The Use of Calanoid Copepods in Semi-Intensive, Tropical Marine Fish Larviculture
Abstract
The benefits of using copepods in aquaculture include: their superior nutritional value, high digestibility, movement
patterns which trigger a strong feeding response in fish larvae, small size and simply the fact that they are part of the
natural food chain for fish in the wild. Despite these significant advantages the use of copepods in aquaculture
remains limited, mainly because of the inability to culture them cost effectively and at high density.
Over a period of ten years we have been able to develop a reliable culture method for the calanoid copepods Acartia
sp. and Parvocalanus crassirostris and to successfully use these to culture a variety of tropical reef fish species both
in Australia and in Hawaii. Some of the fish species, such as the golden snapper, Lutjanus johnii (Bloch) and the
peacock hind, Cephalopholis argus (Bloch and Schneider) appear to require copepods to successfully negotiate past
first feeding. Others such as the flame angelfish Centropyge loricula (Günther) seem to need copepods for their
whole larval cycle of over 70 days. All fish species we have cultured using copepods as a supplement to other live
prey have shown increased growth and survival.
The use of copepods in aquaculture is unlikely to compete cost effectively with techniques such as semi-automated,
intensive larviculture systems for fish species that are easily cultured on rotifers, but for some high valued reef fish
species at least, the use of copepods is highly desirable if not essential.
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