Effect of different diets on growth of the ciliate protozoan Euplotes sp.
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1
Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Portugal
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2
AQUASPROSEA, Lda, Portugal
It is estimated that 1.5 to 2 million people in the world keep aquariums, the majority with ornamental species, mainly fish. This have negative environmental consequences because only 1% of marine ornamental fish are produced in aquaculture. Currently, the main problem of the ornamental species production is the development of the larval stage. This is the most delicate stage presenting elevated mortality, therefore requires more care, especially at the beginning of exogenous feeding. Some ornamental fish larvae mouth have a smaller size than most larvae. Traditional live prey utilized on aquaculture such as Artemia naupli and rotifers cannot be provided to those species, thus they need a smaller food appropriate for their nutritional requirements. Ciliate Euplotes sp. are a protozoan with rapid reproduction and a body size variable between 10μm and 30μm. Normally, they appear as contaminants in cultures of rotifers and are rejected, but they can be used as live food for the larvae with mouth of smaller size.
In order to evaluate the potential of the ciliate Euplotes sp., on ornamental aquaculture, the objective of this experiment was to define the best feed for mass production of these ciliates. Three diets were tested: 1) microalgae Nannochloropsis sp., 2) commercial diet for rotifers Culture Selco 3000, and 3) baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The experiment were performed in controlled room temperature of 20±1 ºC. Nine 1L Erlenmeyer’s were inoculated with 10 ciliates/mL (three replicates for each diet). During 15 days the ciliates were fed at each two days and the density was monitored daily.
From day 4 onwards there were statistically significant differences in density when compared the diets (p-value <0.05). Additionally, it was observed that the baker’s yeast diet provides higher density. After 15 days the highest growth (density) was reached in the groups fed the baker’s yeast (16495±3395 ind/mL) followed by the group fed Selco (745±117 ind/mL) and the lower density was from the group fed microalgae (72.2±30 ind/mL). The present study provides clear evidences that ciliates Euplotes sp. can be cultured at higher densities up to 16000 ciliates/ml. Moreover results showed that growth of the Euplotes sp. is higher when they are fed with baker’s yeast and this can result in very high densities. However in order to evaluate the potential of mass scale culture of ciliates Euplotes sp. more studies are necessary to evaluate the potential of this new live feed for use in ornamental marine aquaculture.
Keywords:
Euplotes sp.,
production,
Live food,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae,
ornamental fish,
Aquaculture
Conference:
IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2016, Peniche, Portugal, 14 Jul - 15 Jul, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Poster presentation
Topic:
Aquaculture
Citation:
Mendes
C,
Chambel
J,
Lopes
J,
Calado
R and
Maranhão
P
(2016). Effect of different diets on growth of the ciliate protozoan Euplotes sp..
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2016.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.04.00032
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Received:
04 May 2016;
Published Online:
13 Jul 2016.
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Correspondence:
Miss. Catarina Mendes, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Peniche, 2520-641, Portugal, catarinamendes93@hotmail.com