This work was carried out to identify the replacement of the nauplii Artemia sp. for the enriched and frozen rotifer (Brachionus plicatilis O.F. Müller, 1786) on the larval development and survival of the freshwater prawn M. rosenbergii. The experiment was developed according to the following treatments: 100% B. plicatilis (30 rots/ mL) (T1); 100% Artemia sp. (5 nas/ mL) (T2), 60% Artemia sp. (3 nas/ mL) + 40% B. plicatilis (12 rots/ mL) (T3) e 40% Artemia sp. (2 nas/ mL) + 60% B. plicatilis (18 rots/ mL) (T4). Humid ration was added to all treatments. The results of the final survival in post-larvae were analyzed by the X² test and demonstrated no significant differences from treatment T2 (68.36%) to T3 and T4: 68.76% and 64.60%, respectively. T1 treatment (100% B. plicatilis) presented total mortality at 14th day of the experiment. Average dry weight of the pos-larvae was analyzed statistically by ANOVA and showed no significant differences in values: 3.29 mg (T2), 3.08 mg (T3) and 3.38 mg (T4). No significant differences among treatments T2, T3 and T4 were observed. The best mortality rate was observed from 1 to 15 day of hatchery based on the number of dead larval stored in the daily material siphoned. Therefore, these results suggest that the total substitution of the enriched and frozen rotifer is not recommended due to a total mortality of larvae, whereas the partial replacement of 40% and 60% of the Artemia sp nauplii by the enriched and frozen rotifer is possible, with no significant damages to survival and post-larval growth.
aquaculture; feeding; freshwater prawn; hatchery; Macrobrachium rosenbergii; rotifer
