Moina sp. as Artemia replacement in the larval rearing of river catfish, Pangasius nasutus (Bleeker, 1863)

Moina sp. recently has attracted the interest of hatchery operators because it is a renewable resource and has a low production cost. The effect of live and frozen forms of Moina in replacing Artemia during the larval rearing of river catfish, Pangasius nasutus, Bleeker, 1863, was investigated for 21 days. The eight-day-old posthatchling larvae were fed with live Moina (LM), frozen Moina (FM), and live Artemia (LA), of which LA served as control. The feeding trials were done in triplicate. There was no significant difference in the final mean weight and specific growth rate between all treatments. However, the larvae exhibited significantly (P < .05) higher survival when fed with LM (27.2 +/- 1.1%) against LA (15.9 +/- 3.9%) and FM (1.1 +/- 0.7%). As a conclusion, live Moina could be used to replace Artemia in the larval rearing of P. nasutus based on comparable growth performance and improved survival.