Comparison of live food organisms and prepared diets as first food for paddlefish, Polyodon spathula (Walbaum), fry

Abstract. A feeding experiment was conducted in aquaria to evaluate growth, survival and food consumption by paddlefish, Polyodon spathula (Walbaum), fry fed live Daphnia pulex, brine shrimp nauplii, Artemia sp. (L.), from two different geographical sources, or one of three commercial dry diets. Fry were fed from first feeding (day 8 post-hatch) to day 17 post-hatch. All diets had similar percentages of crude protein and lipid. Fatty acid composition was similar in all diets except for Great Salt Lake brine shrimp nauplii which had a higher percentage of linolenic acid, 18:3 (n-3), and a lower percentage of eicosapentaenoic acid, 20:5 (n-3). Paddlefish fed live food organisms were significantly (P<0·05) larger than those fed non-living diets. Survival was significantly higher (P<0·05) for fish consuming live Daphnia (95·3%) than all other treatments. Percentage of fish with food in the digestive tract did not significantly differ (P>0·05) among treatments. Poorer growth and survival by fish fed prepared diets may have been due to limited digestibility of the dry diets by paddlefish.