Effect of different dietson larval growth and juvenile production of Nilgiri Melon barb Haludaria fasciata

Abstract

Larval feeds play a vital role in the production of juvenilefishin hatcheries. The presentstudy evaluated the effect of six differentdiets on the growth and survival of larvae ofNilgiri Melon barb Haludaria fasciata. The selected experimental diets were Growfin (GF), Elarval 100 (EL),Spirulinapowder (SP),Decapsulated Artemiaeggs (DA),Live Artemianauplii (LA)and a combination of live artemia and PrinceWean 300 (LAP). The larvae at 3dayspost-hatch(dph)werecollected and fed with the experimental diets for 35 days. The feeding was donethrice daily under each treatment group. The intermediate growth in total length and larval survivalwas measured every five days and the body weightof fish larvaeonthe initial and final dayswascalculated during and after thetreatment. The larvae fed with LAP had a higher mean total lengththan all other treatments. The mean weightwas observed to be higher in LAwhich significantly (P<0.05) differs from other treatments. The averagespecific growth rate was higher in DA, LA and LAP.The heterogeneous growth wasobservedlower in treatment LAPthan in other treatments.It is observed that live feeds are not compulsory for the larval feeding programof H. fasciata.Artemia nauplii can be replacedpartially or fullywith micro dietssuch as EL and PrinceWeanwithout heavily affecting the growth and survivalof larvae.