Feeding HUFA and vitamin C-enriched Moina micrura enhances growth and survival of Anabas testudineus (Bloch, 1792) larvae

Better survival and growth of larval stages of fish is the most important objective of any fish hatchery. The present study aimed to assess the effect of feeding a freshwater cladoceran Moina micrura as live food enriched with HUFA, vitamin C or both on survival and growth of climbing perch Anabas testudineus larvae. Three days old larvae were randomly distributed in twelve glass tanks at the rate of 10 larvae per litre of water and fed enriched with HUFA, vitamin C or both and un-enriched M. micrura thrice a day at the rate of 4-5 numbers ml(-1) of rearing water for 30 days. Fatty acid analysis of the enrichment emulsions, M. micrura and the larvae was done. The highest survival was observed in larval group fed with HUFA enriched Moina (24 +/- 1.53%) and the lowest in the control group (9.3 +/- 0.88%). This indicates that enrichment of M. micrura with HUFA alone could enhance the survival rate significantly. Larval group fed with HUFA-Vitamin C enriched M. micrura exhibited significantly (P < 0.05) high body weight gain as well as specific growth rate. Therefore, it was concluded that better survival and growth of larval stages could be achieved by feeding with enriched M. micrura.