Studies on laboratory culture of a ciliate, Fabrea salina using inert feed

Protists play an important role in structuring food web and energetics because of their fast growth rate, and production. Post larvae and juveniles of decapoda thrive on live feed like Brachionus plicatilis and Artemia salina. Marine ciliate Fabrea salina is a truly pelagic ciliate with appropriate dimensions as live feed, which constitutes 50–90% of total zooplankton communities in salt pans. It may prove to be better alternative to other live feed in aquaculture. Fabrea salina was cultured under laboratory condition. Three types of feed namely, fermented rice bran, fermented wheat bran and commercial yeast were used to test their suitability as feed for Fabrea salina. The test was done using different feeds prepared with sterile saline water of 10, 20 and 30 psu. The results showed better yield with fermented rice bran as compared to the other two feeds used. Maximum density of 64 individuals/ml with a concentration of 10ppm was seen in case of rice bran. In case of fermented wheat bran maximum density of 55 individuals/ml was observed in a concentration of 20 ppm and with yeast it was seen to be 48 individuals/ml with a concentration of 15 ppm. The number of individuals with all the three feeds was seen to decrease after a certain period of time in all concentrations.