On the Diet Substitution and Adaptation Weight in CARP Cyprinus carpio Larvae

Feeding trials were conducted on carp Cyprinus carpio larvae from commencement of exogenous feeding through different ages to study the impact of diet substitution on their growth and survival. Larvae given artificial diet from the day first of exogenous feeding failed to survive beyond the age of 15 days. When tested for a combination of cultured live prey organisms and dry diet in different proportions, most satisfactory results in terms of growth and survival were met with a 1:1 diet formulation. However, best results of percent survival and growth increment were obtained when the larvae were fed live cultured cladoceran, Ceriodaphia reticulate, from commencement of exogenous feeding. Later the Ceriodaphia fed larvae and post-larvae, weaned on to traditional fish diet of 1:1 rice-bran and mustard oil-cake, revealed that post-larvae of 15 mg wt. and a length of 12mm or above exhibited an improved ability to utilize and survive on the traditional artificial dry diet.