Intensive rearing of the common barbel (Barbus barbus L.) larvae using drystarter feeds and natural diet under controlled conditions

In an experiment we carried out intensive rearing of the fry of common barb el (Barbus barbus L.) up to the age of 25 days from the beginning of exogen ous nutrition. The fish were fed 3 types of dry diets (recommended for init ial feeding of aquarium, freshwater and sea fish) containing different leve ls of nutrients (proteins 48-62%, fat 7-12%) and live food (Artemia salina nauplii), We studied the survival rate, individual weight (w), total body l ength (TL), specific weight growth rate (SWGR) and condition of the fry (co ndition coefficient according to Fulton - C-F). The results were processed statistically using the method of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The highest survival rate (99.7%) and the statistically significant (P < 0.01) highest growth rate were achieved in the barbel larvae fed live diet (TL = 25.7 mm, w = 144.5 mg, respectively). The cumulative survival rate of larv ae fed dry diets was 73.8-97.6%. The most satisfactory results of dry-diet- based feed were obtained when feeding starter feeds for sea fish fry (TL = 21.0 mm, w = 101.6 mg). The C-F data for barbel fry initially fed dry diets were statistically highly significantly higher (P < 0.01) than for larvae fed live diets (i.e. 0.95-1.02 and 0.85, respectively). These results showe d that intensive initial feeding of barbel fry under controlled conditions could be successful if suitable starter feeds were applied.