February 15-18, 2009 Washington State Convention Center Seattle ...

THE EFFECTS OF STOCKING DENSITY AND ARTEMIA DENSITY ON GROWTH AND
SURVIVAL OF LARVAL LARGEMOUTH BASS
Shawn Coyle, Leigh Anne Bright, Kyle Schneider and James H. Tidwell
Kentucky State University
Aquaculture Research Center
Frankfort, KY 40601 USA
shawn.coyle@kysu.edu
The intensification of larval rearing techniques for largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) have been identified as a priority
area for commercialization of the species. A series of experiments investigating techniques required to raise largemouth bass
fry from first feeding until fully habituated to a commercial dry diet have indicated that largemouth bass swim-up fry readily
consume Artemia nauplii. However, in these experiments Artemia was fed to excess and optimal bass stocking and prey densities
were not determined.
Two independent feeding trials were conducted to determine the optimal fry and Artemia densities for the first two weeks of
largemouth bass larviculture. The duration of each trial was 14 days. First day swim-up fry were collected from individual
spawning mats harvested within 24 hours of spawning and incubated individually to ensure cohorts were at least paternal siblings.
Experiment 1 was a 3X3 factorial and evaluated largemouth bass fry (9 mg) at stocking densities of 20, 40 and 80 fry/L
and Artemia nauplii feed rates of 5, 10 and 20 nauplii/ml administered twice daily, while Experiment 2 evaluated fry stocking
densities of 10, 20 and 40 fry/L and Artemia nauplii feed rates of 20, 30 and 40 nauplii/ml administered twice daily.
In Experiment 1, ANOVA on average harvest weight indicated a significant interaction (P