1. Artemia – its role and production requirements
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Hatching of Artemia
Preparation of the tank – clean with detergent, disinfect and rinse
Fill tank with preheated water and add aeration and heating.
Disinfect the water.
Disinfection of the cysts
Add to hatching tank
Harvest.
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3. Artemia hatching characteristics
Tank: Any Size/Shape (1-10 m3)
Temp: °C (Preheated Water/Heat Exchange)
Salinity: ppt
Oxygen: > 4 ppm
pH: > 8 (Ph control with NaHCO3 or NaOH)
Illumination: Lux at Water Surface
Density: kg/m3
Hatch Controller : 100 ppm at T0
Water Treatment: Filtered and Chlorinated/Neutralized
Aeration : Very Strong ( Open End )
Artemia are required for sea bass and bream in two development stages.
The post hatch stage or instar 1 phase of higher grade AF artemia are used as a transition phase from rotifers. In the case of sea bass and clear water techniques this grade of artemia is the initial feed used and rotifers can in fact be avoided.
As the larvae grow however enriched metanaupli are used
The hatching characteristics and environmental conditions required for artemia are shown here.
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4. Strong aeration and bright lighting is essential in hatching phase
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Harvesting of Artemia
Disconnect heater, increase oxygen to about 10ppm then stop aeration and oxygen
Within minutes the nauplii will separate from the empty cyst shells – the empty cyst shells float and the nauplii will crowd above the tip of the conical near a light source.( W incandescent spot)
Drain the nauplii from the tank and rinse well before transferring them to the storage tank or enrichment tank.
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Artemia separation is achieved through their positive photo tactic response
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Careful rinsing at harvest is again essential to ensure as clean a product as possible for the larvae.
It is however important to rinse well all live food before storage or feeding to these rather sensitive larvae.
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8. Decapsulation versus disinfection
A complete contamination free and sterile product
Separation problems after hatch are avoided
Disinfection
50g/l cysts 20 minutes in 200 ppm active chlorine- continuous aeration rinse and add to hatching tank
Cysts known to be contaminated fungi and bacteria
Improves hatching yields
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9. Pathogen risk in Artemia
Artemia nauplii are heavily contaminated with bacteria, esp. Vibrio sp.
Correlation between bacterial flora in the larval intestines and the flora of live food
Risk exists that potential pathogens are transferred via the food to the larval tanks
Cyst decontamination, hatching and enrichment micro floral controllers are used.
Decapsulation or cyst sterilization is used to avoid the transfer of disease from the artemia to the larvae and both at the hatching phase and later during the enrichment phases specialized products are used to reduce and control the microbiological loading and development.
Hatch controller and the DC Selco product range are examples of these developments.
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10. Hatching percentage and efficiency
Hatching percentage is the number of Artemia nauplii produced per 100 cysts. A good product will have a hatching percentage of +/-90%
The hatching efficiency is the number of nauplii produced per gram of cysts. A good products will yield +/- 230,000 nauplii per gram of cysts
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11. Enrichment / Harvest and storage of Artemia nauplii
Enrichment to meet the nutritional requirements of the fish
Enrichment can only take place once the nauplii have started feeding – coincides with the molt into second Instar stage
Long term/short term enrichment
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12. Artemia enrichment characteristics
Tank: Any Size/Shape (1-10 m3)
Temp: °C (Preheated Water/Heat Exchange)
Salinity: ppt
Oxygen: > 4 ppm
pH: > 8 (Ph control with NaHCO3 or NaOH)
Illumination: Natural light conditions
Density: million nauplii/m3 depending on
method
Hatch Controller : 100 ppm at T0
Water Treatment: Filtered and Chlorinated/Neutralized
Aeration : Very Strong (Open End )
Artemia are required for sea bass and bream in two development stages.
The post hatch stage or instar 1 phase of higher grade AF artemia are used as a transition phase from rotifers. In the case of sea bass and clear water techniques this grade of artemia is the initial feed used and rotifers can in fact be avoided.
As the larvae grow however enriched metanaupli are used
The hatching characteristics and environmental conditions required for artemia are shown here.
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13. Harvesting of enriched metanauplii
Rinsing into 100 micron net
Rinsing has to be done until no emulsion is left in the outflowing water to avoid problems with oil films in larval rearing tanks. Metanauplii are now ready for direct feeding or for cold storage for later use.
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Artemia enrichment enables total HUFA enrichment levels of up to 60mg/g
Through emulsion enrichment products the artemia has be turned into a powerful tool for the bioencapsulation of essential fatty acids,and other nutritional and therapeutic substances
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Artemia cold storage at 6°C to maintain optimal nutritional value until feeding
Post harvest and prior to feeding artemia may be kept at low temperatures to avoid bacterial development and to ensure undiminished enrichment levels. Conditions such as these can be maintained all day.
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16. Cold storage of Artemia nauplii
Freshly hatched Artemia nauplii e.g. AF and enriched nauplii can be stored at 4-10 C for 24 hours.
Cold stored nauplii slow down their metabolism and do not consume their energy reserve and can remain in Instar I (AF) or Instar II or III stage. (enriched artemia nauplii)
If left at 25 C the HUFA content and in particular the DHA content can drop by 33% after 6 hours and 67% after 12 hours.
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17. Ongrowing of Artemia nauplii
Advantages
Increased biomass ( 30% on dry weight basis)
Reduced cyst requirement through more efficient use of artemia metanauplii.
Improved nutritional profile, higher digestible energy profile
Improved larval growth and stress resistance.
Disadvantages
Further hours after enrichment procedure
Increased tank requirement
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Artemia requirements
Sea bream
General assumptions
1) Artemia hatch rate (millions/kg cysts)
200
2) Max. daily need of AF/m3 larval rearing volume (M nauplii)
2,0
3) Hatching volume (m3/kg cysts)
0,4
(2.5g/l)
4) AF Artemia need per million juveniles 2g (kg cysts)
4,0
5) AF Artemia cost (drs/kg)
6) Max. daily need of EG/m3 larval rearing volume (M nauplii)
10,0
7) EG Artemia need per million juveniles 2g (kg cysts) 95
8) EG Artemia cost (drs/kg)
9) Enrichment stocking density (m3/100 million nauplii)
0,5
10) Selco need per 100 million nauplii (kgs)
0,10
11) Selco/Essential enrichment cost (drs/kg)
Annual production target (2g juveniles)
No of larval batches 5 5 5 5
Initial larval rearing vol (m3) 62
123
185
308
Daily AF Artemia requirement (kgs cysts)
0,62
1,23
1,85
3,08
AF hatching volume (m3)
0,2
0,5
0,7
1,2
No of 0.25m3 tanks required 2 4 4 6
No of 0.5m3 tanks required 2 2
Total AF Artemia consumption (kgs cysts) 8 16 24 40
Total Cost of AF Artemia (Mdrs)
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
Daily EG Artemia requirement (kgs cysts)
3,08
6,15
9,23
15,38
EG hatching volume (m3)
1,2
2,5
3,7
6,2
No of 1m3 tanks required 1 2 4
No of 2.8m3 tanks required 1 1 1 2
Total EG Artemia consumption (kgs cysts)
190
380
570
950
Total Cost of EG Artemia (Mdrs)
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
Enrichment tank volume (m3) 3 6 9 15
No of 2.8m3 tanks required 1 2 3 5
No of 4.5m3 tanks required
Total tank volume (m3) 5 9 14 23
Total Selco consumption (kgs) 38 76
114
190
Total Cost of Selco enrichment (Mdrs/yr)
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
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