Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

REDUCING THE RELIANCE ON LIVE FEEDS DURING LARVICULTURE OF Amphiprion ocellaris

Casey A. Murray*, Brittney D. Lacy, Olivia I. Markham , Matthew A. DiMaggio

 

Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory

Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences

Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

University of Florida

Ruskin, FL 33570

casey.murray@ufl.edu



Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) have been one of the most significant marine ornamental commodities for decades and have recently emerged as an important model organism for ecology and evolution research.  These fish have been cultured commercially for decades , however bottlenecks during larviculture continue to affect survival and  appearance  of juvenile fish. Additionally, clownfish larviculture is heavily reliant on live feeds, such as rotifers and Artemia nauplii, which increases the complexity and cost of raising this species. This study aimed to utilize the digestive physiology of clownfish to  inform  subsequent weaning and dietetics experiments to reduce the  overall use of live feeds.  A previous study examined  A. ocellaris  larval digestive physiology from 0-15 days post-hatch (DPH) and found that the digestive tract of  A. ocellaris  matures around 7 DPH, indicated by the presence of a functional stomach.  First,  larvae were weaned  from rotifers  to  Artemia  nauplii at three time points (3, 5, and 7 DPH) during a 15-day trial.  This trial found that larvae can be transitioned to  Artemia na uplii as early as 5 DPH (Figure 1A).  A second 25-day weaning trial aimed to transition larvae from live feeds to a commercial microdiet (MD) as early as possible. Digestive ontogeny data were used to introduce MD at three time points surrounding stomach development (5, 8, and 11 DPH). Larval survival was greatest when MD was introduced at 5 DPH (Figure 1B), therefore  A. ocellaris  larviculture may not require the use of  Artemia  nauplii  prior to MD introduction. A dietetics trial is currently underway, where the effects of three types of commercially available MDs on larval growth, survival, and pigmentation are being examined.  Overall, these data will help  reduce the overall reliance on rotifers and Artemia nauplii, which will result in more cost-efficient and streamlined larval culture protocols for  A. ocellaris.