Effect of culture container on the survival and growth of male Cryphiops caementarius in individualized systems

Abstract

The individual rearing system of crustaceans avoids the physical interaction between congeners and cannibalism. The aim was to evaluate the effect of the culture container on survival and growth of male Cryphiops caementarius in individual systems. Two experiments were conducted with different diets. Containers of 133, 201 and 284 cm2 arranged in multilevel aquariums and fiberglass tanks were used for individual culture. Communal culture was carried out as control in aquariums without containers. Culturing lasted 4 months. Shrimp males from 6.2 g to 9.1 g were used for the first experiment and from 3.6 g to 5.5 g for the second. In the first experiment, autotomy ecdysis and deaths caused by ecdysis of shrimps in individual culture affected survival (72 % to 83 %), growth and yield (0.374 kg m-2), although there were no significant differences (p>0.05). In communal culture, survival was low (17 %) due to cannibalism. In the second experiment high survival rates (87% and 100%) were obtained in all sizes of containers, fastest growing in containers of 284 cm2 and thus increased yield (1,049 kg m-2). The individual cultivation containers installed in multilevel comes as a viable option to avoid physical interaction and cannibalism in adults of the species.