LIVE FEEDS IN AQUA-HATCHERY Gaihiamngam kamei H.

Mandakini Devi Though it was considered as a pest in aquatic systems but due to increasing commercial interest in the hatchery development of aquatic organisms for human need lead to increasing urgent need for more development of live feed for providing feed for a larval stages of fish. Microalgae are essential food organisms for the developmental stages of many aquatic organisms. They are very important in the critical phases of finfshes and shellfishes for their better survival, growth. Microalgae are directly consumed by clam, mussels, scallops and oysters and even by first feeding phase of fin fishes. They are rich in proteins, carbohydrates and essential fatty acids. Since cultivable aquatic organisms are fragile and delicate at the hours of first feeding stage, it is very important to provide right feed that they need for proper nourishment for better growth and survival since it is the most critical phase of their life. As a result, the live food organisms are called as living capsules of nutrition for the larvae of fish and prawns. Live feed is one of the main components for the successful operation of aqua- hatcheries mainly in prawns and shrimps. The availability of good quality and quantity of live foods contribute to successful operation of aqua-hatchery both for intensive and small scale operations. Important Algae Species Algal biomass is an important alternative source of protein and could supplement conventional food and feed production. The different species are used for different purpose. The important species are Anabaena, Botryococcus, Chlamydomonus, Chlorella, Dunaliella, Phaeodactylum, Porphyridium and Spirulina. The microalgae are used for biofertilizers, energy, soil conditioning, health food, skin treatment, nutriceuticals, food industry, diagnostics etc. The products of microalgae are nitrogen compounds, hydrocarbons, polysaccharides, carotene, glycerols, fatty acids, pigments and fine chemicals. Advantages of Live Foods Organisms The aquaculturists are largely depends on live feeds for the production of young ones into adults. Natural Occurrence The microalgae are naturally occurrence and found in nature water bodies, whether it may be in freshwater or marine and it can be extensively be used for large scale production. The plankton rich seawater can be pumped into on-shore artificial construction or in the nursery rearing of bivalves molluscs. The bloom of naturally plankton mainly phytoplankton are induced near or in the enclosure where the aquatic organisms are grown but this method is deemed very economical in where large quantities of live foods are necessary.

With Minimum Inputs High Production The culture of microalgae does not required highly delicate and sophisticated apparatus or limited conditions when produced as a mixed population and it can be grown easily. In order to provide the carbon supply for intensive cultures, the seawater as such can be pumped out directly. The nitrogen and phosphorous are added as salts. Depending on the species, types, availability, location, demands and the nature of culture systems utilized, the production cost different and production is vary but as overall the systems of algal culture are energy efficient. High Nutritive Value The nutritive value of algal is almost same but some species are considered as higher nutritional value. The preferred depends on the size and easy culture system. The sizes that can easily feed by young ones of fish and shrimp larvae are highly preferred in the aqua-hatcheries. Various algae that used as a fish feed chemical composition are a good reflection of nutritive value of the algal biomass. Their chemical compositions are influenced by many environmental factors which changes the proportions of the individual cell constituents. But, this proportion can also be modified based on the requirement by specific cultivation measures. The algal dry matter composition is consisting of all the essential components such as proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, fibre with the most attractive component of biomass as crude protein. Supplemental Value to conventional Food The algal biomass is a rich source of protein, minerals thus it can be utilized in combination with conventional foods. Mixture of waste grown algae such as Spirulina, Chlorella, Scenesdesmus in combination with the soyabean meal have been resulting in increasing yields. Supplementations are more essential in places where fresh algae cannot be produced on mass scale and preserved and concentrated powder is available. It enriches the diet with many essential amino acids, fatty acids and water soluble vitamins. Alternative Systems For decreasing the production cost of microalgae, it is linked with the intensive wastewater treatment. The treatment of bio-industry wastes products mainly from the food industries are high cost. In this area, algal biomass can be integrated in the effluent treatment and biomass obtained can be used for fish feed. The treated effluent in aerated lagoons can be used as a Spirulina cultivation media as a dominant algal from without addition of extra nutrients. Disadvantages of Microalgae Predation-contamination The susceptibility to infection by viruses, fungi, bacteria and exposure to predators such as protozoans, rotifers, crustaceans and microplanktonic larvae of benthic organisms are some of the major problems encounter in large scales cultures of algae. Though the predation by larger organisms can be reduced but the infection by virus, bacteria are still problem.

