ARTICLE FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE May 2023 65 Most copepods do better on phytoplankton than on other types of diet when farmed. Despite the fact that phytoplankton production is expensive and complex, use of rice bran can be a cheap and good diet for smaller facilities. The long-term viability of prepared algae diets is unclear. Continuous breeding of the top performing individuals from cultures fed prepared diets could be used to create resistant copepod strains. As a result of selective breeding, less complex copepods would be more appealing to aquaculture operations. The removal of nauplii from the culture is a time-consuming process. Although sieving can be used to harvest cyclopoid and calanoid nauplii, it is difficult and time consuming for harpacticoids, which have nauplii living in close proximity to adults. The extra labour is noticeable when compared to rotifer or Artemia nauplii harvesting methods that feed the entire population. The removal of the nauplii alone may have an effect on the culture's population dynamics. Overharvesting is likely to reduce the population, potentially leading to a crash. This technique may be optimised in a controlled abiotic setting with a known population. It may enable for optimum harvest while preserving the culture's integrity. The precise parameters of such a system, however, are unknown. Copepod cultures are vulnerable to contamination. Although copepod species can dominate wild zooplankton populations, contamination in hatcheries is a severe concern. Copepod cultures are not only prone to ciliate infestations, but they are also commonly contaminated by rotifer species, which are likely kept on site. Copepod cultures are unlikely to out-compete invaders such as ciliates since they devour available food quickly. CONCLUSION There is a need to enhance the availability of a larger range of tiny sized live feeds in order to diversify the number of species farmed within the marine fish trade. Copepod nauplii are a great choice of live feed before moving on to rotifers. However, their culture's existing constraints must be overcome. As a conclusion, focus should be given to the innovations required to overcome the bottlenecks now present in the commercial ornamental fish aquaculture trade. References are available on request. About R. Dinesh Dinesh has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Aquaculture at the Mandapam Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture (MCeSA) of Tamil Nadu Dr.J. Jayalalithaa Fisheries University (TNJFU), India since 2021. He undertakes strategic and applied research in the field of Mariculture, offering extension services to farmers as well. Dinesh completed his Master’s degree in Fisheries Science with a special focus on Aquaculture at the Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE) and his undergraduate studies at TNJFU. His research interests lie in Aquaculture and Aquaculture Nutrition. Before joining academics, he was directly involved with the shrimp production industry for five years as a Technical officer and Aqua feed formulator, working with different corporates. He has won prestigious awards and has authored several books and peer-reviewed articles. Dinesh serves as a reviewer for high-impact journals, and he’s a member of various professional and academic societies. Contamination by rotifer (Image: R.Dinesh)
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