Growth and survival of juvenile red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, acclimated to freshwater at three different stocking densities in a partial recirculation system

• Published in: Journal of the World Aquaculture Society
• Main Authors: Vela, Miguel A., Villarreal, Humberto, Araneda, Marcelo, Espinosa‐Faller, F. J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2018
• Subjects: Red drum; Sciaenops ocellatus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jwas.12546; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fjwas.12546; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jwas.12546

Preliminary technical baseline information for the inland culture of juvenile red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus , in a freshwater fish hatchery is presented. Three initial stocking densities (d 1 = 83, d 2 = 167, and d 3 = 250 fish/m 3 ) were tested in a semirecirculation system for 575 days using a commercially available feed (48.1% protein, 25% lipids, and 0.13% fiber). Initial and final mean fish weight were 7.11 ± 0.02 g and 287.6 ± 27 g. As carrying capacity appeared to have been reached, only data from Days 1–333 were analyzed. One‐way ANOVA analyses indicated that the survival rate of the smaller density (d 1 =40 ± 3.7%) was significantly different from the other two densities (d 3 = 21 ± 1.1% and d 2 = 23 ± 1.0%), which did not differ between them. Absolute growth rate (0.87 ± 0.02 g/day) was not significantly different between densities ( F = 0.23. p = .801). Neither was weight significantly different between treatments. There were significant differences in the feed conversion rate (FCR) between densities ( F = 8.54; p = .02). FCR for d 1 was significantly lower than for the two other densities, which did not differ from each other. A von Bertalanffy growth model was adjusted ( R 2 = 0.95), and weight–length relationship presented negative allometric values ( b = 2.85, R 2 = 0.98).