Salas et al., ; Takahashi et al., ).…”

Tácticas reproductivas para optimizan la supervivencia de la descendencia de Cichlasoma orientale (Perciformes: Cichlidae)

“…The positive correlation between batch fecundity and standard length among females of C. orientale has been observed for other fish species (Mazzoni & Iglesias-Rios, 2002;Ortega-Salas, Cortés, & Reyes-Bustamante, 2009;Rodrigues & Macchi, 2010;Serezli et al, 2010;Araújo et al, 2012;Peressin et al, 2012;Reid & Chaput, 2012). The correlation may be explained by the fact that larger individuals have more energy available for the production of oocytes (Patimar & Mohammadzadeh, 2011) and larger females have more space in the abdominal cavity, providing greater fecundity.…”

The freshwater aquarium trade as a vector for incidental invertebrate fauna

“…While a large proportion of New Zealand's historic aquatic invertebrate invaders were recorded during this study (snails, C. sowerbii), most of the recently established invaders are relatively large planktonic species, including Daphnia and calanoid copepod species (e.g., Duggan et al 2006a). These taxa are not likely to survive in home aquaria containing fishes, as they are large bodied, and would be easily seen by these visual predators (e.g., Ortega-Salas et al 2009). Indeed, 5 of the 43 households sampled had bought live Daphnia cultures from stores to feed their fish, but no live Daphnia were recorded in tanks.…”