Larval growth, survival, and partial budget analysis related to replacing Artemia in larval culture of six freshwater ornamental fishes

Cultured freshwater ornamental fish are primarily fed Artemia at early life stages. Development of alternative feeding strategies could decrease the Artemia reliance of ornamental producers, reduce labor costs, and improve industry resilience by diversifying larval feeding options. In this study, Corydoras aeneus , Synodontis eupterus , Synodontis nigriventris , Epalzeorhynchos bicolor , Pterophyllum scalare , and Trichogaster lalius larvae were offered one of four diets at first feeding: newly hatched Artemia or one of three microparticulate diets (MDs). After 14 days of feeding, survival and standard length (SL) were evaluated, and partial budget analyses (PBA) were conducted to evaluate the economic feasibility of replacing Artemia with MDs. For all species except E. bicolor , at least one MD performed as well as or better than Artemia with regard to the parameters in question. E. bicolor exhibited reduced survival when fed MDs compared to Artemia , although SL did not vary significantly among treatments. PBAs indicated that replacing Artemia with MDs at first feeding resulted in an average net benefit of $0.043 ± 0.004 for all species except E. bicolor , which resulted in a net cost of $0.048. These results indicate that MDs represent a physiologically and economically feasible alternative to Artemia for larval culture of many freshwater ornamental fishes.