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Abstract
This study was carried out in order to determine suitable diet for larval rearing of harlequin shrimp. Newly hatched larvae were reared in 10 liter - composite tanks using the recirculating aquaculture system, at a density of 20 larvae/L. Five different kinds of diets were experimented in order to find out an appropriate diet for larval rearing of the shrimp, including NT1- rotifer; NT2 - Copepoda; NT3 - Artemia; NT4 – Mixture of live feeds (rotifer, Copepoda and Artemia); and NT5 - Commercial feed for rearing larvae of white leg shrimp. Results show that the larvae were fed with the mixture of live feeds obtained higher survival and larval moulting rate than those of Copepoda (5.9% and 32.6% compared to 2.8% and 26.2%) but no did not differ from those of Artemia (4.6% and 29.1%) at the end of the experiment, Zoea XI. Rotifer and pellet feed were not suitable for larval rearing of harlequin shrimp, the larvae died after transferring to the stage of Zoea III. The highest total length of larvae achieved when fed with the mixture of live feeds (5.81 mm), but showed no difference between the one fed with Copepoda and Artemia (5.05 mm and 4.99 mm, P > 0.05). From this study, it can be seen that the combination of rotifer, Copepoda and Artemia were suitable for larval rearing of harlequin shrimp. The follow up studies should focus more on density of foods and live feed enrichment in order to improve the rearing results of this kind of shrimp.
Keywords: diet, harlequin, Hymenocera picta, larvae, marine ornamental shrimp.