The potential dried decapsulated Artemia urmiana cysts on growth and survival guppy fry, Poecilia reticulata

ABSTRACT: Experiments were conducted to evaluate decapsulated Artemia cysts as food for guppy fry, Poecilia reticulata. The larvae with initial mean weight (0.005±0.0005 gr) were fed on different diets :(a) dried decapsulated Artemia cysts, (b) decapsulated Artemia urmiana, (c) Artemia urmiananauplii,(d) artificial feed feeds. After a 40-day rearing period, the highest survival rate was obtained with the larvae receiving dried decapsulated Artemia cysts. Feeding of the larvae with artificial diets resulted in a significantly lower survival rate compared to the other groups. At the end of the experiment, between the four groups of guppy fry, Feeding guppy with dried decapsulated Artemia cysts resulted in higher growth and lower growth compared to feeding with Arti?cial feed. The fish fed dried decapsulated Artemia cysts and Artemia nauplii displayed consistently higher length and survival than those fed decapsulated Artemia cysts and artificial feed feeds. Dried decapsulated Artemia cysts are a suitable feed for exogenous feeding in guppy fry.