Effect of different live food on survival and growth of first feeding barber goby, Elacatinus figaro (Sazima, Moura & Rosa 1997) larvae

One of the major challenges in marine fish culture is how to provide live food of adequate size and nutritional quality for first-feeding larvae. Commonly used live food organisms, rotifers and brine shrimp, may not always be the best option. To determine the suitability of different zooplankton in the larviculture of Elacatinus figaro, three diets were tested: RE rotifers Brachionus sp. (10 ind mL-1)+ciliate Euplotes sp. (10 ind mL-1), enriched with fatty acids; RC enriched rotifers (10 ind mL-1)+wild copepod nauplii (10 ind mL-1); and R enriched rotifers (20 ind mL-1). Survival rates were estimated 10 days after hatch (DAH) for the three test groups, and growth rates were evaluated for RE and R at 10 and 20 DAH. Although survival rate was numerically higher for the RC diet (41.1 +/- 14.2%), no significant difference was detected between groups fed RE (20.5 +/- 18.1%), RC or R (32.1 +/- 16.5%). At 10 DAH, the growth rate was significantly higher in RC (5.7 +/- 0.6 mm) than in R (4.6 +/- 0.5 mm), a trend that was also observed at 20 DAH for RC (8.6 +/- 0.5 mm) and R (5.8 +/- 0.7 mm) (P<0.05). E. figaro larvae fed on ciliates did not show satisfactory results, whereas feeding copepod nauplii enhanced growth.