Toxicity and Digestibility The basic requirements for utilizing the algal biomass in aquafeeds are not only the nutritional quality. It is equally proof that the important of the taxological safety and digestibility of the material, since many algal contains toxins. Sometimes, the algal culture may contaminated with the toxic substances like heavy metals which may lead to fish kill or oxygen depletion associated with the algal blooms and this may correlated to toxicity. Due to bigger size, some algae may not able to digest by particular aquatic community or may have thick cell wall which leads to digestion problems. The nutrients constituents such as proteins, lipids, fatty acids may have high quantities but it may be poor qualities too with particular species of algae. Nutritional Value The nutritional value of an various algae and biochemical composition varies although algae have been said to be nutritionally rich. The nutritional quality depends on many environmental factors, growth and state of growth. The exact chemical compositions cannot predict in outdoor culture, where the growth conditions vary and there is a direct influence of environmental conditions. High Production Cost The production cost varies on technology used for the production from very less to very costly. High production cost should be considered in relation to the commercial value of the end product. The pure culture of microalgae for the nursery rearing and grow out of bivalve mollusk and for farming herbivorous fish is costly. The cost of labors, pumping, nutrients and mixing are the major cost considered to be involved. Upscaling and Collapsing of Pure Culture The difficulty to grow selected species with known food value in large volumes is the major problem faced in the cultivation of algae. Where only small quantities of algae are needed for a restricted period of time, there are a number culture methods and devices by which uni-algal culture can be produced under well defined conditions. But upscaling environmental conditions, rapidly leads to collapse of the cultures or take over by other species better adapted to the prevailing outdoor conditions. Species control in Induced blooms of Natural phytoplankton By manipulating the growth parameters such as nutrient supply, retention time, pH, and temperature etc. it can obtained certain control over the composition of algal population under large scale cultivation. It is difficult to achieved upscaling of pure algal culture. Any difficulty may obtain control over the species composition of the bloom induced.

Harmful Effects and Algae Though algae are very important, however some are toxic and directly fish kill, mainly the group of Dinoflagellates. Most planktonic algae in nature are blooms in ponds, estuaries and sea, if there is favourable environmental condition. Not only to aquatic organisms, have some caused human health hazards like amnesia, paralysis and neurotic disorders. The groups of blue green algae (Cyanobacteria) cause heavy mortality in freshwater fish ponds. In freshwater fish farms, the algae species that causes mass mortality are Microcyctis aeruginosa, Aphanizomenon flosaquae and Anabaena. Microcystin is a toxin produced from Microcystis, which is neurotoxic. The blue green algae groups also produced hepatoxins. Microcystis blooms in summer months in freshwater ponds. Aphanisomenon flos-aquae is the commonly found food algae which is responsible for fish mass mortality in western countries. In marine water, a blue green algae Nodularia spumigena causes great threat to culture species by forming nodularin. The decomposition of algal from its bloom produced high amount of ammonia and ammonical compounds that kill fishes in aqua farms. The present of excess amount of algae may cause damage to aqua animals. Due to bloom of algae, the oxygen and nutrients decreased sharply. Putrefaction of algae following a bloom cause slime formation. The thick slime form due to death of Noctuliuca miliaris in coastal Indian waters. The slime causes foulness is toxic to fish. The non toxic algal blooms may causes fish kill due to physical damage and oxygen depletion. The thorny spine of Chaetoceros damage fish gill cause fish death. The harmful algae are Microcystis aeruginosa, aphanizomenon flos-aquae, Nodularia spumigena, Alexandrium tamarense, Gonyaulax catenatum, Gymnodinium bahamense, Gymnodinium nagasakiense, Chattonella antiqua, Chattonella marina, Heterosigma akashiwo, Gymnodium breve, Nitschia pungens, Gyrodinium aureolum, and Chrysochromulina polylepis. References:
Reddy, A.K. (1997). Culture of live food organisms for ornamental fishes. In: Advances in keeping and breeding ornamental fishes , Training manual, CIFE, Mumbai, 36-39 Watanabe, T.C. and V.Kron (1994) Prospects in larval fishes dietics, 124: 222-260 Fabregas, J and herrero,C 1986. Aquaculture 50:235-243 Venkatamaran, L,v and Becker, E.W. 1995. In: Biotechnologgy and Utilization of Algae. 54-59 Watanabe,T., Kitajima,C. and Fujita,S. 1983. Aquaculture, 34:114-143 Borowitza ,L J and Borowitza, M A. 1988. Microalgal Biotechnology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p477 Duerr, E.O., A. Molnar and V-sate 1998. Culture microalgae as aquaculture feeds. Journal of Mar.Biotech 7 : 64-69

Commercial applications of microalgae. Spolaore, P. / Joannis-Cassan, C. / Duran, E. / Isambert, A., Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, 101 (2), p.87-96, Feb 2006 Hallegraeff, GM, Concluding Remarks on the Autecology of Harmful Algal Blooms , Physiological Ecology of Harmful Algal Blooms, Springer Verlag, Anderson DM, Cembella AD, Hallegraeff GM (ed), Heidelberg, pp. 371-378. ISBN 3-540-64117-3 (1998) Journal Article of Live Feeds in Marine Aquaculture Chu Wan-Loy. Journal of Applied Phycology, p 23-25, Volume 16, Number 1 / February, 2004 Alkesh Dwivedi and Geetanjali Deshmukhe(2005) Spirulina A Wonder Food Manual of CIFE, Mumbai. Page 20-26 Geetanjali Deshmukhe, Alkesh Swivedi, A.Krishna Reddy (2005), Live Feed in Aquaculture CIFE, Mumbai Manual, Page 12-32 Training Manual on Culture of Live Food Organisms for Aquahatcheries (1998), CIFE, Mumbai Page 5-16