Growth and survival of grouper Epinephelus coioides (Hamilton) larvae fed free-living nematode Panagrellus redivivus at first feeding

Abstract

The free-living nematode, Panagrellus redivivus, was tested as live food for grouper Epinephelus coioides larvae during the first feeding stage. A series of experiments were conducted to determine the acceptability of the free-living nematodes in grouper larvae at first feeding, the optimum nematode density and the response of the larvae to nutritionally enriched nematode. All experiments were conducted in 200-L conical tanks filled with 150-L filtered seawater and stocked at 15 larvae L -1 . Duration of feeding experiments was up to day 21 (experiment 1) and 14 days (experiment 2 and 3). Brachionus plicatilis and Artemia (experiment 1) and Brachionus plicatilis alone (experiment 2 & 3) was used as the control treatment. Observations indicated that the grouper larvae readily fed on free-living nematodes as early as 3 days posthatching, the start of exogenous feeding. Optimum feeding density for the larvae was 75 nematodes ml -1 . The enrichment of cod liver oil or sunflower oil influenced the total lipids and n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids of P. redivivus, which in turn influenced those of the grouper larvae, however, growth and survival of the larvae were not affected (P [ 0.05). The results from this investigation showed that the nematode, P. redivivus, can be used as first live food for grouper larvae from the onset of exogenous feeding until they could feed on Artemia nauplii.

Biofloc technology as part of a sustainable aquaculture system: A review on the status and innovations for its expansion

“…To support this theory, a study carried out by Focken et al (2006) revealed that the nematode Panagrellus redivivus was actively consumed by whiteleg shrimp larvae resulting in the nematode-fed shrimp reaching post-larval stage at a greater rate than the algae-only treatment. In another study, conducted by Reyes et al (2010), the authors demonstrated that up to 3 days post-hatch, orange spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) larvae actively fed on a diet of enriched P. redivivus; however, the authors concluded that without enrichment, the fatty acid profile contained in the nematodes is not sufficient to be considered a complete replacement to current commercial fishmeal and fish oil-based feeds. In short, nematodes within biofloc systems offer continuous access to a supplementary food source for the cultured organisms and can be actively preyed upon as and when required.…”

Successful rearing of whiteleg shrimpLitopenaeus vannameilarvae fed a desiccation-tolerant nematode to replaceArtemia

“…To reduce dependence on brine shrimp, research has focused on using free‐living and non‐parasitic microbivorous nematodes (Brüggemann, ). Previously, the nematode Panagrellus redivivus was used as live prey to replace Artemia for marine (Reyes, Duray, Santiago & Ricci, ) and freshwater fish (Sautter, Kaiser, Focken & Becker, ; Schlechtriem, Ricci, Focken & Becker, ), and crustaceans (Kumlu, ; Kumlu, Fletcher & Fisher, ).…”

Effects of Live Food Feeding on Growth Performance and Some Histological Parameters of Herotilapia multispinosa and Amatitlania nigrofasciata

“…One of the important aspect of producing annelids and nematodes is the ease of nutritional composition enhancement. Inclusion of fish meal and oil results in culture mediums results in high quality nutritional quality both for nematodes and annelids (Delbare and Dhert, 1996;Ricci, 2001;Santiago et al, 2003;Reyes et al, 2011;Schlechtriem et al, 2004;Kumlu et al, 1998;Santiago et al, 2004;Ercan et al, 2018).…”