Study of the survival, growth rate and fatty acid composition of juvenile of Amphiprion clarkii fed with Apocyclops royi

To evaluate the nutritive value and feeding effects of Apocyclops royi for marine fish larvae, comparative analysis of fatty acid composition of Apocyclops royi with Artemia nauplii was carried out. The results showed that the contents of DHA, EPA, ARA and essential fatty acid(EFA) in Apocyclops royi were 21.185%, 11.088%, 3.250% and 37.417% respectively, which were significantly higher than those in Artemia nauplii. Both of A. royi and Artemia nauplii were chosen to raise the juvenile of Amphiprion clarkii from 5 to 20 days post hatch and then the survival, growth rate and fatty acid composition of the juvenile were assessed. The results showed that the juveniles fed with copepods had significantly higher growth rate than those fed with Artemia nauplii(P 0.01), while the difference in survival rate was not significant(P0.05). The contents of the three EFAs(DHA, EPA and ARA) in juvenile of Amphiprion clarkii fed with A. royi were 21.843%, 6.914% and 2.725% respectively, which were significantly higher than those in juvenile of A. clarkii fed with Artemia nauplii(P0.01). This paper proposed that Apocyclops royi was suitable as living feed organism of marine fish larvae, and had wide application prospect in aquaculture.